Idaho Snow

College guys from the same frat?  That's my guess and I'm stickin' with it.  Just a bunch of guys getting ready to go out and face the real world as free and easy adults.  Hanging out with the guys at the cabin.  A little poker, whiskey, and a cigar or two.  I get a late thirties early forties feeling from these pictures, so the world they were about to face would be neither free nor easy.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 15

No, I hadn't abandoned the North Texas State Normal College Album.  It's just such a pain in the behind taking apart the album every time I post another page or two.  Click on NTSNC in the labels section to bring up the whole lot.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 14

Click on NTSNC in the labels section at the bottom of the post to bring up the whole collection.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 11

No, I hadn't forgot about this album.  It's just such a pain to take the album apart and put it back together every time, I have a tendency to put the updates off.  Click on NTSNC in the labels section at the bottom of the post to bring up the whole collection.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 8

It lacks a bit in execution, but I love the picture of the girls.  And it looks like moving day.  Click on NTSNC in the labels section to bring up the whole collection.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 7

More from the North Texas State Normal College photo album.  The airplane, a true symbol of 20th century modernity makes it's return, along side a one room school house, a true symbol of  19th century rural America.  Click on NTSNC in the labels section to see the whole collection.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 5

The end of World War 1 put a lot of planes on the market, and many of those planes were bought by out of work vets who made a living putting on air shows and giving rides to anyone with a few dollars in their pocket.  I like the ladies weird hairdo.  Click on NTSNC in the labels section to bring up the whole collection.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 2

I'd love to know what kind of time span this album covers.  A normal college's primary purpose was the training of teachers.  Is the first picture a photo of students standing in front of their college or is it newly graduated teachers getting ready to face a school room full of ten year olds?  I'm thinking the former, and the children in the second photo are siblings left behind at home.

Click on NTSNC in the labels section to bring up the whole collection.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 1

It's time to put up another album and it's a mess.  There are 25 pages with images, a number where the photos have been removed, and damaged pages as well.  In addition there are a lot of  loose photos, some of the period, others newer, that have been stored between the pages.  Because there is so much to see, I'll be putting additional posts up in a when ever I get to it fashion.  I'll be putting NTSNC in the labels section so that those who are interested can click and bring  everything up together.

NTSNC stands for North Texas State Normal College.  It was founded as a private teachers college in 1890 in Denton, Texas.  It held classes above a hardware store and was called The Texas Normal College and Teachers Training Institute.  It changed hands in 1893 and became The North Texas Normal College.  In 1899 it was taken over by the state of Texas and finally became The North Texas State Normal College.  There were more name changes in the future.  In 1923, North Texas Normal College. In 1949, North Texas State College. In 1961, North Texas University.  And in 1988, it's present name, The University of North Texas.

I suspect part 2 is at least a week away, so be patient.

Hazel Hamilton Rogers/Hazel Elizabeth Rogers

Written on the back of the second photograph, "Mother-1911 On Graduation From Wesleyan." On the third picture, "Mother's Wedding Picture Hazel Hamilton Rogers." The Confederate battle flag in the background of the graduation picture led me to Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, founded in 1836 as a Women's college by the Methodist Church. With Georgia as a location I went in search of any information I could find on Hazel Hamilton Rogers. What I found was a small foundation set up in memory of a school teacher named Hazel Elizabeth Rogers, daughter of Dr. Thomas Edward Rogers and distinguished musician, Hazel Hamilton Rogers. No sibling were mentioned in the brief paragraph. It looks like Hazel Elizabeth never married or had any children. The clear hand writing on the back of these pictures must be hers and very likely there were no family members to claim these pictures.

The Omnibus College

In 1922, professor William Marion Goldsmith of Fairmont College took four of his students on a road trip as part of an extended study program. The next year Goldsmith bought a bus and was approached by co-ed Martha Foster who wanted to join the program, and the omnibus college was born. In 1926, Fairmont College became The Municipal College of Wichita of Kansas and the omnibus program expanded to hundreds of students. By 1934 over 85% of the omnibus students were women. Traveling with teachers, drivers, support staff and chaperons, the women travelled over North America studying and earning college credits in their chosen field. Botany students collected plants along the road, geology students chipped rocks, journalism students wrote about their trips. This trip must have been for history students. The third photo in the collection is labeled "Pittsburg Landing." Pittsburg Landing, also known as the battle of Shiloh, took place in April of 1862. The picture of the ladies standing around the tables is labeled, "K. P. detail at Chattanooga." In front of the tent, "Louise S." Note the black cooks in the first picture.

Green Bay Business College- Color Vacation

Put this one down to my sense of history and belief that it's better to post all of the images in a collection, rather than editing them down to the most interesting views. Stamped on the backs of all these photographs, THIS IS A KODACOLOR PRINT MADE BY EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY T.M. REGIS. U.S. PAT. OFF. Week of July 12, 1954 III 2" And again, images from the life of Mr. Kenneth Bierke of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Associated with the Green Bay Business College, probably, first, as a teacher and then as an administrator. Eventually, when I get the entire collection posted, there will be images of his farm background, the parties, dances, and dinners attended, the wars fought, the wife on the home front, and in 1954, post war comfort, a nice car, some level of prosperity not known during the great depression and World War 2, that allowed he and his family to take a vacation. In the grand scheme of things, a pretty ordinary life, but one that covers a lot of the twentieth century, good and bad. Once again, click on Green Bay in the labels section to see the collection, posted to date.