Stories, prices and games from the America we grew up in, plus one short daily email.https://backthendaily.com/https://backthendaily.com/prices-and-wages-1960s/https://backthendaily.com/prices-and-wages-1960s/In 1960 the median family made $5,620 and the average worker $2.09 an hour. What bread, gas, a car and a house cost, and the work each took then and now.Wed, 28 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/milkman/https://backthendaily.com/milkman/In 1954 more than half of America's milk still came to the door. The USDA numbers on home delivery, what the milkman's quart cost against the store's, and why it faded.Tue, 27 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/sears-kit-homes/https://backthendaily.com/sears-kit-homes/From 1908 to 1940, Sears sold houses out of a catalog. How to tell if yours is one, what they cost, and why nobody knows how many were built.Mon, 26 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/old-records-value/https://backthendaily.com/old-records-value/Most old LPs sell for a few dollars, and the big hits are among the cheapest. The label, the numbers in the dead wax and condition pick out the few worth more.Sun, 25 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/childhood-games/https://backthendaily.com/childhood-games/How to play Kick the Can, Red Rover, Red Light, Mother May I, Statues, hide-and-seek, jacks and jump rope, from rules and chants written down between 1883 and 1978.Sat, 24 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/polio-sugar-cube/https://backthendaily.com/polio-sugar-cube/In the early 1960s whole towns lined up on Sundays for Sabin's oral polio vaccine on a sugar cube. What it was, what it cost, and why the U.S. stopped in 2000.Fri, 23 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/house-prices-1950-1960-1970/https://backthendaily.com/house-prices-1950-1960-1970/The typical home was worth $7,354 in 1950, $11,900 in 1960 and $17,000 in 1970, by the Census count. What those numbers really mean, and what houses sold for.Thu, 22 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/drive-in-theaters/https://backthendaily.com/drive-in-theaters/The first drive-in opened near Camden, N.J., in 1933. How it worked, what the screen told the cars, why most closed, and where about 280 still run.Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/green-stamps/https://backthendaily.com/green-stamps/Old S&H Green Stamps can't be redeemed anymore. What a book took to fill and bought from the Ideabook, how the stamps ended, and what old books and signs sell for now.Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/radioshack/https://backthendaily.com/radioshack/RadioShack went bankrupt twice, in 2015 and 2017. Who owns the name now, where it's sold, and the story of the battery card, CB and the TRS-80.Mon, 19 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/family-life-in-the-1950s/https://backthendaily.com/family-life-in-the-1950s/A 1950s family weekday, from the kitchen radio at breakfast to the late show, told through surveys and voices of the time, plus what a week of groceries cost.Sun, 18 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/1950s-cars/https://backthendaily.com/1950s-cars/The '55 Chevy, the '57 Ford, the Thunderbird, the finned Cadillac, the VW and the Edsel: what each cost new, with owners' own words from the time.Sat, 17 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/singer-sewing-machine-value/https://backthendaily.com/singer-sewing-machine-value/What old Singer treadle, cabinet and Featherweight machines really sold for at U.S. auctions, how to date yours by its serial number, and why most are worth so little.Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/woolworth/https://backthendaily.com/woolworth/Woolworth's closed its last U.S. stores in 1997. The lunch counter menus, the Greensboro sit-in, the day the counters closed and how the company became Foot Locker.Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://backthendaily.com/hummel-figurines-value/https://backthendaily.com/hummel-figurines-value/Most Hummels now sell for a fraction of their old list price. Four old U.S. price lists, real auction and eBay results, and how to read the mark on the bottom.Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 GMT