The North American building can be seen in this real-photo postcard.
Morton McMichael, a one-time mayor of Philadelphia and editor of the Saturday Evening Post, founded The North American newspaper in 1839. He was 32 and an enthusiastic member of a political faction known as the Jacksonian Democrats. The newspaper had a devoted audience, most of whom subscribed to the philosophy asserted in the paper’s mission statement: A Sane Exponent. McMichael died in 1879 and is buried in the famous Philadelphia cemetery – Laurel Hill. His newspaper carried on under other managers until 1925.
There are no known factsheets detailing the daily routines at the newspaper, but this postal card is evidence of one activity that may have been popular.
You can see that the message is a recipe for something called “The North American Dish.” The message continues with the information that the recipe was created by Mrs. Anna B. Scott several years ago (apparently prior to 1917) and the result is a “tasty combination.”
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The card is addressed to Mrs. Henry J. Nilson. Mrs. Nilson’s husband was a Philadelphia lawyer with a reputation that was based on who he was rather than what he did. Henry was a veteran of the Pennsylvania Volunteers from April to October 1898. After his military service he attended law school and soon became the counselor for the Philadelphia Socialist Party. He was born in New Jersey in 1878 the only son of an English-Welsh immigrant. He married Wilhemina Dannerth in 1901 and shortly afterward took up residence at 2336 S. 21st Street in southwest Philadelphia. The couple had four daughters: Teresa, Susanna, Ruth, and Henrietta. Mrs. Wilhemina Nilson survived her husband by 36 years. She died in November 1966.
Mr. Nilson’s obituary (Philadelphia Inquirer, October 2, 1930) identifies Nilson as one of the oldest members of the Pen and Pencil Club of Philadelphia. The Pen & Pencil Club is one of the oldest surviving press clubs in the country. Since 1892, the P&P, has been open daily at 1522 Latimer Street, with nearly no interruption, including during Prohibition and World War II. It is the result of the merging of several membership groups and private clubs dedicated to journalists, editors and other members of the working press.
Nilson’s work as an attorney figured prominently in the investigation of Communist Party activities in America in 1919. After World War I and into the early 1920s, the Red Scare came about because many in the United States feared recent immigrants and dissidents, particularly those who embraced communist, socialist, or anarchist ideology.
Remember the adage, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
Interesting. I have been collecting recipes on postcards for many many years, so I was a bit disappointed to see this card did not give the actual recipe. Being curious as to what this was, a surprisingly quick Google search linked me to Mrs. Anna B. Scott’s Seasonal Cook Book, published in 1921. Thanks to Google having the cookbook online in it’s entirety, The North American Dish is something like a cornbread: 2 cups yellow cornmeal 1 cup flour 1 cup seeded raisins 1 cup milk 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon oleomargarine 1 egg 1 level teaspoon salt Sift… Read more »
I too, was disappointed that there was no recipe on the postcard. I’m glad you did the research and provided the info for the rest of us who are curious natured.
Thomas Wanamaker, who acquired The North American in 1899, was the son of department store founder John Wanamaker.