Dr. Henry Chung

A magic lantern slide or glass transparency, take your pick.  Labeled on the front, "Made by Committee on Conservation and Advance, 740 Rush St., Chicago, Ills."  And on the back, "Neg. 89658 Slide 56  Leet. X-Hermit  Dr. Henry Chung"

A search for Dr. Henry Chung didn't get me much.  There are a lot of Dr. Henry Chungs out there.  And that's just in the United States.  A search for Committee on Conservation and Advance, on the other hand, was a bit more fruitful.  The Committee was a branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church  that was active in Korea from 1908 to 1922 and was very successful in converting Koreans to Christianity.  The Methodists, and other Christian church missionaries, were so successful that Korea is one of the most Christianised countries in Asia.  

But the real find was at digitallibrary.usc.edu/search/controller/collection/kda-m7.html, The Reverend Corwin and Nellie Taylor Collection, a group of glass slides documenting the Committee on Conservation and Advance's activities in Korea.  It's part of the Korean Heritage Collection at the University of Southern California.  It's easy to access and well worth a look.  The only problem I had with it was that it made me want to find all the images in the collection and that's a daunting task.  And one more bit of information.  I found this slide in the USC collection.  Dr. Chung is listed as the author of The Case of Korea.  Don't know whether that's a book or a pamphlet; whether it's about Korea's political situation or about Christianity.  Whatever it is, it doesn't have an internet presence.

But What Are They Building?

When I first picked up this postcard, I thought they were building a factory.  But then I pulled out the magnifying glass and saw what looks like decorative window frames and thought church.  Another mystery in an old photograph.

Another Mystery Locale

Interesting things in both the right and left backgrounds.  On the left, there is a lady who looks like she's holding a Bible, so I'm guessing a church.  On the right, a woman who appears to be native American.  Maybe Mexico or the U.S. southwest.  If anyone recognizes the ornate doorway and can name a city, please leaven a comment.

The Epworth League Album 31, An Epworthian Cross

In my small research into the Epworth League, I discovered a number of cultural references to the organization. From Sherwood Anderson to Ernest Hemingway and even in The Music Man, the League has been painted as a home for middle American dullness. Was this an Epworthian idea of good times? Hiking in the mountains to be photographed next to a cross? I'm a life long atheist, the only one in my family. My mother wasn't much of a church goer, just Easter and Christmas, but she did try and make me over into a believer. She wanted me to follow in my sister's footsteps and spend at least one summer at Jumonville, a Methodist church camp in western Pennsylvania. I'm happy to report that I wriggled out of that one, but I can remember the trips to pick up my sister, with all the campers hiking up to a sixty foot, mountaintop, steel cross. Lots of singing of hymns and holding hands.

The Epworth League Album 25, The Classic See My Dress Pose

Obviously, it's the second photo on the first album page which is the classic "see my dress" pose. I've seen it soooo many times. It also looks like someone is walking down the street with a Bible in her hands. Also a classic look. Remember, click on Epworth League in the labels section to bring up everything to date. I promise, we're getting near the end.

Brownies, and Not the Kind You Eat

When I was in grade school, I was expelled from the Cub Scouts for being an atheist. After a meeting with the scout master and a local minister, it was determined that I was a bad influence on my fellow ten year olds and should be separated from the pack before I contaminated them with my heretical ways. I wonder if all these young girls turned out to be the type of citizen that scouting hopes to create, or...Do we have a future member of the Weather Underground in this photo? It's dated "2/20/57" so they're the right age to have grown up to be student radicals. Future members of a commune? Drug or alcohol problems? Lesbian? In 1957 scouting would have been looking to make good, future moms and housewives, so maybe CEO, or member of Congress? Who knows?