Catalina in Postcards

By and large, I've strayed away from collecting postcards, but recently, I've decided to try and pick up a few, in a few select areas. Old California, especially southern California, Pittsburgh, and old gas stations, motels, and stores. Since I have a small group of Catalina Island photos that I'll be posting next, these four images of Catalina Island, 26 miles across the sea from Long Beach, seemed like a good start. These are linen postcards, made from a high rag paper with a textured surface of parallel intersecting lines. Introduced in the early 1930's, they were the most popular type of postcard sold in the United States until the mid forties. Photo chrome postcards, which would come to dominate the market, were introduced in 1939. Even though the bright inks that were used in production, and the paper surface itself gave linen cards a painterly feel, the original images were primarily black & white photographs that had been hand colored. 99% of Santa Catalina Island was purchased, in 1919, by Chicago millionaire, William Wrigley, Jr. During his ownership, and the ownership of his sons, the Wrigley family poured millions into Catalina, building homes, resorts, hotels, the Casino, bird park, roads, airports, and fresh water reservoirs. The card of the two boats were part of the fleet that Wrigley owned to transport tourists to the island. The caption, "Happy vacationists board fast speed boats that skim the placid waters of Santa Catalina. As they whiz by, with their cheers of happiness and laughter. with greetings to the new arrivals is a thrill and delight to the passengers aboard the approaching steamer." It was mailed on Aug. 6, 1946 to "R.E. Brown, 816 Jackson St., Sioux City, Iowa" The message, "Hi Pop. I rode on both boats in Picture. We got here on the big one & took a 10 min. ride on the speed boat. Lot of love xxoo Charles. Having fun here." There is no message on either the Wrigley residence card or the bird park image. The caption of the Wrigley home card, "This palatial home was built by the late W. Wrigley Jr. and occupies a site on Mt. Ada, with a commanding view of Avalon Bay and coast-line of the island." No caption on the bird park card. Construction began on the Wrigley residence in 1920 and was completed in 1921. Mt. Ada was named for his wife. After Ada's death in 1958, it became a tourist attraction. In the 1970's it was given to USC, and used as a conference center. Since 1985 it's been an hotel. The bird park was built on 8 acres in Avalon Canyon by William Wrigley Jr. and opened in 1929. It had 500 cages and housed over 8,000 species of birds and was one of the largest aviaries in the world. It closed in 1966. The night scene is captioned, "Avalon Bay, a thrilling scene of bustling activity by day-"Fairyland by night." Like a jewel in an exquisite setting, the view of Avalon, at night from the hills above, is a never to be forgotten sight." Mailed Sept. 19, 1953, to "Mr. & Mrs G. We. Johnson, Laurene, Iowa." The message, "Dear Folks, We are up near the high point of this Island now and having a wonderful time. Reggie and Enid are with us. Now we are just about back to the bay and the boat will leave about 3:30. Minnie and Lester were over for dinner last night, Fri. We came up thru San Bernardino." Written in a different hand, "This has been the most enjoyable weekend we've had in ??? Love L.B. and Jean" Catalina was used for training in World War 2 and was closed to tourism. Coupled with the explosion in car ownership and cheap airfares to places like Hawaii and Baja, Catalina has never recovered as one of the major vacation spots in southern California. Pre-war, big bands played in the Casino, the circular building seen to the left of the ships and on the right of the night scene, swimming beaches were crowded, restaurants and hotels were full. Catalina is still a popular destination, but no where near what it was.

Washerwomen In Stereo

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Printed on the back of the card, "50-(W8668) WASHERWOMEN ALONG THE NILE, EGYPT

