This is interesting… no matter how much time passes in any given location, the demand for citizen information will never really change. People always need to know the location of things, the time they open and close, and so on. And it wasn’t different 100 years ago, but no Internet can quickly check to make sure you can go where you need it.
I am looking at the digital public area of the Bangor Public Library website, which was quickly attracted to the 1909 Bango Pocket Guide. As far as I know, this is a booklet that can be shared and can share a lot of relevant information, including all train schedules, to find your own dentist or family doctor.
It also has all the current fish and game laws in which hospitals and churches are located. Even the location and collection time of the mailbox! Basically, in this era, you can find it in two seconds on your smartphone screen with two fingers. Contrary to the time, when the phone number has only three digits!
If you want to download the guide and view it, see page 15, you will find and publish “Trance Medium”… In other words, someone tells you the future. I guess psychology is also a big problem. On page 27, there is an advertisement for Scott&Co, the only fresh coffee roaster from Bangor that brings you an amazing $18 to $0.35 per ounce! It sounds cheap, but keep in mind that the average hourly wage in 1909 was $0.22 per hour, for a total of $450 a year!
On page 22, I found that the long distance call from Bangor to Boston was $1.25 for three minutes!
Again, considering the salary level, the three-minute call to Boston is a half-day salary! But the guide also lists a lot of other necessary information… you can find cemeteries, public fountains, Wardwell houses, corsets…
Of course, maybe something on their “must have” list no longer exists on our list. I didn’t see women flocking to the city center to line up in the corset shop, but I still saw people drinking coffee, going to the theater, going out to eat, all these things have been today.
But you know what ancient proverbs are….. Sometimes, the more things change, the more they are the same.