About us
Last updated
Back Then Daily is about the America many of us grew up in: the kitchens and the cars, the stores we shopped at and the restaurants we begged to go to, what things cost and what they’re worth now.
We write for readers who remember those years, and for their children and grandchildren who want to know what it was really like.
What you’ll find here
- Stories and guides. What happened to a brand you loved, how to tell what that old piece in the attic is, how people really lived in a given decade.
- Prices then and now. What a house, a gallon of gas or a box of cereal cost, with the year, the source and the same amount in today’s dollars.
- Your Year. Type the year you were born and see what America looked like that year, from the price of a stamp to the president in office.
- Games and polls. Guess the price, test your memory, tell us what you remember.
- A short daily email. One story, one quiz and one thing you’ll remember, every morning. It’s free and you can leave anytime.
Who writes it
Our articles are written by Wance Payton, who reads the old catalogs, newspapers, ads and government records behind every piece. How we research explains where our facts come from and how we check them.
How the site is paid for
Back Then Daily is free to read. Ads pay for it. Advertisers never choose, review or pay for what we write, and we don’t publish paid articles dressed up as our own.
What we promise
- Accuracy first. Prices, dates and names come from records we can point to, and we list our sources at the end of every article.
- No clickbait. If a headline asks a question, the article answers it, near the top.
- Respect. We write for grown-ups who lived it. No jokes at anyone’s expense.
- Corrections in the open. When we get something wrong, we fix it and say so.
Get in touch
We read every message. Write to us at hello@backthendaily.com, or see all the ways to reach us.