What was in my wallet?

[Al Stephenson]

Hi all,

I have done "golden era" military living history for a number of years and know what I would have carried for id, money, etc. But I just started pulling together a U.S. 1930s civilian get-up and I'm not sure what I would have carried in my wallet, e.g. what type of id, photos, tickets, money (amount/type of currency), etc.

Anyone point in me a direction for some info?

Thanks, Jeff

 

[LizzieMaine]

You might have had a driver's license -- a simple document printed on thin paper in most states -- and if it was after January 1937, a Social Security card. You might have membership cards in whatever local or fraternal organizations you belonged to, and perhaps ticket stubs from a movie or a show you'd recently attended. For currency you'd likely have a few silver-certificate dollar bills, series of 1928 or 1934, and maybe a five or two, of the same series. Nothing older, because the currency changed in 1928, and after 1933 defintely no Gold Certificates unless you'd kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby. Unless you were well off, you'd not likely be carrying tens or twenties, and unless you were a gangster or an economic royalist, likely no fifties or hundreds. For change, you'd have an assortment of pennies, nickels, and dimes, maybe a quarter or two, and an occasional half, with dates ranging from the 1890s to the present. Most of the coins would be dirty and badly worn from long circulation, and some, especially the nickels, might be worn almost completely slick.

A few snapshots of your wife, kids, or mother wouldn't be out of place. These would usually be trimmed to size to fit in the celluloid holders in your billfold.

You would almost certainly not be carrying any kind of a credit card -- they did exist, for larger stores and oil companies, but were not something the average American of the 1930s had any dealings with. Most oil company cards were issued to businesses for business-car use, so if your man is an executive he might have one on him, but otherwise likely not.

You might also carry a blank bank check or two, if your man has a bank account. If he was accustomed to writing a lot of checks, he'd have a small leather-bound checkbook holder.

 

[Talbot]

Sounds like 'Operation Mincemeat'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mincemeat

 

[The Wolf]

You might also want to get a cigarette card of your favorite actor/actress.

Yours truly,
The Wolf

 

[HadleyH]

Hi all,

I have done "golden era" military living history for a number of years and know what I would have carried for id, money, etc. But I just started pulling together a U.S. 1930s civilian get-up and I'm not sure what I would have carried in my wallet, e.g. what type of id, photos, tickets, money (amount/type of currency), etc.

Anyone point in me a direction for some info?

Thanks, Jeff

am I being naive?

money .... that's the direction of the wallet in the 1930s !lol wait! today too? lol


oh and a pix of the girlfriend too [huh]

 

[Connery]

If you were former military then a dog tag or organization card in the wallet. Always a nice memento...

 

[HadleyH]

If you were former military then a dog tag or organization card in the wallet. Always a nice memento...

absolutely! the dog tag ....and money? perhaps? lol

 

[Connery]

absolutely! the dog tag ....and money? perhaps? lol

Hehe Always money!!!! How else could this fellow treat a beautiful woman to a dinner, a Broadway show and ride in a horse drawn carriage around Central park...

 

[HadleyH]

Hehe Always money!!!! How else could this fellow treat a beautiful woman to a dinner, a Broadway show and ride in a horse drawn carriage around Central park...

I know!!!! life is horribly wrong!!!!lollollol

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Ambrose and his Orchestra -- With Plenty Of Money And You (1937)
vocal by Sam Browne

[video=youtube;IgCZpayeMHY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgCZpayeMHY&feature=related[/video]

Don't know if it was the case back in the day but how about a lucky silver dollar?

 

[Deco-Doll-1928]

I've been very curious about this topic, but for women's purses.

Here's an interesting article about this topic:

http://www.kplu.org/post/mohai-its-all-about-purse

This website talks about accessories for women:

http://www.hia.com/gatsby/f_accessories.htm

So I don't completely go off topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallet

Here's some articles about wallets that have been returned to their owners several decades later that might help too.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3165783...s/t/hard-believe-wallet-returned-after-years/

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1999-02-27/news/9902270274_1_wallet-ferrone-father

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/03/ap/strange/main6544758.shtml

http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=20110

I had a hard time finding any sort of article or guide on the contents of a man's wallet from the 1930s. I would also think that a man might have carried some transportation tokens with him and probably had a train ticket too.

 

[Tomasso]

Condoms......don't leave home without them......

