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On the date

Saturday, August 7, 1920

From the day

Perspective: The Anxious Local · Tactile

I gripped the rough, wool-stuffed arms of the new Raggedy Andy doll, my knuckles white as I stared at the newspaper’s grim headlines about the Bolsheviks advancing on Teheran. The scratchy rayon of my drop-waisted dress felt stifling in this summer heat, a poor comfort when the world seems to have a crush on chaos and war again. Everything is rising; I nearly took a faint when the station man demanded **$0.30** just for a gallon of gas to get home. My hands shook as I adjusted my suffocating cloche hat, praying for a return to normalcy before these red shadows reach our own front doors.

Memories from that day

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The Headlines

BOLSHEVIKI MOVE TO AID MOSLEMS; Force of Reds Advances on Teheran and Persian Capital and Court Will Flee.PART OF BIG RED PROJECTLenin Said to Have Promised120,000 Men to OpposeBritish and French.

Read in The New York Times →

Best-selling Sheet Music

Whispering

John Schonberger

The must-have

Raggedy Andy

Slang

Slang of the decade

General

applesaucebaloneycheaterscrush

Flapper

bee's kneescat's pajamasgiggle watershebahotsy-totsy

Gangster

big cheesebump offstool pigeongatfall guy

Catchphrases of 1920

  • Return to normalcy

Tech Check

Commercial Radio Stations (KDKA), Hair Dryer & Band-Aid.

Style of 1920

Silhouette: Straight and drop-waisted (Flapper)

Material: Beaded silk and rayon

  • Bobbed hair
  • Cloche hats
  • T-strap heels

Cost of Living (1920)

Loaf of Bread

$0.11

Gallon of Gas

$0.30

Average Home

$6,296

New Car

$575

Meanwhile

  • Post-WWI RecessionSevere deflation and collapse of agricultural prices.

Time Elapsed

38,653 days ago

(105 years, 328 days)