Last night’s Mad Men included references to the Richard Speck murders in Chicago, which places the episode just after July 13, 1966. (The last ep was clearly dated by the reference to the death of Pete Fox on July 5.)

The excellent Mad Men Unbuttoned blog notes that Life Magazins’s archives are online, and that you can read their account of the Speck murders from scans (which, appropriately enough, preserve the period advertising).

Today’s fun fact: the author of the Life piece was Loudon Wainwright — father of the folk singer and grandfather to Rufus — who wrote and edited for the magazine for many years.

I’m not sure if it counts as spoilers, but this page might give us hints about upcoming background events. Of particular interest in the summer of 1966, we have:

• Charles Whitman did his Longhorn Sniping on August 1.
• On August 8, Star Trek premiers.
• In October, Toyota releases the Corolla.
• LSD was legal in the US until October 6 of this year.
• The AFL-NFL merger gains Congressional approval on October 21.
• In November, John Lennon meets Yoko Ono.
• Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball happens on November 28.
• Lenny Bruce dies on August 3.

Unlikely to be referenced: On October 29, One regenerates into Two.