75 years ago: An advertisement for La Plata Motor Inc. read: “Our Christmas gift to you free with each car sold for $100 or more 20 gallons of gas. See our shipshape used cars.”

50 years ago: “Gift certificates are available at the Herald for those wishing to give The Torch is Passed, a hardcover book covering President Kennedy’s assassination, as a Christmas gift. The Torch is Passed costs $2.06 and will contain 100 pages. … Published by the Associated Press and available only through member newspapers as a public service, the book is the production of those who brought the news of that fateful weekend to the nation. Included are many already-classic photographs as well as new, unpublished material.”

25 years ago: An advertisement for Smelter’s Coalroom, 801½ Main (Downstairs) read: “Dresses to go. Give us your size and favorite color, and we’ll sing by with dresses to suit your every need – from the office to the ball.”

Most items in this column are taken from Herald archives, Center of Southwest Studies and Animas Museum. Their accuracy may not be verified.