Libby's Lunchbox

In the 1920's America was undergoing a change. Men and women were moving off the farm and into cities; away from the farm and into the office or factory. This change rippled through American life, impacting everything from spending habits to how the nation thought about lunch. There was a time when the dinner bell would ring and the hands would come in from the fields for lunch, but with the factory came the lunch hour and the lunch box.

Libby's 1922 ad is big on health talk, though I'm not quite sure they have the definition right. I believe this is the first and only time you'll find Vienna Sausage called "healthful". I'm curious about the mixture of graphic and photographic elements in this ad. Why is the peach obviously drawn while most everything else looks like it's photographed? Did the art director look at the composition and thing, "Jeesh, we didn't put any fruit in the lunchbox! We can't have a square meal without fruit!" Ironically most of us now know Libby strictly as a company which produces fruit products. Strange how these things happen, first it's Vienna Sausage and Veal Loaf and the next thing you know it's fruit cocktail.

I had no luck locating the Welfare Building in Chicago, IL. Type "welfare" into Google and you're destined for insanity. I guess Libby's Chicago mail drop will remain a mystery that will have to be solved another day.