Book bags 40 years ago

[Timefortruth]

Who carried them? Backpacks came into style in the mid to late seventies, what preceded them?

On edit:

Are there yearbook photos of her campus then? Either way, this is just another nominal Clinton "misstatement."

[skooooo]

1. satchels?

[K Gardner]

2. ROFL ! The devil is in the details, eh..

[Oceansaway]

3. arms.....n/t

[femmocrat]

4. Arms?

I just carried a stack of books in my arms... no book bags back in the "olden" days!

[Adelante]

5. Arms for me, too nt

[Ronnie]

137. Well, then it must be true for everybody.

[AX10]

6. Arms and hands.

[kirby]

8. We didn't have arms and hands when I grew up! n/t

[scheming daemons]

10. So what did the pathological liar throw across the room then?

...

[0007]

20. Snippers...........and I hate boys books!

[TahitiNut]

90. Yup. Three colleges in the 60s and that's all we used.

The sole exception I recall were the "artsy-fartsy" females with the large purses - and FEW if any textbooks. We guys carried our books on our hip. (It was social doom to carry a briefcase or carry our books like the "girls" did.) Life in the 60s.
:shrug:

[Sparkly]

7. Good grief.

Shouldn't this be in the lounge?

I grew up on a college campus in the 1960s and 70s. There was canvas, macrame-type stuff, and I believe fabric ones (Indian fabric was big) and of course those L.L. Bean totes.

[mrcheerful]

12. Nope only carrying your books under your arm was allowed in my school years

from 1962 until 1975. If a guy was seen carrying a bag of any sort out side of his lunch bag he got the snot beat out of him for being a pansy.

[Sparkly]

16. I grew up on the campus of an all-women's college.

They had book bags.

[ginnyinWI]

91. LOL!

That post hit my funny bone--I'm sitting here trying not to wake the family up by laughing here at 12:30 a.m.!

:rofl:

[babylonsister]

9. That rubber doohickey that held my books together; book strap/

bungy kinda cord? :shrug: This was less than 40 years ago, but not by much. ;)

[Sparkly]

17. I never saw one of those.

Thought those were from the 1950s and earlier.

Maybe this is a regional thing.

[babylonsister]

29. Big in the 60s & 70s where I grew up on LI, NY.

Of course then, we didn't have so many books to bring home in high school compared to today. I just asked my DH, who grew up in MA. He couldn't remember because he never brought books home, he claims. That could actually be true.

[Hepburn]

98. I went to college on the West Coast....

...maybe other campuses had book bags...but NO WAY around here. It would have been VERY uncool to have something like that.

OMG........I would have DIED before walking around with something like this:

[DangerousRhythm]

75. I went to elementary school in the 80s...

and those rubber things were STILL something we had to use. My school, for some reason, didn't want us to bring bookbags or backpacks. Just the strap. Wow was THAT ever a pain... books flying everywhere.

[Kool Kitty]

89. Oh, I had one of those!

And I carried a bookbag. I was in elementary school in the early sixties, before anyone carried backpacks.

[thevoiceofreason]

108. Louisiana in the 60's - those rubber doohickies ruled.

[Jed Dilligan]

11. By the time that speech is fully vetted,

she's going to look like the SNL character Penelope played by Kristen Wiig.

[Erin Elizabeth]

21. I LOVE Penelope!

(Hillary, not so much.)

Here's Penelope.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2860855320839977330&q=New+tenant+Penelope&total=3&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

[HCE SuiGeneris]

24. That is awesome!

I love her character... :P

[Jed Dilligan]

78. Best SNL character since Belushi and Radner!

[me b zola]

86. Too late :(

[no_hypocrisy]

13. Briefcases.

[SoonerPride]

14. What did Hillary use to carry her books? I dunno. Servants?

I was gonna say blacks, but that seemed in poor taste.

