School Days

Just a reminder.  There was a time, in the United States, when we put a higher priority on education than low taxes.  There isn't a date on the  postcard of the New High School, Springfield, Ohio, but I was able to find a similar one on one of my favorite research sites, EBay, postmarked 1913.  Judging by the clothes on the people, I'd say that the hand colored photo was taken some time around 1900.  The population of Springfield in 1900 was 38,253.  Not a big city, but a small one by the standards of 1900.  At a time when schools were paid for by local taxes, the people of Springfield decided to build a large stone building with a cupola.   The Pleasant Home High School of Andalusia, Alabama, dated 1942-44, is a lot more modest, expected from a small town of 6,886 people, (That's from the 1940 census.) but it's still well built and maintained.  (And yes, I do know that a decade before Brown vs Board of Education,  that this would have been an all white school, and that the local black population attended a far less impressive institution.)

I meet a lot of young people in my work, and while they are well versed in modern technology, I'm surprised at how little they've read, and how little they know about government and current events.  I know I'm sounding like the classic old fogy complaining about kids these days, but I went to what was considered a sub standard high school, and our school had a mandatory reading list, and classes in government and current events.  With cuts in funding for education, schools are less likely to educate for the well rounded citizen and more likely to go for job skills.  I'm sure many people think that's a good thing.  I'm not one of them.

Liberty Ship

Another exception to the all photos rule; in this case, two cards sent by the same person to the same person. The liberty ship was based on a British design. Facing growing losses to U-boats and bombing raids, unable to build replacements, the British Admiralty began ordering cargo ships from U.S. shipbuilders. In 1941 The U.S. Maritime Commission began making some changes to British designs. Engines that ran on coal were replaced with ones that ran on oil. Sections would no longer be riveted, but rather welded. All sections and parts would be mass produced and then shipped to shipyards for assembly. At first liberty ships needed an average of 230 days from the laying of the keel to launch. Eventually that average fell to 42 days. The liberty ships were ugly, slow, and occasionally they broke apart. They also allowed the allies to move tons of weapons, ammunition, and food all over the world, something the axis powers were unable to do.

Both cards were addressed to, "Mr. John W. Lenhart, Route 1, Andalusia, Ala." There is a return address written on the liberty ship card, "Junior Lenhart, 155 Adams St., Mobile, Ala." The message on the liberty ship card, "June 1, 1943. Hello Folks, How is everything? I am O.K. just working every night and sleeping every day. I don't do much work. I just stand around most of the time. Nobody works very hard. Why don't you all begin to write? I've been here a week and haven't heard from home yet. Answer soon and tell everybody hello." Postmarked, "MOBILE JUN I 6:30 PM 1943, ALA" Credited, "Mobile Cigar & Tobacco Co., Mobile, Alabama. Photo by McNeely, COLOURPICTURE PUBLICATION, CAMBRIDGE, MASS U.S.A." The second card, "June 30 Hello Folks, I will answer your letters I got yesterday. Everything is O.K. down here except that I have got two cards from the draft board this week. I have to take the preliminary physical exam today at 3 o'clock. Yea, Joseph got here Sunday evening. He sent me a telegram to meet him at the bus station. I went back to work yesterday. We will be home Friday night about 10 or 11 o'clock if nothing happens. I will have more news when I get home. Just Jr." Post marked, "MOBILE JUN 29 7 PM 1943 ALA." Credited to, "U.S. NAVY COMICS. GENUINE CURTEICH-CHICAGO C.T ART-COLORTONE POST CARD (REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.)" Note that on the upper right corner there is a serial number, "USN-11" I would suggest clicking on the second image to bring it up in a bigger window in order to read the poem on the card.

Alabama Police Wedding

I don't have a lot of wedding pictures in my collection, but this one was too interesting to pass on. Probably from the mid to late fifties to early sixties, this image shows the groom and best man in Mobile, Alabama Police uniforms. One of the things that, as a collector of old photographs, I often find myself doing is speculating about the people seen. These two gentleman, officers of a deep south police force, during the civil rights movement; looking at it, I couldn't help but wonder if the groom went from his honeymoon to beating civil rights marchers.