Eighty-five years ago, radio repairman Lewis P. Evans of Chicago’s Evans Radio Laboratory brought along a camera on every service call. He would snap a picture of the house, or if he was lucky, a picture of a child, or even the family dog.

He would hold on to the pictures for a few months, and then send them to the woman of the house, with the shop’s address on the back. He reported that a woman can’t resist a picture of her own home or someone in her family. The picture would be saved, or perhaps placed in the family photo album. And when the radio needed service, they would know exactly where to find the shop’s address.

This feature appeared in the February 1939 issue of Radio Retailing. According to this 1936 newspaper advertisement, the shop’s address (presumably the one on the backs of the photos) was 7152 S. Exchange Ave.