[juajen]

94. Do you read much?

Hillary Rodham's family had no servants, and she went to college with scholarship money and hard work, like working in a cannery in Alaska one summer to earn money for college. Her father had a drapery business that he worked very hard sustaining and building. Get real and research before posting stupid stuff, will ya?

She is a brilliant woman. Why don't you read her autobiography?

[JackORoses]

126. she didn't work in the cannery for college money.

She did it to help pay for her little tour of the country.

The jobs of regular working folks aren't held to pay for vacations.
That is the strict pervue of privileged kids.
It let's them pretend that they're like everyone else for a week or two before they retreat back into their wealth.

[RichardRay]

15. A book bag?

Waterproofed fabric, about the weight of denim, about the size of a pillowcase. Drawstring top. Eastern university, ca 1966.

[starroute]

77. Yes, exactly

They were standard issue when I was at Radcliffe in the 60's -- so I assume they were not unknown at Wellesley. Google "Harvard bookbag" or "Harvard book bag" and you'll find a few dozen references, mostly from the 60's. Dark green canvas outside, rubberized inside, and a heavy woven strap serving as a drawstring. You pulled it tight and slung the strap over your shoulder in a way that was considered extremely cool at the time.

This should not even be an issue.

[MaineDem]

116. Yup, same here. We always had bookbags.

Not backpacks but bookbags with a drawstring, usually canvas tape.

[mamalone]

119. My brother had one of those!

I still can see the fabric... it looked like canvas on the outside, but the reverse of the fabric was rubber. They were either dark green or a drab dark blue. Of course it should be noted that my brother was the nerdliest of nerds and he was the only kid I knew that actually used one. (It should also be noted that same brother now has multiple PhD's and is head of a multi-million dollar budgeted lab at a very prominent medical school... wonder what the kids who were too cool to use a bookbag are doing now? hehehe)

[rocktivity]

18. I couldn't WAIT to get to junior high school and carry my books in my arms

because it meant I wasn't a little elementary school baby using a bookbag anymore. Then backpacks hit the scene the year I hit high school--I just HAD to have one! (P.S. My parents stopped bugging me about my bad posture practically overnight!)

:headbang:
rocknation

[gristy]

19. I carried my books in a stack under my arm all through HS

Didn't start using a backpack until college.

[bhikkhu]

25. Same - carried them in one arm. Shifted to the other when it got sore.

High school class of 83. I don't recall thinking about it at that time, but it sure was a silly way to do things.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. I was in college in 1968 and I only remember carrying my books in my arms.

Which isn't to say nobody had books bags -- I vaguely remember using some kind of canvas tote a few years later in grad school.

[goclark]

31. When was she in college?

I was in college in the early 60's but I know that I carried books in my arms.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

37. She was a junior in 1968 (like me).

[goclark]

42. and did you have book bags?

My problem with her remarks was that I would have throw my book bag way before I got to my room.

Her writers should be fired~

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

52. I don't remember any book bags.

In fact, out of curiosity I just pulled out my yearbook and I couldn't find any pictures of students carrying book bags.

There was, however, a picture of a student carrying a sign that said "Peace is Patriotic" (my college was hugely involve in the antiwar movement) and I got to wondering why the hell we are still having to go through this again, 40 years later.

[GoneOffShore]

23. When I was at the U of D 68-71, I carried a book bag

Kind of like a small duffle bag with a drawstring.

Totally impractical, but almost everyone had them.

[hisownpetard]

26. They asked McCain what he used and he said he carried his stone tablet in a papyrus sack

lined with armadillo skin.

[babylonsister]

30. Snort! Good one!

:thumbsup:

[hisownpetard]

44. Yeah - and that donkey he got when he turned 16, to ride to High School with...

[Sparkly]

54. "And we LIKED it that way!!!" nt

[Rosemary2205]

79. Bullfeathers

We all know he walked 5 miles uphill both ways in the show barefoot.

and liked it.

