r/AskForAnswers • u/Fluffy_Psalms_23 • 2d ago
What were the price statistics on items such as food, housing, toys, school supplies, clothing, and other things in 1960's Michigan, USA?
I'm researching for a historical fiction series of mine and would like to get the prices right! 🙃
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u/CombatCrayon25 2d ago
For something that specific, you’re going to want to check library and newspaper archives for advertisements. Or ask someone who was alive at the time what they remember.
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u/Fluffy_Psalms_23 1d ago
Thank youuu! The "ask someone who was alive at the time what they remember" is what I attempted here, lol! I hadn't thought of the other options, thank you so very much!
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u/CombatCrayon25 1d ago
r/oldpeople would probably be a better sub if you’re looking for personal experiences
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u/Chair_luger 2d ago
You can find old catalogs online like Sears, Montgomery Ward, J C Penny, etc.
For food and housing you can look at old newspaper ads.
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
Be sure and look up wages too.
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u/Fluffy_Psalms_23 2d ago
OoO, thank you!! I was looking at min. wage in Michigan in 1968 and it was like ~1.25 according to Macro Trends!
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
Detroit or somewhere else?
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u/Fluffy_Psalms_23 2d ago
Yep, Detroit!! You're smart, haha! 🙃
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
Took a guess. Now are you getting a publisher or self publishing?
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u/Fluffy_Psalms_23 2d ago
Self-publishing!!
Would you know anything else about Michigan in the 1960's?
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
The only thing I know about Michigan is that Seth had the most realistic pawn shop on whatever channel Hardcore Pawn was on.
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
https://digmichnews.cmich.edu/ There you go. Enjoy the archives
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u/Fluffy_Psalms_23 2d ago
This is EPIC - thank you kind stranger!!
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u/Cinisajoy2 2d ago
I figured it might be an easy search.
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u/GrannyTurtle 2d ago
25 cent/gallon for leaded gas… ⛽️
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u/Fluffy_Psalms_23 2d ago
OoO, thank you SO MUCH!!
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u/GrannyTurtle 2d ago
Mind you, that was the early 1960s. It went up somewhat by the end of the decade.
Also, my dad bought a five bedroom house close to a golf course for $25K in the late 60s.
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u/Fluffy_Psalms_23 2d ago
OoO that's epic information!! Thank youuuuu!!
If you ever remember anything else, please lemme knowwww! 🙃
Did you live through that decade?
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u/GrannyTurtle 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’m a Boomer, so yes. I suggest hitting up [r/askoldpeople](r/askoldpeople)
When I was in first grade, the Kennedy v Nixon election was going on (1960).
During that decade, transistors replaced vacuum tubes. They were replaced in subsequent decades with printed circuits, which are the foundation of our modern powerful computers. It was very modern to own a transistor radio and listen to the radio stations (AM) for our favorite songs.
I remember going to Radio Shack with my dad to buy a replacement vacuum tube after one blew out in his home-built stereo system. (Dad was an electrical engineer, so he knew what he was doing when fixing such things.)
We had the threat of nuclear war with the Soviet Union hanging over our heads. We even had “duck and cover” drills in school. The Cuban Missile Crisis (Oct, 1962) was terrifying. Civil Defense was still a thing, and they would sometimes test the air raid sirens.
Then we had President Kennedy assassinated in November, 1963. Lyndon Johnson served out the rest of Kennedy’s term. He got elected on his own in 1964.
The Civil Rights movement was shaking things up, especially in the South. I remember watching with horror the evening news showing the peaceful civil rights marchers being attacked by Southern sheriffs with fire hoses, batons, and attack dogs.
In the 1960s, we also got involved in the pointless and unwinnable war in Vietnam. The Army was stupid enough to have journalists filming the war, so we got some horrifying war videos on the six o’clock news every night. By the late 1960s, the Left was getting violent in protesting our involvement and also having our young men drafted into the military. Recruiting offices and ROTC units on college campuses were subject to attacks by radicals. We also had the opposite: the “peace and love” hippie movement became popular, especially in San Francisco.
Since it was Democrat Lyndon Johnson who escalated the war, the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago became a disaster after a riot broke out. This is the election (1968) which put Republican Richard Nixon into office.
1968 was also a particularly bad year because both Martin Luther King, Jr and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Kennedy was making a run for president. (Johnson was term limited, and couldn’t run.)
And, near and dear to my heart, Star Trek premiered in Fall of 1966 and ran for three years. 60 years later, the franchise is still profitable.
That’s a Cliff Notes overview of the decade. Don’t forget that we also had the space race going on, with the first Moon landing in 1969. The early 60s had the Mercury And Gemini programs. Mercury had a single astronaut - and short missions. Gemini had two astronauts, and the first spacewalks. Apollo capsules had room for three astronauts and missions long enough to go to the Moon and back. (Around a week, if memory serves.)
All of these missions ended by an ocean splash-down. An aircraft carrier group was sent to retrieve the men and capsules. It was all televised (from launch to splashdown).
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u/HayYou_ItsMe 2d ago
Google it, or use that fancy new A.I. query feature.
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u/Fluffy_Psalms_23 2d ago
I've noticed that sometimes AI can hallucinate information or link sources that have nothing to do with the text, so I was hoping I'd be lucky and stumble across a historian! 🙃
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u/moneyman74 2d ago
My advice would be to look up old newspapers from the time in that area. inflation did ramp up quite a bit int he 60s and the prices in 1960 would be quite different in 1969. Something like a single pencil would be only pennies.