Our house was finished and sold to the first owners on Oct. 14, 1914. I decided to stop into one of my favorite places in Portland, the Multnomah County Central Library, downtown and scan some images from the microfiche from that time.

In October 1914 a number of issues were on the minds of Portlanders: World War I, women’s suffrage, and the upcoming November vote for statewide alcohol prohibition (which passed that November and was put into effect in 1916, years before the national prohibiton went into effect).

Booze

When PBR used to be classy.

“Beer is Not Alcohol” Henry Weinhard ad. Things that make you go hmmmm?

An ad against prohibition.

Beauty & Fashion

I grabbed some examples of the fashion of the period.

Yay for spats!

Men’s fashion hasn’t changed much

The women’s fashion is more interesting.

Remedies

I found some ads for some interesting remedies.

Darken gray hair with sage and sulfur! Who knew?

Ooo a cure for an overworked women

Entertainment

Talking pictures in the theater on Oct. 14, 1914.

Victrola advertisement

Career Training

I wish school was still this cheap! Many courses are only $5!

Food

Mmmm Fruit Rocks?! I think they are high in fiber, though…

Fixtures & Furniture

Here’s some great examples of period appropriate furniture and fixtures for the house.

Light fixtures

Full set of bathroom fixtures for only $39.00! Take me back to 1914 prices, please!

Beds for a couple bucks! Nice!

Furniture for the new home. I wonder what style they furnished our house with.

I’ve posted all the uncropped microfilm scans to my Flickr feed. You can click on “All Sizes” above each photo if you want to view the high resolution versions.

If you live in Portland and have never been, get down to the Central branch! The rare book room is reason enough, or request to look at the real Sanborn maps of your house! If you have names, you can search their card catalog to pull up dates of microfilm that pertain to that person. I’ve found a ton of house/genealogical information that way.

In addition to Ancestry.com, Portland homeowners can also find lots of information with the Multnomah County Library House History Resource page or with my article, House History Research: Portland How-to.