:)

[hisownpetard]

107. Hey, a little revisionary history never hurt, did it?

[jaysunb]

32. Best of the day !!!!

:rofl:

[hisownpetard]

45. Heh heh!

:pals:

[Erin Elizabeth]

36. ZOMG he's SO fucking old!

:rofl:

[hisownpetard]

46. Welcome to DU!

[Erin Elizabeth]

47. Thank you kindly.

[CreekDog]

53. and he rode a bike too

[goclark]

64. Stop it ~ LOL

[SaveAmerica]

111. !!! Funny !!!

[hisownpetard]

115. ...

:hi:

[Swamp Rat]

135. HAHAHAHA!!!!!

:rofl:

[Coexist]

27. ...

[Hepburn]

100. Hahahahahahahaha....

...I posted the same pic!

Gads, can you imagine carrying something like that??? :rofl:

Hmmmmmmm....maybe it went well with Hill's Goldwater Girl outfit!

[jaysunb]

28. I caught that too.

The closest thing to a backpack was a strap back then, and only the nerdiest of the nerds used them.

Couldn't help but feel like she was " emoting/bullshitting".... again. :evilfrown:

After further thought: it was 7 o clock in the evening,( when King was murdered) I don't remember looking at a book past 5. Of course that's probably the reason I wound up getting drafted. :rofl:

[Hardrada]

33. I bicycled everywhere and had the books in side baskets. That

probably dates me. Also the fact that I was the only one on campus using a bicycle. Which at that time made me seem more of an eccentric than I already was. Early to later Sixties.

[spindrifter]

34. As I recall, we carried our books and

notebooks in our arms. Briefcases were for total dorks. I never recall seeing anyone with a book bag or a backpack in the late 60's.

[TexasObserver]

56. Likewise.

Hillary isn't the only person with a faulty memory about when book bags made their appearance.

One would think there would be photos of those 1968 book bags, wouldn't they? If such bags existed.

[Just-plain-Kathy]

65. I was a kid in the sixties and I used one of those nerdy straps. :)

Sometimes if I had a lot of books I would use two straps hooked end to end.

[frazzled]

35. We carried our books in our arms, in front: big piles of them.

And if you wore your bobby sox in your pointy-toed flats just right, you might get some cute guy in a madras short-sleeved shirt to carry them for you. That meant a guy liked you, when he carried your books for you.

[Bonobo]

41. Look at this!

[frazzled]

51. Heh, that was it!

Except we wore our hair in a "flip."

Has anyone mentioned "reinforcements" yet? Those little adhesive rings you would stick around each hole of your notebook paper before putting it in your binder, so it wouldn't tear. Jeebus, what we spent time on.

I am so old, we had no calculators (they were just coming in when I was graduating high school): I remember having to use a slide rule for Chemistry class.

[Usrename]

73. I thought I was the last person to have to learn to use a slide rule.

Back then a calculator was the size of an electric typwriter and had to be plugged into the wall.

Nixie displays were high tech.



http://www.surplussales.com/Bulbs-Incan-Panel/futuba.html

We had to use spiral notebooks.

[ginnyinWI]

93. I had a slide rule in school too

The first calculators didn't come out until the early 70s, wasn't it? They were big and cost about 250 bucks. I was a young married by then, out of school.

[Usrename]

130. The first electronic calculator I ever saw wasn't handheld.

Our physics teacher borrowed one from the local GE labs for a couple of days. It used discreet transistors and could only do the basic four functions. At the time I thought GE was using it to solve problems for NASA and the Apollo missions (not true), except later I learned that GE actually used the one we borrowed to develop some very early video flight simulators.

It looked kinda like this, except it was made by Texas Instruments, about a year before their handheld came out.



Expressions had to be converted to Reverse Polish notation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Polish_notation

How politically correct is that?

[Hepburn]

102. OMG....what a horrible memory....

...chem class and a slide rule...and the baby powder to make it slide righteously.

Changed my major from pre-med to pre-law! All it took was having to deal with that fucking slide rule thingy!

