The Destruction of Hattonchatel

When I saw the back of this card, I knew there was no point in trying a translation.  The handwriting is too small and run together.  If someone wants to have a go at it, be my guest.

The Chateau de Hattonchatel is located in the commune of Vigneulles-les-Hattonchatel in the Meuse department of France.  (Glad I got through that)  The site was originally fortified in in 860 by Hatto, the Bishop of Verdun.  Built on a promontory overlooking the Seine River Valley, it was the chief stronghold of the bishops until 1546.  The castle was destroyed in 1918 during World War 1.  After the war it was reconstructed between 1923-1928.  Today it's a hotel, conference and wedding center.  I'm a little puzzled why someone would want to memorialize the destruction of a 958 year old building.

France, 1940

Written on the back, "Aout 1940 au Bosquet Ales"  Translated from French, "August 1940, the grove, Ales."  Ales is a town in the Languedoc-Roussillion region of southern France.

One of the things I've learned is that life goes on. By August 1940 France had been conquered by the Germans.  The country had been divided between the occupied north, including Paris, and free France in the south, a fascist dominated government more concerned with pleasing Nazi Germany than the welfare of it's own citizens.  Despite that, there was time for these two ladies to stroll in a garden and pose for a picture.  Life goes on.

Sullen French Girls

Pre-punks?  Born fifty years too early?  Dated, "Juillet 1927"  July, for those like me, who do not speak French.

From Europe

Mother and daughter? Sisters, perhaps? A real photo postcard. Nothing written on the back, but the stock reads "CARTE POSTALE" so it's from France, or possibly the French speaking areas of Switzerland or Belgium.

Aviation

I run across these all the time; collections put together by dealers by theme, but otherwise not related. With my post of the flying family just a couple of clicks back, I thought it would be a good time to put up this aviation themed collection. As usual when purchasing a group like this, I'm drawn to some images more than others, and in some cases, I don't really have an interest in some of the pictures at all. But since I would prefer to err on the side of putting up too much rather than too little, I'm posting them all.

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To be born in 1955 is to be interested in airplanes. World War 2 had only ended a decade earlier and movies of fighter pilots and bombing raids were still an entertainment staple. Jets had come along, but prop planes were still common commercial air carriers. When I was 14 in 1969 man walked on the moon. A 75 year old person in 1969 would have been nine when the Wright Brothers made their first flight at Kitty Hawk, and would have been old enough to have clear memories of the announcement that man had flown a powered craft for the first time. A fast progression of technology. And too, it didn't hurt that my mother was from England and built Minerva engines for Spitfires during the war.

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The long shot of the control tower and terminal with the factory smoke stack to the right is labeled, "11/4/39 Broward Field Hartford, Conn." The two color photos are stamped, "THIS IS A KODACOLOR PRINT MADE BY EASTMAN KODAK EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY T. M. REGIS. U. S. PAT. OFF. Aug 20, 1948." Still flying prop planes out of a small airport. Note the cars parked on the edge of the tarmac. There is a date stamped on the picture of the two girls in the helicopter, MAY 1984" but that has to be when it was printed rather than taken. The hair is all wrong for the 80s. The picture that shows a few small planes lined up on a runway is stamped "AMERICAN PHOTO SERVICE NOV 9 1948." The photographer was clearly drawn to the sky since it's the main part of the composition. Written on the back of the Aviation Mechanics School with it's Army Air Force insignia, "Hanger 1510B we use it for school-we work inside, it's a pretty big place." The TWA wing tip, again a prop passenger plane, "Geneva." I suspect that the group picture wasn't taken at an airport but the plane in the background just barely qualifies it as an aviation themed photo, written in the margin, "Lorasine Schleminns, Bill Donlin, Gabriel Pea, Beth Donlin and Becky-Wash, D.C." The old lady with the leis, "Oct 9, 1950." This may have been her first flight. The group of people standing in front of the control tower, "Our group at the Lourdes, France airport before we left for Paris." And the plane on the grass field, "July 12, 1939 Bendix Airport. U. S. Army Bomber." I'm fascinated that so many of these people dressed up to fly. The last time I flew, I wore jeans and an old, comfortable shirt.

French Tanks

I know a lot about black & white printing processes, color printing, and color transparencies. This sort of thing, not so much. I think, and I encourage anyone who can either verify or contradict that opinion to do so, that this is a rotogravure. I'm also going on guess work as to the source of this image. Marked "U.S. OFFICIAL" and "SIGNAL CORPS U.S.A." on the front, it is my opinion that these are press release photos used to publicize the first world war. President Woodrow Wilson was so committed to a total war effort, that even the press was conscripted into the fight. Captioned "French tanks ("Chars d"Assault") moving to the support of French troops operating on the left of the 32d Div., Aug.29, 1918."

French Postcard One More Time

Yet another French postcard. 19th century porn, tame now.

Etretat, France in World War 2

This one is for the World war 2 history buffs. When I first saw these photos I thought they must have been from the Dover area in England. But, I've been to Dover, and I couldn't remember the sea arches seen in several of the prints. A bit of research and I was able to identify the town as Etretat in France. With some of the signs in English and the bombed out houses makes these from the post D-Day era. The bunkers have to be German built, as a defense against the allied invasion.

Crazy French People

Written on the back, "12 Jueller 1936. Faiet de Foutunebleau." They look like they're having fun.

Americans in Paris

Paris in the 20's was the age of the American expatriate. Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Stein and the lot. On the back of the lady sitting at the table, "Caroline Davis France 1920's" On the back of the standing woman, "Hannah Gersch taken at Longchamps Racetrack in Paris about 1928 or 1929?"