Writing Away

This one is strangely fascinating to me.  It's dated "12/25/71" and with the open gifts strewn around, you'd think she's writing thank you notes.  But then I took a second look, and I wondered who would write a thank you note on a legal pad.  Anyway, in an age when writing cursive is a disappearing skill, I like looking at pictures of people writing.  In my grade school, one of the exercises we used to learn cursive was the writing of letters.  Another disappearing skill.  Now it's all a couple of quick lines in an email.  The tech age doesn't know what it's loosing.

Sitting At Christmas

Demented Grandpa prevents little Emily from playing with new doll.  Bad Grandpa, bad!  Dated "DEC 70"  No other information.

The Body Snatcher

Pod person absorbs frightened granny.  Bad pod person. Bad!

Fishing in Color

A very faded color. That's the problem with old color snapshots. They have a tendency to turn pink. At least this guy looks like he had fun, if not a lot of success. Stamped on the back, "THIS IS A KODACOLOR PRINT MADE BY EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY T. M. REGIS. U. S. PAT. OFF. Week Ending Nov. 3, 1956 II Ro 1"

The German American Collection, It All Ends in Smithtown

Written on the back, "1956 Mr & Mrs B.C. Oakside Rd. Smithtown." Is this a bit of a let down for the last image of the collection? Yes and no. To recap, a dealer had purchased a large collection of photos at an estate sale, sold some of the best images separately, and then bundled the reminder into groups, put them up on EBay, and this was the only lot that I won. The huge gaps make it impossible to build a true narrative. Still, we can know that this collection had plenty of images from both the United States and Germany. What we can't know is how the two came together. Did a German branch of a family send photos to their American cousins? Was there a move from Germany between the wars or after World War 2, followed by marriage into an American family? In any case, somehow or another, some branch of this family ended up in a post war suburb on Long Island. The good life dreamed of by so many, recorded with this one, very faded color photograph. Click on German American in the labels section to bring the whole lot up. Good, bad, and indifferent images, but worth it.

These Boots are Made For Walkin'....

.....and that's just what they'll do. One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you. At least that's how I think it goes. When I was about ten years old or so, I had some very strange fantasies about Nancy Sinatra. Hey, I was ten, I had no idea what I was doing.

Grab Bag Photos

It was a very simple deal. An envelope, guaranteed to have at least 100 photos for five dollars. Well, that's the explanation on why I have this color snapshot from the disco era. Very strange indeed to put up a picture of people who may be younger than me. And by the way, the envelope had 103 photos, and most of them were black & white and a lot older than this one. Some have already been posted, with many more to come.

Ira R. Crouse Lumber Company

Before Home Depot, before Lowe's, hardware stores and lumber yards were locally owned. Support small, locally owned businesses.

Vermont in Color 3

On the back of the first print, the lake front shot, "Labor Day Sept. 4, 1961." On the next two photos, "Sun. June 24, 1962 1st Sun. home. She came Wed., June 20 & she & Doc left on Tues. 8-21-22 her 41st b'day." The family standing on the porch steps, "Wed. Aug. 15, 1962." And in the cemetery, "Sun. Sept. 3, 1962." It's actually rather frustrating that the person who was so careful about recording the date that the photos were taken didn't write down any names.

Vermont in Color 2

More color snapshots from Vermont! The first four photos are labeled "Fri. Sept. 1, 1961" In addition, the fourth photo is also labeled, "Our 41st Ann." I assume that is a reference to the couple's 41st wedding anniversary. The rest of the photos are labeled, "Sun. Sept. 3, 1961." And now for how I figured out that these photos are from Vermont. Images five and six are also labeled, "Kent's Museum." And the last three, "Walcott Church." I went through a road map atlas, very old school, and found all the Walcotts in the United States. Then I went on the net and began looking for a Kent's museum in one of the states with a Walcott. What I found was Kent's Tavern State Museum in Montpelier, Vermont.

Vermont in Color 1

I've been wanting to add some more color snapshots to the blog, and these, I think, make a nice start. All have a Kodacolor logo on the back of the print. starting in 1942, Kodacolor was the first practical, true color film offered to the general public. Before loosing an anti-trust suit in 1954 Kodacolor could only be processed and printed by Kodak. The people who took these photos were very detail oriented. Each print is dated, in neat, easy to read script. The first seven prints are dated, "Sat. Aug. 19, 1961." The last three, all of the man on the chaise, are dated, "Mon. Aug. 21, 1961." In addition, the last print of the series has, "G's 40th B'Day." I assume that G is the lady in the blue dress. Two more parts coming.

Miscellaneous Ladies

So why do I have so many snapshots of women in my collection? For the obvious reason, of course. We men hog the camera. Every so often I'll find a small envelope of photos that have been grouped by theme, but are otherwise unrelated. I'll buy it for the best image and post that photo here. These are the left overs. There are some nice images, and a few duds, but for what it's worth, 20 miscellaneous ladies. Not a lot written on these. The first one in the column, the young girl staring at the camera, the neck of a bottle in front of her, "March 1952." The three women, two standing, one sitting, "Evelyn Ashe, Eugenia Ashe, Elizabeth Brook (L-R) W. Va., 1952." Very likely a multi-generational portrait. And that's it as far a labeling goes. The woman sitting on the cement steps has what I think of as a kind of severe beauty.The print of the rather evil looking lady on the floral couch, with the strange lighting from below, throwing shadows. Well, for anyone old enough to remember cathode ray, black & white televisions, those sets were like a camp fire with the way they threw flickering light. And the older lady, also on a floral couch, note that she must have been a bowler. There is a skirted bowling trophy on the end table, but far more interesting is the collection of photographs on the couch beside her. I'd love to be able to see what she was looking at. And the one color print, with the bulletin board on the wall with the school pennant, got to be the big dance that night. I'm sure her date was told to have her home by eleven.