[davidlynch]

120. OMG I remember those now, we had some on our WANG

[Rosemary2205]

81. OMG I haven't thought of those in YEARS (the ringies)

I was once very proficient with a slide rule. Like so many other learned things, that skill is now lost to the wind. :)

[eridani]

82. I'll bet when you show it to your kids--

--they look at you like you'd just chipped it out of flint or something?

"Where do you plug it in?"
"Into your brain!"

[Hepburn]

103. Try saying something about...

...Janis Joplin and the fact I had an original Pearl album.

Ummmmmm....ever try explaining what an "album" was?

[Arkansas Granny]

110. Reinforcements? I always put the paper into the ring binder first and then slipped

the reinforcement over the ring to make sure it aligned properly. Otherwise I'd get one high and one low and the sheet wouldn't lay flat in the binder. I remember using a slide rule for Physics class. I must be older than you, however, because we didn't even have electric typewriters in our business classes. We had Royal and Remington manual typewriters that looked a lot like this.

[CreekDog]

38. Please stop this and focus on McCain!

meaning, instead of talking about what Hillary did in college, let's talk about what *McCAIN* did in college!

[jaysunb]

49. Also see post # 26

n/t

[ananda]

39. nostalgia

I started school at the age of 5
in 1954, a Catholic school some
distance away that would let kids
enter first grade early. I rode
the city bus to and from school,
and I expect that my parents
probably made a mistake in starting
me early and sending me by myself
on the bus .. but there were some
good things about it too.

In early grammar school I had an
old book satchel. In fourth
grade my dad bought me a very
cool green ringbinder zipper
case which of course got way
stretched out with books in it.

We also used book covers, and I
remember spending some time
figuring out the best way to
put the covers on.

My parents always got us used
hand-me-down books and even
uniforms and clothes.

Nobody had that much money back
then, and somehow the parents
were all friends and helped each
other out in all kinds of ways.

Life is so different now.

[babylonsister]

55. I remember making book covers out of those handy, durable

paper bags from the grocery store. Every year. They were cool. You could decorate them. :-)

[Bonobo]

40. PICS!!!! Any book bags here? These guys could have used one!

[MediaBabe]

57. Passing off moving a library as students going to class?

I don't think anyone is fooled.

[DURHAM D]

43. We carried our books in a canvas book bag in college.

They did not have a shoulder strap.

[housewolf]

48. Something like this...

http://www.cfkeep.org.nyud.net:8090/html/phpThumb.php?src=/uploads/524455560txigak_ph.jpg&aoe=1&w=240


(okay, I've tried & tried and I can't get this photo to load... you'll have to click on the link to see. Sorry!)

[Whisp]

50. Hillary carried a Hannah Montana backpack.

with slots for grenades and a travelling medic kit for her MASH stops.

[Tinksrival]

58. maybe....

I had one of these ugly plastic bags!



And a bubble umbrella!!LOL!!

[Maddy McCall]

59. Bookbags were most certainly in use on college campuses in the 60s.(PIC INSIDE)

http://www.kensingtoncolleges.unsw.edu.au/images/History/TKC1960's_BasserSteps.gif

It's a huge photo. Copy/paste to your browser.

[anigbrowl]

69. Yeah...college campuses in Australia.

You may argue that things would have been much the same as here, but the cars rather disprove your point.

[McCamy Taylor]

60. Macrame book bags were all the rage at that time I think.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/006949.php&h=231&w=258&sz=22&hl=en&start=20&um=1&tbnid=IfVVNQKYKB5fRM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=112&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmacrame%2Bbook%2Bbags%2Bhippies%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN

This is a few years later, Bill and Hillary in Berkeley, when styles got even more extreme. I can not see why people question her on this. She looks just like one of my mom's hippie friends and they all were messed up over King.

[mopinko]

61. i had a red and black plaid book bag in the early 60's

had a handle and a shoulder strap. buckled shut. there were plenty of rucksacks, duffles, lots of bags. been around a long time this bag thing.

