Dating, Dancing, and Riding in Cars
A Scrapbook Archive of Teen Culture in the 1930s
Cigarette manufacturing was one of the few Depression-proof industries (along with shoe manufacturing, interestingly). It was particularly a thriving industry in North Carolina, with tobacco farms across the state and manufacturers in Durham, Reidsville, and Winston-Salem (Price Davis).
In the 1930s cigarette smoking became increasingly popular among teenagers—young men and women. In the early 1900s, teenagers were strictly forbidden to smoke, and those young men who wanted to partake in tobacco did so in the strictest secrecy (Palladino). Women smokers were considered disreputable and immoral (Fass).
Then, in the 1920s, cigarette smoking became a primary means of rebellion among middle-class American youths. And although authority figures continued to disparage teen smoking (specifically, in young women), it quickly became an acceptable social habit among peers. Most college campuses, however, still had no-smoking rules (specifically for female students) and did not hesitate to punish students who broke those rules. Fass notes that schools even went so far as to dismiss female smokers. In the 1920s, Nebraska Weslyan Teachers College had a policy of refusing teaching certificates to students caught smoking just once (Fass). As the decade wore on, however, smoking became more and more mainstream. By 1927, North Carolina’s Duke Chronicle even featured an Old Golds advertisement in which two young women were depicted enjoying a pack of cigarettes (Fass 296).
exhibit m.
cigarettes
In the 1930s it was acceptable for young men, and to a lesser extent, young women, to smoke in public. Cigarette smoking lost its appeal, somewhat, as a symbol of rebellion. This isn’t to say, however, that parents and educators approved of teen smoking. Most adults viewed teen tobacco use as a vice that led to poor grades, disrespect, and an unmoral lifestyle (Palladino). A national survey conducted in 1937 revealed that 95 percent of respondents thought that men should smoke openly on the street, but only 28 percent thought that women should enjoy the same privilege (Young and Young 55). Smoking remained strictly prohibited on many college campuses in the 1930s, particularly those in more rural, conservative regions. ( See rule 4 under “General” in the ASTC Handbook: “No smoking is allowed in Administration building or on campus.”)
Jane saved empty cigarette packs and cigarette butts from social outings with her friends and posted them to her scrapbook. For Jane, smoking would have been a progressive and fashionable activity for her to take part in. The cigarette pack above is Camel brand, the most popular cigarette brand in the 1930s, which was manufactured in Winston-Salem, N.C. (Price Davis). Camel, along with Marlboro, frequently targeted young women during the 1930s with advertisements in women’s magazines such as Good Housekeeping (Young and Young). These advertisements often highlighted the “pleasures of smoking for women,” depicting attractive socialites smoking freely (Young and Young 56).
Jane included only a handful of cigarette packs in her scrapbook, which suggests that she was an infrequent smoker and probably only smoked as a social activity, which was typical of middle-class teen women at the time. She may have saved the packs as a token not only of the good time she enjoyed with friends, but of her trendiness and sophistication as well.
cigarette pack from jane's date with cicero falls
cigarette butts in jane's scrapbook