What We Left Behind: collectible

The Jack Armstrong Hike-o-Meter Measure the Miles for Hiking
Wheaties Cereal Premium

When we uncovered all these fun cereal premiums from one of the boxes, Dad mentioned that he was too young to have ordered many of them himself (he was born in 1930) and how interesting it was that his mother sent away for them. Some items he recalls vividly, others he has only a recollection of and thinks they were stored away soon after they arrived.

Lucky me, they waited all this time to be found so I could discover another small piece of my father's childhood and more about another part of life in the 1930s and 1940s.

Jack Armstrong Hike-o-Meter - The original pedometer.
Before we had FitBits, Jawbones and accelerometers in phones, there was - The Hike-o-Meter. It's purpose to: "Record your favorite hikes. Measure distance around lakes, map woods, roads, wilderness."

Jack Armstrong was the "al-American boy" and a radio show hero from 1933 to 1951. The character was one of the best-known endorsements for Wheaties and premiums were offered to radio listeners until the mid 1940s. The radio program started on WBBM in Chicago and then moved to CBS, NBC then ABC radio.

1935 1936 1937 Radio Orphan Annie's Secret Society Pin backs & shadowettes

Ovaltine's Little Orphan Annie's Secret Society
Such a timeless character! Little Orphan Annie was a comic created by Harold Gray and syndicated by tribune Media Services. The name originated from a poem entitled "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley.

In 1930, Little Orphan Annie was adapted to a 15 minute program that first aired in Chicago. It went national in 1931 and went off air in 1942. Ovaltine was the initial sponsor and during the program promoted these secret decoders (rings & badges) that could be obtained by redeeming proofs of purchase. These cipher disk pin backs are one of the most well-known examples of decoders for kids that used a simple Caesar cipher. Not surprisingly, the message was typically "Drink your Ovaltine."

1946 Tom Mix Look Around Ring Ralston Cereal Premium
Mirrors in place. Super cool.

Tom Mix Look Around Ring
Tom Mix was born in 1880 and died in 1940. He was a hero in more than 125 movies from 1910 to 1935. There was a Ralston Tom Mix radio show from 1933 to 1950 that the original Tom Mix was not a part of and comics were published from 1942 to 1953.

The Look-Around Ring was a Each side has TM initials and the front features a pair of crossed six-guns and two stars. There are two rectangular slots that when held to the eye can be looked through and via the interior mirror, you can see objects at a 90 degree angle.

Captain Midnight's MJC-10 Plane Detector
1942 Ovaltine Premium

Captain Midnight MJC-10 Plane Detector
This is so cool.

Jack Armstrong's Secret Whistle Code Ring
1937 Wheaties Cereal Premium

Jack Armstrong's Secret Whistle Code Ring
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These intricate blackboard stencils from Ideal School Publishing Co. Chicago IL circa 1910s are really something special, and from what we can tell, incredibly rare. Designed for K-1, this teaching tool was used to illustrate classic Mother Goose nursery rhymes, holidays and more on classroom blackboards. The paper was unfolded and placed against a chalkboard - then an eraser with chalkboard dust on it was clapped against the paper allowing the chalk to pass through the delicate pinholes and imprint the illustration onto the chalkboard.

Ideal School Blackboard Stencil
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes circa 1910s

All nine of these are incredibly well preserved and from what we can tell, unused. My grandmother and her sister were both teachers so they must have belonged to one of them. They were tucked in a small metal trunk with numerous education books.

This collection included:

* Boy Blue
* Four and Twenty Blackbirds
* Miss Muffet
* Hey Diddle Diddle
* Pussy Cat
* Jack & Jill
* Mistress Mary
* Little Bo Peep
* Little Pig Went to Market

I searched like crazy on the Internet but little was found about the Ideal School Publishing Co. other then some fun old ads scans on Google Books (love that tool!) dating between 1905 and 1913. The company appears to have held numerous business locations in Chicago, IL and advertised as selling "Construction Materials and School Specialties for Primary Grades." Their principle business seems to have been the Ideal Blackboard Stencils.

Ideal Blackboard Stencils image digitized by Google
from Primary Education Volume 21 November 1913

I did my best to capture some of the detail on camera, but it's incredibly challenging. We tried a few techniques to project light through the pinholes to see the image on a wall but just couldn't figure out a great way to do so. And since we wanted to preserve the unused quality of these sheets, we didn't paint a wall with chalkboard paint then try the dusting technique ourselves, so the full images will be revealed to the next lucky owner. But, I captured a few snippets with my trusty iPhone and shared them below. Enjoy!