Normal Halloween
The Halloween Retrospect:
It sounds a bit funny to say, particularly for those who think Halloween is anything but normal - but in this instance it's a bit of word play on a meaning few use these days, when a "normal school or normal college [was] an institution created to train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum." (wikipeida). So, circling back to that title, Normal Halloween, this is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a time when vintage Halloween products (fun and spooky) abounded in the pages of the vintage catalogs that supplied those instructors.
Get the classroom ready for Hallowe'en, The Bogie Book. (1926)
There is more to read about such things in a blog entry titled Bogie Book Ad, 1926 on The Halloween Retrospect website. Yet for a full perspective see “Normal Halloween: Holiday Novelties & Early Twentieth Century Youth” in the printed book (via Etsy checkout). The article discusses vintage Halloween products available to students, mainly through the lens of two classroom supply companies from Ohio: March Brothers Publishing Company and Paine Publishing Company. The article contains 7 illustrations, as well as source references, and includes an 11″x17″ fold-out poster featuring a full-page vintage ad by March Brothers Publishing Company as seen in Normal Instructor and Primary Plans (October, 1926).
