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Foxdale Village Meeting
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When I first met my partner Anna I realized
how much the live now is different from the past. Cities have changed in many
aspects such as streets, transportation, and so on. Even the social system of
life has changed. "People, once upon a time, were more social than they
are now" she said.
My partner is originally from the United
Kingdom. She immigrated to the United States in the 1950s after she got married
with a man from Pennsylvania. She experienced the whole aspects of life in
Pennsylvania and she knows everything about this area because she studied and
worked here. As a part of our discussion we talked about many problems in the
past. We talk about work and how much was difficult to find a job in the past.
Also we talked about weather. As she said the weather in the past especially in
Pennsylvania was much colder than now. However, I was curious to know the
differences between the clothes when she was young and what has changed so far?
When I asked Anna about this she said
"things in the past were cheaper or tended to be cheaper than now."
She said" people could afford to buy things because there were more job
opportunities. Therefore, I tried to investigate that and looked to some
articles in newspaper especially the Daily Collegian during the 1950s period.
According to this newspaper which was issued in May 20, 1947, page 3, the price
of clothes for suits was between $31.50 and $40.50 as a maximum, but for
sweaters was between $2.60 and $7.95 as a maximum and for pajamas was between
$2.95 and $4.75 as a maximum price (the Daily Collegian, 1947). When I saw this
price I thought it was much cheaper. In fact, the number is lower than now, but
the price is similar if we compare the real price between now and the past.
According to the U.S. Inflation Calculator the suit that cost me $31.50 in 1947
would cost me $333.78 now which is close to the actual price. Also for sweaters
its price in 1947 was $2.60 as a minimum price equal to $27.55 which is also
close to the current price. So, there is a slight different in the real price
for those items even though there is a large difference in the number. Another
thing I want to mention it is that the clothes in the past were longer, bigger and
more formal. Unlike clothes in the past, cloths nowadays are made from less
expensive materials that’s why the price is lower if we compare it with
nowadays clothes. That’s what I observed when I took a look at La Vei 1956 you
will see students on the campus walking while wearing suits and they dressed
up. So there were not a big differences between both period regarding the price
of clothes except the number and the kind of materials.
The
Pennsylvania State University. (1956 ). La Vie 1956. Retrieved from
The Pennsylvania State University. ( 1947,may 20). The
daily collegian. Retrieved
From
The
U.S inflation calculator.com.
