Robert E. Patten was a Black Iowan printers whose press created many signs, pamphlets, brochures and placards for the white and Black communities in Des Moines, Iowa. This placard had a small calendar but mainly serves as an advertisement for his shop: the entire back side is about “Let me Show you a Sample” for various calendars. “At these EXTREMELY LOW prices, you cannot afford to approach the NEW YEAR without giving calendars to your customers.”
The last information on the placard is “Promoting the Co-operative Buying Club establishing the School of Co-operative Philosophy Robert E. Patten, Co-operative Printery. Calendars–Job Printing–Advertising Novelties, Fans, Pencils, Sales Books, Rubber Stamps, etc. Lucky Heart, Uneedor and Co-op Cosmetics 821 14th St., Des Moines Iowa Phone 4-9469”
The other side of the placard is a long poem by James Whitcomb Riley, “Memories.”