JanessaVR Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Can anyone suggest any further resources on general life in the 1920s beyond the 1920s Investigator's Companion? I've found a few possible leads on Amazon, but I'm hoping for some suggestions. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoon!! Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 If you're looking for prices and the like, try googling for Seer's catalog's from the 1920's? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanessaVR Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 No, I'm not looking for an equipment catalog. I'm looking for more detail on what it was like to live in the 1920s. In short, fluff not crunch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baron Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 There was an old guidebook to New York City from way back, on Gutenberg. I can't find the file, so I don't remember the name, but you might find it with some good searching. Or maybe someone here will remember it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajagappa Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 The Time-Life series This Fabulous Century was about America through the first 8 decades of the 20th century with a volume for each decade. The 1920's volume is a good reference (and you can get a used version for practically the price of shipping). https://www.amazon.com/This-Fabulous-Century-1920-1930/dp/0809457660 https://www.amazon.com/This-Fabulous-Century-Full-Set/dp/B000CD2WA6 Check out the video: The Century: America's Time - 1920-1929: Boom To Bust https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN7ftyZigYs Also, I highly recommend Studs Terkel's Hard Times, An Oral History of the Great Depression https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Times-History-Great-Depression/dp/1565846567 Though covering the 1930's, many of the recollections reflect back on the 1920s. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanessaVR Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 @jajagappa: Thank you very much! I'll check those out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius West Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Assuming that you are setting your game in the USA I would suggest the Ken Burns documentaries "Jazz" (2001) and "Prohibition" (2011). They are both well worth your time. As a Keeper you would be well advised to become familiar with the technology of the time, because many things you would think they had, they didn't have, and they did have some things you wouldn't expect. A classic example is stoves. Many people were still cooking with coal in the 20s, and often gas had a bad reputation left over from gas lighting times. Most houses relied on ice deliveries not refrigerators, as while Frigidaire began producing refrigerators in 1923, most households couldn't afford them yet. That meant there was a whole culture of back alley service provision for things like ice, and briquettes (stamped coal dust block fuel). It was also a time of repair shops. People didn't throw damaged appliances away, they mainly had them repaired, and such repairs were a major service industry. Milk and bread were delivered fresh daily with the newspaper on subscription, and the milk bottles were recycled. In the early 1920s good cars (non-Model T flivvers) cost more than houses, but by 1927 that had recently reversed. There are also SO MANY car company brands that it will make your head spin. There are very few airlines, and the main commercial uses for planes are basically crop dusting and mail delivery. The only Trans-Atlantic flights are by Zeppelin and are a ruinously expensive novelty. On the other hand, Atlantic transit by ship can be done in 3.5 days in comparative comfort. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noita Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I suggest reading books from the era. Im a fan of PG wodehouse. http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/39.Best_Books_of_the_Decade_1920_s 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius West Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 7 hours ago, Iskallor said: I suggest reading books from the era. Im a fan of PG wodehouse. http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/39.Best_Books_of_the_Decade_1920_s They are hilarious. Bertie Wooster and Jeeves are a great example of comedy of manners and class in 1920s England, and something of a must if you want to set C'thulhu in 1920s England. Certainly an easy introduction to 1920s England, even if it is perhaps the opposite of Lovecraft. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soltakss Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Imagine Jeeves and Wooster in a Call of Cthulhu scenario. Wooster wouldn't know what was going on and would bumble through, until he met a Mythos creature with a cry of "Crikey!" Jeeves would know exactly what was going on and would be able to manipulate everyone without going insane, or would go spectacularly insane and nobody would notice. 3 Quote Simon Phipp - Caldmore Chameleon - Wallowing in my elitism since 1982. Many Systems, One Family. Just a fanboy. www.soltakss.com/index.html Jonstown Compendium author. Find my contributions here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanessaVR Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 @jajagappa: It only cost me $5 for a copy of This Fabulous Century (1920s) on Amazon; it's on the way. @Darius West: Both of those documentaries are available on Amazon Video and I've started watching them. Thanks much! As to your other information - YES! That's exactly the kind of detail I was looking for! Do you you have any other references to recommend where you learned those details? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajagappa Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 23 hours ago, JanessaVR said: It only cost me $5 for a copy of This Fabulous Century (1920s) on Amazon; it's on the way. Good deal! It's an interesting period. For a very different, in the period, view you can track down old almanacs and city directories. For example, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Almanac of 1921. https://books.google.com/books?id=KOgCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false There's a huge range of detail for NYC there from societies to churches to municipal government information to sporting records (even chess!), not to mention advertisements (e.g. p.466: Kings' County Detective Bureau; Expert Detective Service; Confidential Investigations; Dependable Evidence Secured and Reliable Information Obtained. or on p.469 Dr. James P. Campbell's Arsenic Complexion Wafers). Or the Chicago Daily News Almanac and Yearbook 1919. https://books.google.com/books?id=cXNQAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Check out p.537 for Plots and Espionage Cases in the US. Or p.970+ describing the Chicago Telephone company and its facilities for workers. Or. p.988, what to see and how to get there on the Chicago Elevated ("L") trains. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JanessaVR Posted January 23, 2017 Author Share Posted January 23, 2017 Some further reference works I've found: Audio Book: Boardwalk Empire Free Bonus Material: The Speakeasy Guide to Prohibition Era Slang – Extended Edition TV Series: Boardwalk Empire. From what I've been seeing, and reading up on, these guys really did their research for this show. Books: Flapper by Joshua Zeitz, and The Speakeasies of 1932 by Gordon Kahn and Al Hirschfield. And after watching it, I can't recommend the Ken Burns documentary "Prohibition" enough. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darius West Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 On 1/24/2017 at 9:27 AM, JanessaVR said: Some further reference works I've found: Audio Book: Boardwalk Empire Free Bonus Material: The Speakeasy Guide to Prohibition Era Slang – Extended Edition TV Series: Boardwalk Empire. From what I've been seeing, and reading up on, these guys really did their research for this show. Books: Flapper by Joshua Zeitz, and The Speakeasies of 1932 by Gordon Kahn and Al Hirschfield. And after watching it, I can't recommend the Ken Burns documentary "Prohibition" enough. I enjoyed Boardwalk Empire a lot. A shame that HBO sometimes leaves a show to flounder and peter out rather than end properly. The real story of Enoch "Nucky" Johnson was more interesting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enoch_L._Johnson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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