[Carrieyazel]

62. Hillary threw her book bag in despair across the room in '68

Is that where you got the idea for this thread?

[Timefortruth]

63. No. Just reminiscing. N/T

[Maddy McCall]

68. Of course it is.

If they invested as much time in tearing down Republicans as they do tearing down Hillary, they might actually accomplish something.

[anigbrowl]

70. I bet she stamped her foot too.

You don't want to know what I really felt baout that speech.

[goclark]

66. We need to see her school yearbook

[Sinistrous]

67. I was in college then, and some folks were using green cloth bags with

a drawstring. I believe they were dubbed "Harvard bags".

It is very possible it was one of those that Mrs. Clinton tossed across her dorm room.

[Moochy]

71. Maybe it was one of these ?

[Shakespeare]

72. Interesting--that line struck an off note with me, too.

Just sounded flat-out unauthentic. :shrug:

[TahitiNut]

92. Exactly. She was acting ... and melodrama, not even drama.

It was actually PAINFUL to watch. It was like she was trying to act like someone ELSE would act when sincere ... and it just wasn't ringing true at all.

[asjr]

74. I remember book bags very well. They

were usually made of canvas or some other strong material. I also remember making book covers out of old tablecloths. And I did walk 2 miles to school and back. My God, I really feel old.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

76. 60's 'book bag' ... picture

Some of you people are soooooooooooo PA-FUCKIN-THETIC!!




The Greek Shoulder bag was an unexpensive and practical bag
carried by students in the 1960's and 70's. They came in many
different color combinations women could choose from.



Move on to your next bogus attack.

[WinkyDink]

85. I had several of these. MAYBE this is what HRC used.

[joshcryer]

96. Doesn't she have one of those in her Hippy pic with Bill?

I seem to recall a picture like that.

[Hepburn]

101. That is NOT a book bag....

...duh!

Look at the strap, OK? That would last about 2 seconds if that was crammed full of books. That is a tote...like a big purse.

:eyes:

[Hepburn]

104. Duplicate....self-delete

[Neshanic]

133. Thank you. Those were used by many women at college, and actually if you go to U of A

you will still see them.

How did we ever get through our formative years without the iPod generations insight and innovation?

[Rosemary2205]

80. 1966 I had one

most kids at my school did. I had 2. Both were sewn by my mother. 1 was out of my brother's old jeans and the other was tan canvas on the inside and patchwork from a lot of different leftover pieces on the outside. Each one of those fabrics are meaningful memories to me. The second I still own and USE. Both had a shoulder string long enough so that I could wear it across my chest. - now it is long enough to fit around the backrest of my wheelchair.

Hillary has probably told some whoppers but I don't think this is one of them.

[eleny]

83. A drawstring bag called a "Harvard bag" was popular

They were dark green. I remember that they were popular with guys.

They weren't a backpack style. Just a rectangular cloth drawstring bag that you flung back over a shoulder. You had to always hold onto the strings.

Like this style but in a dark green cotton cloth with longer, stronger drawstrings.
http://store.kelcolaundry.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=501

[WinkyDink]

84. I was in college in 1968. If HRC had a TRADITIONAL book-bag, she was REALLY not cool!

[Catherina]

87. We really don't need the book-bag to confirm that.

:rofl:

[joshcryer]

95. Have you *seen* pictures of Hillary back then?

Really now.

[Hepburn]

106. With that....

...I would totally agree. Only dorks carried stuff like that.

[ginnyinWI]

88. women carried a purse, and carried their books in their arms. n/t

[Hepburn]

97. I started college in the fall of 1966...

...and there simply were NO bookbags back then. I carried my books to class in my arms.

Hillary got caught in ANOTHER lie.

