Basic personal possessions of the 1930's American male

[Weston]

I asked a similar question ages back about the 40's - 50's man. I think, without tooting my own horn, that a book answering this question, fully illustrated would be an answer to one of the foremost aims of this site.

After all, to know what they owned and used and how is many of our obsessions.

 

[Colonel]

I keep a "weekend bag" packed at all times. My criteria when setting it up was to imagine myself taking a train trip in the late 1930's - what might I need? While my project was not to try to duplicate anything in an historical sense, but to imagine myself traveling under similar conditions, it might be helpful. Here is what I ended up with:

The bag.

The contents:

Some things that might not be obvious:

• A set of eating utensils - knife, fork, spoon. These are a backpacker's titanium set, so not hardly "vintage". I am assuming that I may end up eating something from a can or scrounged from who-knows-where. It is my understanding that many folks provided their own when on the road at that time.

• A water bottle nested inside a drinking/cooking cup. Again, the cup is a backpacker's titanium cup. This gives me the ability to cook up a can of soup or boil water for a hot drink. Clean drinking water would not be taken for granted, so I carry water with me (the TSA goons don't take very kindly to it when I forget to empty it before going through the humiliation search).

• To go along with the water and the cup, I have a coffee cup heater that can boil water if electricity is available. That also makes for a nice hot shave.

• Clothing is simple - khaki pants, white dress shirt, tie, socks, and underwear. That is enough to fit in well almost anywhere. There is also a swim suit that can double as shorts.

• Dopp kit - Double edge safety razor, brush, and shave soap. There is also the usual toothbrush, etc., plus an assortment of aspirin, safety pins, sewing kit, and that sort of thing.

• Several clothes pins, rope, and soap so that I can do laundry in a sink or bucket and have a clothes line to dry things out on.

• Other items include a Marbles brass compass, cell phone recharger, small folding umbrella, disposable poncho, towel, washcloth, spare ammo for my revolver (when not traveling by air, of course), matches, and flashlight batteries.

This all fits very neatly into the leather bag pictured above. I have been using this same basic arrangement for quite a few years and it has served me well. It gets "tweaked" every once in a while, but it has remained pretty stable for several years now.

This doesn't really answer the question, but consider it one man's experimental answer.

 

[John in Covina]

Col. you have set up the old "Bug Out Bag" for emergencies. fftopic:

I normally have a version of this in my truck with some components in my work desk. The concept out this way is after the big shake we may all end up walking home due to freeway overpasses having crumbled.

 

[Colonel]

Col. you have set up the old "Bug Out Bag" for emergencies..

Busted!

Back in that era, lots of travel was buggin' out.

 

[Shangas]

...how about a hobo-stove for when you go camping vintage-style?

 

[John in Covina]

A lot of people have the little folding stove from the Army that uses those fuel pellets and you can cook in the canteen cup with it. They stick an MRE in the boiling water and presto.

 

[The Ringneck]

I think country people used to have fairly cluttered houses---just because you saved so much. I know the old timers around here would have lots of bottles and tins saved since they would come in handy for storing other stuff. I think companies knew this and would decorate containers to get women to buy them since they may end up on display in the home after the original contents are gone. I still remember old timers around here having newspaper wall-paper in less used rooms into the 80's and 90's. The old farmer next to ours saved all his teeth then they fell out and then would cut/fit them to replace broken false teeth in later years----he had a "bottle tree" where he used to keep bottles he could use as fishing floats. And while he had aquired indoor plumbing at somepoint he still had a well maintained outhouse, unlike my grandpa who moved his off the original hole and made it into a smoke house.

BradLaGrange

 

[Mr_D.]

From the Art of Manliness

Briefcases, Notebook Cases, and Handbags

I recommend you have at least one simple dark colored briefcase in your wardrobe. Leather is a classic choice, and black or dark brown are safe colors. If you are a professional who frequently travels for business, you should strongly consider owning two briefcases, a small one for daily use and another larger one that can hold a week’s worth of paperwork and your laptop computer. In levels of formality, dark colors and a simple build are more formal than light colors and bags with all types of straps and pockets.

I would assume that back then, business men traveling would keep one briefcase FULL of everything, and have a 2nd one they would put the daily needs in.

Kinda the way a woman will put just the essentials into a small hand bag when going out on a nice date.

 

[DeaconKC]

There's an old Scot's proverb that still rings true: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."
Many folks used to live by that. I prefer to travel light, but the lovely lady I'm married to, prefers plenty of extra clothes when we travel.

 

[Don Dahlberg]

I own a 1931 Ford Model A two door (tudor) sedan. There is no trunk in which to put a suitcase. You could use the back seat in a tudor, provided others are not sitting in it. You can put small cases around their feet. Two seater coupes have a small trunk that is mostly filled with the rumble seat. You can strap a small suitcase on the running board or you can have a small trunk attached to the back of the car.

I think people wore clothes more than one day. I am not sure how far into the 30s this goes, but many shirts had replaceable collars and even cuffs. So you would wear the same shirt over and over, but with a clean collar each day.

By the end of the 30s cars are getting much larger with larger trunks. Clearly people were bringing more stuff on their trips.

Don

 

[amynbebes]

I've just moved into a home built in 1934 and the closets are teeny tiny as well as there being no extra closets for linen storage and such. I have to imagine less stuff needed less storage space. Making great use of my trunks and cedar chest for linen storage now though

 

[The Ringneck]

@Don: maybe people weren't bringing more stuff, during the 30's car and road technolgy went a long way and cross country, or at least long trips, were more feasible than they had been with Model A/T type cars (as well as with more areas now being open to travel).

