Now that we have our new calendar in place to help track the year ahead let’s have a look back at some of the thousands of calendars available for your perusal at the Digital Public Library of America, DPLA. Derived from the Latin word kalendae, which was the name of the first day of every month, there are as many varieties of calendars as there are days of the month.
From a 12th century Book of Hours to a 16th century perpetual calendar to a Native American calendar on buckskin to a handwritten calendar by Lee Harvey Oswald there is no shortage of creative ways to track time and in many cases to advertise ones business.
Enjoy!
November/December, 12th century
Perpetual Calendar by Ortensio Toro, 1594
Kiowa Anko calendar on buckskin, ca. 1871 – ca. 1907
Ladies Calendar 1889 perfumed with Hoyt’s German Cologne
“Little Miss Zenoleum” [sic: title under portrait] from The Zenner Disinfectant Co., Detroit, Michigan, 1905
Wills’s Cigarettes, 1912 NYPL
Handwritten calendar, Lee Harvey Oswald
Alkahn Labels, Inc. Jacquard woven calendar for 1987
top image: [Calendar from 1879 depicting a woman, child and birds.] by L. Prang & Co
This post first appeared on the blog of the DPLA