[Raine]

99. I was in high school in 68

I had shoulder strap purse with comb, makeup, wallet etc. in it and I carried all my books in my arms. When I was in college I still carried my books in my arms. I don't recall anyone using a book bag. Some of the business majors carried briefcases but that was it.

[JVS]

105. Didn't they wear them as armor under their clothes to protect from sniper fire?

[TexasObserver]

109. Watch out! The Clinton bag ladies will be after you.

Yes, they used their book bags in the 1960s, a decade before they book bags existed, all to keep sniper fire from penetrating their disco clothes.

Apparently some of our posters have serious memory problems, no doubt brought on by too much hair spray exposure between the 1960s and the 1980s.

[proud2BlibKansan]

112. I remember the lunchboxes

My sister had a Mod Squad lunchbox. I had The Monkees.

I do remember a satchel for carrying our books. But most often, we didn't carry them in a bag. And from what I recall, it would have been totally uncool for a college student to carry a bookbag.

So maybe she actually threw her Mod Squad lunchbox across the room and just misspoke. :)

[BumRushDaShow]

132. I had a Mary Poppins lunchbox with the thermos!

:rofl:

[Kahuna]

113. I know you find it hard to believe, but there were bookbags 40 years ago.

I was 14 when MLK was murdered. We had bookbags back then. Not backpacks, but bookbags.

[WinkyDink]

127. 14 in jr. high is not 20 and a college junior. You had hall passes, too!

[Kahuna]

136. Ok. I'm sure you're trying to be clever. But I don't get it. nt

[rug]

114. By God, you've got her now!

[MaineDem]

117. No, this is not a misstatement; we had bookbags then

There's plenty to criticize her for but this sure isn't one of them.

[PBS Poll-435]

118. I have my Mother's,

She is 5 years younger than Hillary, to the day.

[Hepburn]

121. Maybe it was her satchel from elementary school....

...I am a 9 months younger than Hillary and except for a few biz nerds on campus, I never saw anyone carry a book bag...EVER. We toted our books in our arms.

[PBS Poll-435]

122. Just a leather bag...

[Blue-Jay]

123. I don't get the point of this thread.

I gather that Hillary said something about a book bag or a backpack or something. I'm so used to carrying things in a backpack, that I would maybe refer to the "backpack" I carried my stuff in during junior high. It wasn't really a backpack, but was similar to this:
http://www.usd458.org:82/~hbooster/images_merch/BobcatDuffelBag.jpg

We didn't really start using backpacks until college.

John McCain probably used one of those old-timey leather straps to tote his books around:



Regardless, if someone is trying to bash Hillary on something she said about the type of Book Transportation Device she said she used, it's pretty weak.

[elf]

124. In Germany we carried those on our back in the 50th

these are antiques now, but then they where all from shiny leather.

In the 60th we switched to some more fashionable bags. Our parents wanted us to go with these "Ranzen" because we where still growing and carrying books on your back kept us straight!!! :-)

The dark one was for boys, the lighter one for girls.

I had a very special one, it was dark green..........I was so proud !

[Mezzo]

125. who the hell are you, the bookbag police? How do you know she DIDN'T have a bookbag? Got proof?

if not, you are a damn liar.

[WinkyDink]

128. Oh, SHE might have had one. Maybe a slide-rule in a pocket-protector, too!

[Hepburn]

134. Too funny....

...:rofl: Hillary the nerd.

[WinkyDink]

129. College students, 1968:

[BumRushDaShow]

131. Back in '68

I was in elementary school and had something that looked like this but without any design or cartoon characters (it was all red and may have had plaid trim):



LOL!

Finally, I remember backpacks became the big thing just before the mid-70s and I ended up rotating between nothing, a backpack, and eventually the soon-to-be-ubiquitous heavy blue canvas bag (where the handles would give you the equivalent of rope burn on your fingers! :banghead:).

[jasmine621]

138. These are similar to the book bags I remember in elementary school

in the late '50s and early '60's.

[madrchsod]

139. dogs carried their books

i know...i`ll go away