And a youthful Lea Norgard shone just as brightly. Full of an unmistakable rural exuberance, she stands proudly on the back of a Model KT -- one of the first Minneapolis-Molines on rubber - clad in a simple but flowing gown, waving an MM banner.
Now 87, Lea recalls the photo shoot as a happy accident, a case of being in the right place at the right time. The calendar broke new ground: although later MM ads routinely included 'Miss Minnie Moline', Lea says it was her understanding that she was the first woman to be photographed on the tractor for official company use. j But her involvement may also have been I the result of her being ahead of her time: I unlike most young women of that day, she I knew how to drive. In fact, she had driven I that very tractor in a parade put on by the 9 city of Minneapolis as part of President I Franklin Roosevelt's National Recovery Act I promoting American business. I Lea worked in Minneapolis-Moline I offices for six years. I "She started in the spring of 1930 and H worked until 1936," Dan says. "She quit H MM because she wanted to get married, H and at that time, a lady couldn't work at MM after she was married. I think that was because, just coming out of the Depression, if a girl was working, a man with a family couldn't hold a job."
As Dan and the Norgards visited, he asked if the couple had an extra copy of Lea's calendar that they would sell. At first, the answer was 'no'. But as they continued visiting, Kay said they did have an extra calendar. Lea added that it was in bad shape and no one would want it. Dan the Collector just laughed.
"It was not in perfect shape," he says, "but it is legible. Kay had said it was in the basement in a roll, so I expected it to be musty, but it wasn't. It's just a little faded, and well darkened."
He bought the calendar, and got a bonus: an 8x10 of the actual photograph that was used on the calendar, minus the banner, which was added by the art department (a copy of the photo is shown above).
To some, such memorabilia is little more than paper, a curiosity from another time. For Dan, though, it brings the past to life. Such is the case with his 65-year-old calendar, which tells not just the days of the week in 1934, but also something about the life of a young woman in a time long since past. Cindy Ladage is a freelance writer based in Virden, III.