Eva, Frank, and Frances Engle

Without a date or location, it's impossible to dig up any information on a name like Engle.  It's just not rare enough.  What's interesting is that little Frances is bigger than her mother, but is still dressed as an infant.  Common practice when this picture was taken, or just a very weird family?  Maybe Frances was a very, very big girl.

The Epworth League Album 9, What's In Those Baskets?

So what's in the baskets that's so heavy that it takes three people to support? Probably nothing. I've got lots of old photos where one or a group of people just stand there and stare into the camera, and that's fine. The old clothing, the expressions can be be quite interesting. But it's also nice when the subjects are doing something. The silent child star wanna be, the smiling ladies and the two older men to the rear, nice composition. One can imagine that they're all headed off to the local general store in an era before paper or plastic. And maybe, they had to take the horse and buggy on the ferry to get there. As far as the two photos of the large, generic, institutional style building...too boring for a separate post.

The Epworth League Album 8, Wooing

Well, the break is over and it's time to return to the Epworth League album. (Just a suggestion, but it might be time to click on Epworth League in the labels section and review.) I like to think that the young man in the poorly exposed picture has taken his young lady out to the river bank for a bit of wooing. Oh for the good old days when all it took was a picnic on a river bank and a few well thought out words. Of course women didn't have a lot of choices in life back then, so standards were low. But which of the two young ladies pictured was the intended? And what were the old folks thinking? Perhaps they were worried that their daughter might hook up with the bum in the funny hat.

12/2/44

From Pearl Harbor to V-J Day more than 16 million Americans, mostly men, served in the military. Many of them, about to be shipped overseas, rushed into marriage and left behind pregnant wives. (And a few pregnant girlfriends as well.) In for the duration, not given passes home, a photograph was all they would see of their young children until the end of the war. Those who didn't come back would never see anything other than photos. This picture is dated "12/2/44" The Battle of the Bulge was only two weeks away. The invasion of Okinawa was only four months in the future.

Behind the Screen Door

Who is the mysterious person behind the screen door? Click on the image to get a better look. Printed on postcard stock.

Group Photos

This family really loves it's group shots. Written on the back of the first picture in the collection, "Jakru at Miss Rybak's July 19-1914." My guess is that Jackru is the little boy with the flamboyant neck tie. July 1914 was the month before World War 1 began in Europe and three years before the U.S. entry into the conflict. While only one photo is labeled, the changes in women's clothes and the car give a range from just before the war to a few years after. Jackru would not have been old enough to fight in the first world war and might have been just a bit too old to fight in the second, but his life and the lives of the others in these photos would never be the same.

Stone Wall

With the identically dressed men and the uncomfortable poses next to the stone foundation of some sort of municipal building, this collection has always seemed somewhat odd to me. Small town American Gothic for lack of a better description. My best guess on the date would be very late teens to early twenties. That means that these men survived World War 1 and their small children would have to live through World War 2.

Green Bay Business College- Family and Farm

I'm closing in on the end of the Green Bay Business College collection. To recap, all of these photos came in envelopes addressed to either "Mr. Kenneth Bierke 225 Quinton, Green Bay, Wisconsin," or "Green Bay Business College, 123-S Washington, Green Bay, Wis." There are some really interesting single images in the collection, but as a group, they follow one family from the early twentieth century farm/small town life, through World War 2, and the post war years, through what is probably the Bierke family retirement. I think these images may be from Mrs. Bierke's family. Click on Green Bay in the labels section and pull up the Home front post and you'll see the same lady who is standing on the back of the farm wagon, the first image in this group. Few of these photos are dated or labeled, but there are a few. They three flapper girls, standing on the sidewalk, "Anetta Maichle, Colgate, Wis." The lady with the collie in the paper frame, stamped on the folder, "To Add Beauty and Brilliance insert a piece of cellophane over the picture. GEPPERT STUDIOS, DES MOINES, IOWA." Written in pencil, "Helen A3217, Irene A3509, Marion A3389," then there are two names that have been erased, then "Joe A2617." I'm guessing that those have t0 be early phone numbers. The picture of the little boy standing on the bench is dated, "10-27-44" The family around the Christmas tree, (Note the same lady already noted, though older, sitting in the center of the image.) stamped on the back, "STILLER BLDG., GREEN BAY, WIS." The image of the family, standing beside the tar paper shack, "Mr. & Mrs. Schrader, Mr. and Mrs. Warner, Mr. & Mrs. E. Koepael, Robert Z., Earnest & Mother S., The Wooden Soldier and Ella." The people sitting in front of the log, "Reading from Right to left. My Sis, Feru, Wilfred E., Lee R., Pearl M., Mrs. Ahlgrine, Ora C., Lois C., and Myself. Scene Camp 24."