Dryin’ To The Oldies

A recent bout of spring cleaning turned into an archaeological dig when Sherry uncovered this piece of ancient history:

Old Sear Roebuck and Company Kenmore Dryer Manual

Ok, so it’s no dinosaur bone, but who expects to find something this dated in their own filing cabinet? What we had stumbled upon was the installation manual for our old - wait, scratch that - REALLY OLD dryer, which has since been donated to make way for our new front-loaders. (Below is the only pic we have the old stuff, which was taken mid-demo. It was too ugly to photograph otherwise.)

Laundry 1

Somehow we didn’t see the manual during our first flip through the files we inherited from our home’s previous owner. But based on the vintage illustrations and old school Sears, Roebuck and Co. logo we were able to determine that the manual (and therefore the ol’ Kenmore dryer) was from the 1950s. Which means that our former laundry appliances were probably original (!) to our 1956 house. We actually shouldn’t be that shocked. As Lowe’s was hauling our dryer away to be donated the guy was rambling about how he’d never seen such an archaic appliance with actual cinder blocks built right into the base to keep it from scooting around.

Admittedly, I now feel some pangs of guilt for letting go of such an “antique”. But we’re sure there have been just a few significant dryer developments in the last half of a century, so we can certainly appreciate that we’re cleaning our clothes in less time with less noise while using less electricity. Oh and the new front loading version is also a heck of a lot easier on the eyes.

laundry nook after

(Post by John)

 

 

 

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Comments

Very cool to find that!!! Do you have the original deed to your house? We were given ours and can trace the house from the land that was given to this man’s daughter in 1910, through selling it, divorces, etc. An amazing piece of history. I love the wife in heels and daughter in matching dress standing back watching the installation man (hubby?) while he slides those cinder blocks across her shiny, sparkling floor!

Fun! I like the flair on their dresses.
I love what you did to the back of the laundry space…so easy and yet such a nice way to hide the mechanicals, but still give easy access to the water shut-offs.

What a great find! Have you thought about framing a page and putting it in your current laundry nook? I could be a fun piece of art…

Ooh, framing it is a great idea. I do love quirky old finds. We actually have a quirky drawing of our lot framed in the living room. It’s funny to see our tiny house drawn on a big rectangular acre of land. Plus at the top there are a few notes about land size and coordinates and the last note is a tiny sentence that crack us up. It reads: “House is old.”

xo
Sherry

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