 

[JimWagner]

For the thirties Lizzy probably summed it up best. As you enter the 40's add maybe a ration card, a defense plant id, and your selective service card.

 

[C-dot]

I've been very curious about this topic, but for women's purses. ...

Great sources. It seems that women and men carry more - much more - in their wallets and handbags than in the Golden Era. I can just barely squeeze my phone, wallet, and keys into a vintage handbag... No room for my make-up, advil, gum etc.

Back to wallets. One thing that you definitely wouldn't have had in your Golden Era wallet that I wager crams it up today are customer loyalty cards. Another would be debit cards, which probably replaced the chequebook. And although credit cards did exist in the 1930's, like Lizzie pointed out, you probably wouldn't have carried one, whereas now its common to have multiples.

 

[Deco-Doll-1928]

Great sources. It seems that women and men carry more - much more - in their wallets and handbags than in the Golden Era. I can just barely squeeze my phone, wallet, and keys into a vintage handbag... No room for my make-up, advil, gum etc.

Back to wallets. One thing that you definitely wouldn't have had in your Golden Era wallet that I wager crams it up today are customer loyalty cards. Another would be debit cards, which probably replaced the chequebook. And although credit cards did exist in the 1930's, like Lizzie pointed out, you probably wouldn't have carried one, whereas now its common to have multiples.

I know what you mean. Whenever I use one of my vintage purses for an event, they always look like an overstuffed suitcase! lol!

 

[avedwards]

It's interesting that people in the US kept their money in wallets back then, as this was comparatively uncommon in the UK. Even today many older men keep all their coins in a trouser pocket and all their banknotes in another pocket. It's a habit I fail to understand as I find a wallet an extremely practical way of keeping money, receipts, cards and driving licence (nowadays the size of a credit card in the UK) all in one place.

 

[MPicciotto]

It's interesting that people in the US kept their money in wallets back then, as this was comparatively uncommon in the UK. Even today many older men keep all their coins in a trouser pocket and all their banknotes in another pocket. It's a habit I fail to understand as I find a wallet an extremely practical way of keeping money, receipts, cards and driving licence (nowadays the size of a credit card in the UK) all in one place.

To this day many of us still don't carry money in our wallets. Coins and bills go in my pocket. The bills folded in half and in order of denomination. ALL my transactions are in CASH. I have no credit card in my wallet. If I'm out and my wallet was lifted all the thief would get would be my drivers license, health insurance card and trade certification cards.

I developed the habit of keeping my money in a hip pocket from going to cash and carry auctions and buying and selling at flea markets. No fumbling with the wallet. I've carried over the habit for going overseas. My passport is in a different pocket then my wallet or my cash. In fact some travel experts suggest keeping a "muggers wallet" stuffed with paper so it's fat target for pickpockets and then they ignore your actual cash carried more securely elsewhere.

Matt

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I'd love to see a European wallet that was designed to carry the oversized currency found in many other countries.

Great sources. It seems that women and men carry more - much more - in their wallets and handbags than in the Golden Era. I can just barely squeeze my phone, wallet, and keys into a vintage handbag... No room for my make-up, advil, gum etc.

That probably explains why women's bags today, as Raymond Chandler once observed, make them look like "a Sister of Mercy bringing first aid to the wounded*." I've also noticed, much to my bemusement when standing in line at the store, that women tend to be more likely to use a check or credit card to make small purchases of less than twenty dollars.


*The Little Sister

 

[C-dot]

I've also noticed, much to my bemusement when standing in line at the store, that women tend to be more likely to use a check or credit card to make small purchases of less than twenty dollars.

Guilty lol There's another change from the Golden Era wallet: I'll bet they used cash constantly, whereas now its almost a novelty. I never seem to have any!

It's interesting that people in the US kept their money in wallets back then, as this was comparatively uncommon in the UK. Even today many older men keep all their coins in a trouser pocket and all their banknotes in another pocket.

Thats true, isn't it? In one of my favourite novels, Beverly Clearly's Fifteen (written in 1955), she is describing a geeky fellow and says "He carries his money in a change pouch, too, not loose in his pocket like other boys."

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Guilty lol There's another change from the Golden Era wallet: I'll bet they used cash constantly, whereas now its almost a novelty. I never seem to have any!

My theory for the more frequent use of checks and credit cards by women in the last 30 years or so is that fear of purse snatchers conditioned them to not carry large amounts of cash.