These women are doing the family washing in the Nile. It is easier to come down to the river and do their washing than to carry the water to their homes. Then they see the other women and have a visit. Here, again, we see the beautiful Nile boats. Copyright by Keystone View Company" In 1892, Benneville Lloyd Singley, former salesman for Underwood & Underwood, one of the largest stereoview manufacturers of the day, set up his camera and took photographs of the flooding of French Creek in Pennsylvania. He mounted them on cards sold them, and began his own stereoview company. Three years latter, with 700 images in his catalog, he incorporated The Keystone View Company in Meadville, PA. Between 1915 and 1921, Keystone, became the most successful stereoview company in the world, not just by expanding it's own collection of images, but by buying out most of it's major competitors. By 1935, Keystone had over 2,000,000 views on file. (Note, I've been unable to determine whether the 2 million figure represents the number of negatives owned, or the number of views offered for sale.) While Keystone offered many novelty images, Singley, correctly, believed that the real success of the stereoview lay in offering images of the world, which would never been seen, in person, by his customers. While Keystone did all of it's manufacturing at it's Meadville headquarters, it would open offices in New York, Chicago, and London. It would also keep photographers on staff all over the world, not only photographing physical and cultural geographic images, but historical events. Singley also began a division in his company to produce glass "magic lantern" slides. He also made stereoview viewers and slide projectors. He aggressively marketed his products to schools. (I was born in 1955, started first grade in 1960, and my first grade teacher still used stereoviews to teach geography.) Singley retired in 1936, and sold all stock in his company to two employees, Charles Krandall, and George Hamilton. Keystone, under the new partner's leadership, continued to increase it's collection of images as well as starting a division to manufacture eye testing equipment. In 1963, Keystone was purchased by Mast Development Company of Davenport, Iowa. Mast continued with the manufacturing of eye testing equipment, eventually shutting down the Meadville offices and plant. In 1978, three tons of negatives and company records were donated to the University of California Riverside. The negatives are housed at the California state Photography Museum in Riverside.

In the Arctic

This is one of my favorite small collections of photographs. Written on the back of the photo of the man in the kayak, "2185-1927-L.D.L." Native Ak-ah-Malak at Pond Inlet. Baffin Island." On the back of the image of the boat being towed by the dog team with the land in the background, "6685-1931-J.S.S. J.S. Soper and family-Assistant Moosa and family-leaving for zoological trip en route down Westbourne Bay to outer coast-June 6th, 1931. Lake Harbour, Baffin Island." The closer shot of a boat on a sled with the dog team to the side, "6028-1931-R.S.F. It's comforting to travel with a boat on the sled when the ice is beginning to disintegrate. Coronation Gulf, 30th May, 1930." Of the two images of the kayaks, the one where the boats are spaced out, "6966-1934-D.L.M. Finish kyak race. Port Burnell, July 1934." Where the kayaks are all in a row, "6965-1934-D.L.M. Start kyak race. Port Burnell. July, 1934." I'm guessing that these photos are from some sort of Canadian government survey. Maybe from a university. The misspelling of kayak is as written on the back of the photos.

Rowing Boats

A small collection of, mostly, unconnected photos, all showing boats that are rowed. Only a few are dated or labeled. The one with the little girl, in the foreground, and mother in the background is embossed with the date, "SEPTEMBER 1941" There are two photographs that show the same, dark haired woman. In one she sits in a row boat, alone, and the other has her rowing while another woman sits in the rear of the boat with her legs up, and that one is labeled, "What's the matter grumpy?" There are two square format images of the same row boat, one with a slightly overweight man, and the other with a woman in a two piece swimsuit are each stamped, "Osisee-Drogerie, G. Loscher, SEEBAG BANSIN, Reg.-Nr. 11/1/9" There is an image of a row boat with three kids in the rear of the boat, another kid rowing and an adult man in the front of the boat is labeled, " I'm sending this one along so you can show Willie and your friends how Janc. Co cooks along the creek also so you can see Father Brown. The one boy is a Ditzler. I guess you've seen him around up there already. You know they have Katie's cottage. Mom Earl, Dick, & Fat. " And finally, there is an image of a single person rowing, with nothing else but water to be seen, "Sat. July 10th, 1948 Life Guard-Lake Erie, Peninsula Beach #2-Erie, Pa. By Leonard."

Canoe From Glass Negatives

I've always thought of myself, not as a photographer, but as a printer. One of the frustrating things about no longer having a job at a photo lab, is not having access to large format enlargers. Like the Montana glass negative photos, (see the first post from this blog, published June 9, 2009.) I made these prints, not by making contacts, but by placing the negatives in an 8x10 enlarger and making blow-ups. Probably shot in the late 19th century, these two images show someone who is very likely using a canoe for recreation.