 

[MikeBravo]

Busted!

Back in that era, lots of travel was buggin' out.

One always had to be ready to "pack a grip and split for the coast"* or "put a whole lot of gone between you and a broad like that"**

* a la Newman from Seinfeld
** a la Bertha from Two and a Half Men

 

[Evan Everhart]

In the modern day we tend to have a lot more "stuff" than in the past plus have a greater concept of choice when it comes to what we may wear as tied to what we may be doing.

I tend to bring extra clothes on most over night or a few days length trips since I tend to get dirty for some reason espescially when it comes to spilling food on myself! I am considering bringing my own Lobster bib for eating these days! I think in the past people were better at staying clean somehow!

We all have clothes for different occasions or different purposes and you bring what you think you need for the trip. For summer I tend to wear hiking shorts and Cabelas short sleeved shirts with those epalettes in the day which leads to Matt Deckard always calling me the Crocodile Hunter! I then dress up for the evenings, saving my better and still clean clothes for the evening meal and the night out.

For men, the toilet kit remains fairly unchanged I'd think. Toothbrush and Pepsodent, brush and or comb. Shaving needs for longer trips. For some trips soap and shampoos may be brought especially if one suffers from sensative skin of other conditions that need specific products to be comfortable, just as one brings their medications as needed along.

In the past the cut of men's suits and sports jackets allowed them greater movement and they were much more dressed up than today so some clothes did double duty as to daytime activities versus evening.

In Victorian times i believe men changed clothes 2 to 3 times a day if they were "gentlemen" and of means, so their overnight bag was more likely to be a trunk!

Actually, a gentleman during the Victorian era and really, even into the 1940s might only need a traveling suit (usually a tweed or flannel depending upon their nation of origin), evening clothes if they were going to a location where they might need such clothing (a rich household or a fancy hotel), and finally pajamas, a change of undergarments, socks and perhaps a tie or two, spare cotton kerchiefs for blowing one's nose or wiping one's eyes, one's toiletries (razor, after-shave, shaving cream, mustache wax?, and brilliantine, pomade, or brylcreem or some such hair treatment). Aside from these few necessities, and depending on the year, a man might only bring one shirt and several detachable collars (the outer garments and undergarments would protect the shirt from undue soiling), or two shirts, one for day wear or perhaps two, or one for day wear and one for evening wear. If the traveler was planning on formal wear for the evening, he would bring two pairs of shoes. One for day (probably brown), and one for evening (black cap toes with closed lacing). Oh, and a hat and overcoat which would be worn while traveling. You have to remember, most traveling done by the well to do gentleman was done in the direction of the countryside to escape the city. So, traveling clothes also functioned as country clothes, that is their origin. Well, hope that was helpful, and remember your gladstone bags!

 

[Evan Everhart]

Actually, I think that you are over-all correct, but, there there was a slight variance. Linens for the bed would have been kept in a trunk or ottoman of some sort at the foot of the bed, linens for the bathroom would have been kept in a wooden cabinet placed in the bathroom. Built in cabinetry is a modern convention and contrivance. The absence of cabinetry in an older house does not necessarily imply a paucity of material possessions.

 

[Evan Everhart]

I usually figure that my undergarments will protect my shirt, just as my over garments will (coat, jacket, waist-coat). I bring a detachable collar shirt, or two, maybe a breast plate if I am packing a tuxedo for a formal event, and perhaps a blue detachable collar shirt or a "polo" shirt for beach wear or hiking along with my travel suit and a tweed coat (my travel suit is charcoal gray), oh, and usually a pair of tan or light brown shoes and a pair of black shoes for dinner and maybe two ties. I pack that stuff for three to five days wear, and at least three changes of undergarments into a leather gladstone bag.

 

[brspiritus]

Was looking to buy a house in downtown a few months back built in 1926. It had some nice features like a Master bedroom suite with lounge, sleeping porch and changing room. The closets were built with Shoe racks below and shelves for hat boxes and very small with no bar for hanging clothes. I always assumed they just hung their suits in free standing wardrobes. I would guess most men had 2-4 suits and just augmented them with socks, kerchefs, ties and shirts. I can also understand the "wear your clothes" mentality when traveling. I do that myself to help lighten the weight on my duffel bag when I go to Alaska every year.

 

[dwebber18]

This all has just furthered my desire for a quality leather travel bag for short weekend trips or up to 3 or 4 days when packed well. However, my wife can only make do with a suitcase for shoes, and toiletries. She is small but can max out a suitcase, and I'm a big guy so I have big clothes so its a bit of a challenge sometimes especially now that airlines are charging extra. Carrying on to Florida in a few weeks so I'm going to try to cut down to essentials.

 

[mwelch8404]

Colonel, is that the Duluth Trading AWOL bag?

 

[Seb Lucas]

There are many answers to this question much of them depending on class and country. In England they had more formal requirements than in America. In Australia the middle and upper classes tended to copy the English.

My Father who came from Europe is 90. He was working class. He tells me that the average man had the following.

Stuff:
A cut throat razor (kept at the barber. One or two shaves a week.)

A wrist watch

A pocket knife

A lighter

The above items were often passed on from father to son.

Clothing:

A good suit (for church and interviews)

An older "worn in" suit

An overcoat

A pair of casual trousers

A pair of bathers

4-5 shirts (mostly white/grey)

7 sets of underwear

7 socks (often hand knitted by mother)

2 ties

2-3 pairs of shoes

1 or two fedoras and a cap

Clothing was washed once a week and a shirt could be worn 2 to 3 days

It wasn't until the 1950's were well and truly underway that working people started to experiment a little with colour and nylons.