Here's a little reminder that today is your last day to get those income taxes filed. This photograph, taken in Elmont, Long Island on May 2, 1938, shows Rose Moline "saving a penny" by purchasing cigarettes just outside the New York City county line. On May 1st, the city instituted a sales tax on cigarettes that prompted many of the city's shopkeepers to set up stands like this one along the city's borders.
This photograph comes from Hagley Library's collection of Chamber of Commerce of the United States photographs and audiovisual materials, Series II. Nation's Business photographs (Accession 1993.230.II). This series contains more than 15,000 original photographs that were taken for publication in the the Chamber of Commerce of the United States' magazine, Nation's Business. The images date from the 1890s to 2004, with a bulk of the material dating from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Nation’s Business was a monthly publication from the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, a private lobbying group representing American business interests. The Chamber used the publication to inform the business community about commercial trends and to solidify political support around key positions on government policies regarding business and economic life.
Nation's Business is call number f HF1.N38 in the Hagley Library's Published Collections Department; our holdings cover all the years of its publication (1912 to 1999), with most volumes included in their entirety. All of the issues in our collection of Nation's Business from 1915 on have been digitized - you can view them online now by clicking here or view a digital collection of Chamber of Commerce of the United States photographs, videos, and publications by clicking here.