Wednesday, January 13, 2010

VTT - Margarine and Butter

Margarine was invented as a butter substitute by a French chemist in 1869 and was introduced to the U. S. in the 1870s. The dairy industry did everything it could could think of to ban and restrict the sale of margarine. The "War on Margarine" lasted for more than 80 years in the U. S. and even longer in some other places. Strategies included banning the sale of margarine, slander, special taxes, and anti-color laws. Margarine is naturally white, and for many years the yellow color had to be added by the consumer because manufacturers were prohibited from or taxed on the sale of yellow margarine. Margarine, nevertheless, eventually become popular because it is cheaper than butter.



This postcard falls into two of my favorite postcard collecting categories: advertising and recipes. The front has a picture of the Durkee's Oleomargarine package and a recipe for Southern Spoon Bread using Durkee's Margarine. The back has a "Dear Mrs. Housewife" letter extolling the virtues of Durkee's Margarine's nutritional values, economy, flavor, and texture. This postcard is postmarked FEB26'42.




The next picture is of my wooden butter tub. When I bought this at an antique show, I asked the seller what it was used for. The seller didn't know, but when I got the tub home, I found the words "Wis. Butter Tub Co." on the bottom rim. My butter tub was probably never used for butter or other food. In the 1950s the Wisconsin Butter Tub Company was still making these tubs, but some of them were being used by artists who decorated them for use as toy boxes, magazine containers, wastebaskets, sewing kits, and fireplace wood boxes.

I feel very lucky to have found this butter tub, because I have never seen another wooden butter tub in good condition. It is 15" high and has a 15-1/2" top diameter. It fits in very well with my pine furniture and is useful both for storage and as a small table.





I'm participating in Vintage Thingie Thursday

28 comments:

  1. I love the postcard and the recipe. I 've not seen an advertising card like this before..and it's wonderful..And,I love the butter tub. It's really pretty and I would so love to have one. Happy VTT..have a lovely weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That butter tub is so wonderful! Such great condition, and thank goodness no one painted over it!
    I had no idea about the history of margarine! I didn't know that it had been around for so long, and I didn't know about the controversy over it. Great post!
    Happy VTT!
    Carol

    ReplyDelete
  3. My mom remembers adding the yellow color to margarine when she was little. When I grew up, we had margarine all the time and called it 'butter' - real butter tasted funny to me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the "Dear Mrs. Housewife...
    contains 80% fat as the other expensive spreads..." This is a neat card.

    ReplyDelete
  5. What wonderful things you shared today. The butter tub looks in great condition. I always love seeing vintage cards.

    ReplyDelete
  6. what an informative post..makes me glad that i've returned to using 'real' butter! btw i love your butter tub..a real conversation piece :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great postcard. And I LOVE the wooden butter tub. Great find.

    Jocelyn
    http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. So nice to hear the story about margarine ... it sure puts the butter story into context.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for the education. That was interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love the butter tub and the vintage postcard is cute!
    Happy VTT
    ~Ann

    ReplyDelete
  11. I see lots of vintage ads for margarine and they are always so convincing ! Now its so bad for you! How times change!

    Happy vtt!

    ReplyDelete
  12. PostCardy...very unique Blog Title, collection, and Butter Tub! I bet Julia Childs didn't even know all that info and history about butter...I sure didn't. Thanks for sharing. I love your post card collection and theme and will come back to browse your blog. This is my first VTT and I'm having a great time seeing everyone's Vintage collections. I hope you'll stop by and see my HeadVase collection.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Love the tub, so many things you can use it for. The butter history is great; I am sending the link to your post to my dad. Our family is still fighting the oleo vs. butter war in 2010!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I admire you collection of vintage postcards very much! I just love looking at all the old things that were so commonplace when I was a child.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love the advertising postcard and the recipe. When I lived in Minn. in the 1970s margarine still came with the coloring on the side...needless to say, I bought butter!

    Your butter tub is wonderful and the condition is unbelievable-what a great find!

    (I see I was wrong when I thought no one else would have an edible post! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love old advertising. especially for food! Times changed so much!

    Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Nice postcard, old adds are fun. The buttertub seems to be in very good condition, congrats to that one. Thanks for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I remember my Mom saying that her and her siblings would argue over who got to break the coloring capsule into the margarine to make it yellow. Love your butter tub :)

    Blessings!
    Gail

    ReplyDelete
  19. Love the postcard but must confess I am a farmer's daughter & I HATE margarine! I will rather forgo spread than use margarine it tastes so awful to me. I wish they had banned it,LOL
    Now the butter tub, well that's a different matter!

    ReplyDelete
  20. What a wonderful find. I love the postcard and recipe. It's odd--I didn't know people had to add the yellow coloring to margarine in the beginning...

    I liked this post!

    ReplyDelete
  21. You always have the most interesting posts. Love the story of margarine.

    Happy VTT,

    Jo

    ReplyDelete
  22. What a wonderful find, love the postcard and I agree..when they come with recipes that is so neat! Happy VTT!

    ReplyDelete
  23. I never knew that about margarine. I love learning new things. Hmm, I wonder where they kept those huge tubs of butter? Thanks for stopping by my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Ohh, love that butter tub! I've never seen one of those before, how neat that it's in good condition and useful.

    ReplyDelete
  25. The butter top is awesome. Great patina.
    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  26. You learn something new every day. I've never seen one of those butter tubs, but it looks like something my grandparents might have had in their early American living room from the early 1960s.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Postcards really reminds us many things... :)

    ReplyDelete