Before there was a concept of eager interest in the newest and latest  – especially technology – there was my father and his Instant Polaroid Land camera. Before the
mid -1950’s, cameras used film that required development. This required a trip to the store to drop off the roll of film and a waiting period of several days to return for the printed photos. The new camera stretched open like an accordion and then cleverly snapped back into its compact case. It was a  modern wonder that shot out a photograph and within 60 seconds it would develop before our eyes. Magic! Everyone who came to visit had their photograph taken to see the wonder for themselves.

A fixative was included to preserve the images which smelled like your head was stuck in a bottle of alcohol. I still have many of the original polaroids he took, and the fixative doesn’t get great reviews.

School supplies at that time were very democratic in that there were few choices, so almost everyone had a Blue Horse brand notebook and lined notebook paper with 
3-holes punched in the left margin. I was excited when my father bought me a Nifty Notebook. Not only was the notebook it covered with white vinyl, it had two holes and they were punched at the top. And because this was such a unique product, instead of the metal rings, it had                                                       a magnetic closure. This was the height of sophistication                                                       and thinking outside of the box.

I am not sure why the Nifty Notebook didn’t catch on? Maybe it was before it’s time  which is an awkward way of saying it was created before  buyers were ready for it or didn’t see the need for the change.

Our family business purchased  a 3M ThermoFax copy machine when they first became available. It made copies without carbon paper! The copier required a roll of special coated paper. It made chemical-smelling copies that were not terribly clear and only in shades of gray, but we marveled at those first copies. This was a                                          high-tech machine for it’s time for sure.

Improvements in technology march on whether we like it or not. Who can predict what will become an item available for purchase online as vintage or what will be the next thing everyone will own? That is the nature of the beast and also,what about habits that we acquire and later shun? Whenwatch a movie where they are using flip phones and everyone is smoking, I can be sure it is not set in the present. Smoking used to be OK. There was even candy for kids who wanted to be just like their chain-smoking parents.
Here’s the proof.