This week's Hagley Vault post is a real (sugar) rush, as it's in recognition of the invention of Hostess Twinkies snack cakes, created on April 6, 1930 by James A. Dewar, plant manager at Continental Baking Company, in Chicago, Illinois. 

Dewar created the confection while looking for an inexpensive product to meet the economic needs of consumers during the Great Depression, and noted that that the baking pans used to make strawberry sponge cakes lay idle during months when strawberries were out of season.

This image comes from the back cover of "The Wonder Book of Good Meals", a pamphlet produced by the Continental Baking Company around 1932 to capitalize on the company's participation in Chicago's Century of Progress International Exposition. The pamphlet contained recipes for sandwiches, appetizers, desserts, and other delights that could be made with one of the company's other iconic products; Wonder Bread.

Everything is just fine and candy this week as we hop along to the Easter holiday. The two peeps in a pod joining us for an Easter egg hunt in this ca. 1932 photograph are Junius and Paulina Dean, the children of Junius Simpson Dean (1896-1978) and Paulina du Pont Dean (1903-1964).

Paulina was the niece of Pierre Samuel "P.S." du Pont (1870-1954), who assembled the P.S. du Pont photographs (Accession 1969.002) collection that contains this item. This large collection of over 6,000 items documents P.S. du Pont's many interests as well as the many members of the du Pont family.

The series containing this photograph is the 'Individuals and families' series, which includes photographs and glass negatives featuring P.S. du Pont, his family and extended family, as well as friends and associates. 

Hello, Spring! It may be off to a chilly start, but spring is here and blooms are sure to follow. We're getting the jump on those early spring flowers this week with a page from the Henry F. Michell Company's Fall 1945 catalog.

The still-operating and still family-owned horticultural business was founded in Philadelphia in 1890 by Swedish immigrants, the brothers Henry and Frederick J. Michell. 

The catalog is part of Hagley Library's collection of trade catalogs. You can view it, as well as other publications from the Henry F. Michell Company, online in our Digital Archives by clicking here.

Yaass, duplex! We're going to werk this week with some buildings that serve, honey. Or serve gasoline, anyway.

This ca. 1940 pamphlet from the Sun Oil Company is a guide to service station construction, intended to walk its dealers through the basics of the exterior and interior of 'Suntype' gasoline and automobile service station construction and layout.

This manual is part of Hagley Library's collection of published materials. You can view it online now in our Digital Archives by clicking here.