"The Amy Vanderbilt Success Program for Women"

[Weston]

Hello ladies.

I inherited a series of small paperbacks called the "Amy Vanderbilt Success Program for Women" that date from the late 40s? to the early 60's I think. Anyhow, I have 30-40 of these small books, each of which gives practical vintage wisdom to the lady of the house about how to perform the myriad tasks of the day (everything from how to select fine antiques and decorate to how to throw elegant parties in which season, etc.).

It's quite a resource, but if I were to make it available via scans, would there be somewhere to put it, so I'm not just doing it for 1-2 people? I think these might be an ENORMOUS help to the vintage ladies here, as these are the "textbooks" for just living life in the 50s.

Anyone interested?

 

[BitterEpiphany]

Are you speaking in terms of sharing or of file hosting so it's searchable?

<--- geek

 

[Grace]

What an interesting read those would be!

I would be interested.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Someone put 3 of them on the trade rack at the library! I love them. Useful advice.

 

[Weston]

I'm thinking PDF. I couldn't run OCR software with a trained monkey and an IT department. Just the swanky images and text in readable form.

 

[CanadaDoll]

I'd love to take a look!

 

[BitterEpiphany]

Well, they could be set up as .PDF files very easily and hosted to any server then. You could also opt to save them as .png's or .jpegs (worse quality but a better compression rate) and upload them to a site like photobucket where they would have a permanent gallery and anyone could access them.

No matter what format you decided to use, if you compress the files into a .zip you can upload them to a number of usage based (if you stop using them, they stop hosting them) .zip file sharers who would allow you to transfer the files quickly and with one click.

Perhaps it's the graphic designer in me but if you don't have a personal server you intend to host the files to, you might want to opt for something like jpegs at phtoobucket. The links won't expire and people will be able to get at the data all at one time.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

I realize I failed to mention I am interested. I was reading one just the other week: How to be safe in your home. I learned a lot.

 

[Lady Day]

Sounds interesting.

You could divide them in chapters as downloadable PDF documents. That would make the images universally viewable, good quality (if scanned) and something for the ladies to have and print out if they like.

LD

 

[Polka Dot]

Sounds like a great resource, and I'd be interested. This is what I love about the Fedora Lounge--taking advantage of new technology to show our appreciation of life as it was sixty years ago.

 

[Weston]

OK, here's the titles I could find. There's another stack somewhere in this house of mine... Some of these are later than I thought...too bad they aren't earlier, but I think it's retreads of older info in any case.

"How to Set and Care for Your Hair" (1965)
"How to Plan your Vacation and Enjoy It" (1965)
"How to Use the ABC's of Sewing" (1964)
"Your Trip to Europe" (1966)
"How to be Safe in Your Home" (Looks early 70s?)
"How to be Well Dressed" (1969)
"Antiques for Your Home" (1966)
"Your Good Health" (60s)
"What You Should Know about Furniture" (1960s? 50s?)
"How to Decorate with Houseplants" (?)
"How to Arrange Flowers" (?)
"Sewing for Your Home" (1965)
"Serving Food Attractively" which I might add, has the SCARIEST looking food on the front EVER, (1966)
"How to Handle Your Correspondance" (1964)
"How to give Luncheons, Teas and Showers" (1978 - must have bought it for my birth!)
"The Little Book of Christmas" (1966?)
"How to Entertain Out of Doors" (?)
"Happy Marriage" (?)

I also have a selection of 10-20 50's era cookbook pamphlets here...Let me know what strikes the interest most...

 

[MissHuff]

"How to Set and Care for Your Hair" (1965)
"How to Use the ABC's of Sewing" (1964)
"How to be Safe in Your Home" (Looks early 70s?)
"How to be Well Dressed" (1969)
"Sewing for Your Home" (1965)
"How to Handle Your Correspondance" (1964)
"How to give Luncheons, Teas and Showers" (1978 - must have bought it for my birth!)
"How to Entertain Out of Doors" (?)
"Happy Marriage" (?)

These titles interest me the most. Especially "how to be safe in your home", "how to give luncheons, teas, and showers" and "Happy marriage" I would LOVE to learn their idea of happy marriage.

 

[Weston]

Well, when asked by someone as lovely as Miss Huff, I shall surely have to get on it. I'll try to do one as a test, and see how well that works out.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Sounds interesting.

You could divide them in chapters as downloadable PDF documents. That would make the images universally viewable, good quality (if scanned) and something for the ladies to have and print out if they like.

LD

I think this is the best way to make them accessible to all of us. Good thinking Lady Day thanx.

I would be really interested in seeing these. As for content, anything on hair and make-up is always great. I'm not sure if these books have a section on that, but they are a comprehensive resource for the vintage woman, and beauty was quite important in that age.

Maybe you could let us know about some of the different topics discussed. Then we could let you know what is pertinent, useful, and what might not be, or we might already have a ton of info on. This way you're not spending the next month of your life scanning all of the volumes and creating PDF's for them all. Although, it would be nice if you would

Thank you so much, this is very thoughtful of you and will be a great resource for many of us gals

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

OK, here's the titles I could find. There's another stack somewhere in this house of mine... Some of these are later than I thought...too bad they aren't earlier, but I think it's retreads of older info in any case.

"How to Set and Care for Your Hair" (1965)
"How to Plan your Vacation and Enjoy It" (1965)
"How to Use the ABC's of Sewing" (1964)
"Your Trip to Europe" (1966)
"How to be Safe in Your Home" (Looks early 70s?)
"How to be Well Dressed" (1969)
"Antiques for Your Home" (1966)
"Your Good Health" (60s)
"What You Should Know about Furniture" (1960s? 50s?)
"How to Decorate with Houseplants" (?)
"How to Arrange Flowers" (?)
"Sewing for Your Home" (1965)
"Serving Food Attractively" which I might add, has the SCARIEST looking food on the front EVER, (1966)
"How to Handle Your Correspondance" (1964)
"How to give Luncheons, Teas and Showers" (1978 - must have bought it for my birth!)
"The Little Book of Christmas" (1966?)
"How to Entertain Out of Doors" (?)
"Happy Marriage" (?)

I also have a selection of 10-20 50's era cookbook pamphlets here...Let me know what strikes the interest most...

OK, you posted these while I was posting my previous post, so I didn't see it originally. Wow, that's a lot of info! It all sounds so great. I don't think I could pick just one or two! So, any of those (if you can't do all) will be great to have

 

[LadyDeWinter]

"How to Set and Care for Your Hair" (1965)
"Your Trip to Europe" (1966)
"How to be Well Dressed" (1969)
"Antiques for Your Home" (1966)
"What You Should Know about Furniture" (1960s? 50s?)
"How to give Luncheons, Teas and Showers" (1978 - must have bought it for my birth!)
"How to Entertain Out of Doors" (?)

I would be interested in those.

 

[MissHuff]

Well, when asked by someone as lovely as Miss Huff, I shall surely have to get on it. I'll try to do one as a test, and see how well that works out.

why thank you, Weston. You just made this exhausted mommy smile

 

[Helen Troy]

Helpful? It would be totally wonderful! I love those kind of books! I`m still trying to find my own copy of "The Womens Encyclopedia" which I think might be the Norwegian equivalent to your books.

Oh, pretty please with sugar on top, let us see those books!

 

[Ruby Slippers]

I am in dire need of a success program.

 

[Weston]

Sorry for the delay ladies, I've been called away this weekend on urgent business with the family estate. I may have a little time to do a shorter one this week if things slow down. More updates to come! But in the meantime – anyone wanna host some PDFs?