Cranberries

Again, the original source material for color, linen postcards are almost always hand colored black & white photographs. This one shows black migrant workers harvesting cranberries on Cape Cod.

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Printed on the back, "HARVESTING CRANBERRIES The cranberry is indigenous to Cape Cod. It is a highly profitable and highly specialized business which employs an army of scoopers to skim the great bogs for the Delectable Feast of Thanksgiving." Also, "TICHNOR QUALITY VIEWS MADE ONLY BY THE TICHNOR BROTHERS, INC. BOSTON, MASS."

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Written on the back, "Darling Tina, I wish you were with us, we are just going to the beach. The next time you go with us I suppose you will be swimming better than ever.

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Yesterday was my day to write, but Mummy wrote so I thought I would wait until to-day. Just heaps. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Me."

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Addressed to, "Miss Christine Anderson, Camp Four Winds, Mass Girl Scout Camp, Buzzards Bay, Route 2, Mass."

Occupied Japan 1

A 35 mm format, 21 frames taken in occupied Japan, presented in three posts of seven images each. What an American GI would have seen while off duty.

Italian Army

When World War 1 began in November of 1914, Italy was member of the Triple Alliance along with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Italian Parliament declared, that since the alliance was for defensive proposes, and since Germany and the Austrians had been the aggressors, their treaty obligations were not enforceable. In May of 1915, Italy joined the Entente and allied themselves with Great Britain, France and Russia. From 1915 to 1917 the Italian army attacked Austrian forces along their border but were unable to make any significant advances. In 1917, with German help, the Austrian army made a significant counter attack that resulted in the rout of the Italian army at the battle of Caporetto. See A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway for a written description of the retreat. The Italians were able to halt the offensive, but until October of 1918, with Austria on the verge of civil war, they were not able to regain significant territory from the Austrians. In the last few months of the war, the Italian army was finally able to penetrate deep into Austrian territory. Fighting ended between the Italians and the Austrians on November 3, 1918, a week before the signing of a final armistice, ending the war.

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All of these images are printed on postcard stock. The first image is the newest. I'm usually pretty good at deciphering hand writing, but not having any Italian, I'm unable to infer things from context. Normally I wouldn't post the back of a card, but I can only figure out so much, so if anyone out there can give me an accurate translation.... "Col." I'm guessing is an abbreviation for Colonello, Italian for Colonel. That last name may be Rafall, but I can't be sure. I've got "Gioia" figured out, with "Calle" so I'm putting the Colonel on Joy Street in August of 1927. The Colonel and the civilian postcard has an address that I can't make out, and a name, "Giovanni" a last name I can't decipher and "+ moglie" wife. I've put up a number of hand tinted images on this blog, but the last two images are the first before and after pictures that I've been able to post. Written on the back of the tinted version, "Ottobre 6. 1918 Austria" October 6, 1918 Austria. Less than a month to the cease fire.

Los Angeles, Spring Street

Well, Los Angeles sure doesn't look like this anymore. While this image looks like it could be a painting, it's very probable that the original image was a black & white photograph that was hand colored, and until proved otherwise, it qualifies for inclusion on a photography blog. Printed on the back of the card, "No. 1260. SPRING STREET, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. The full name of Los Angles is "La Tuebla de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles" (The City of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels), a name as beautiful as it is long, and in keeping with the proud position of the city as the "Belle of the Pacific Coast." It is situated twenty miles from the mouth of the Los Angeles River, fifteen miles from the Pacific Ocean, as the crow flies. It was founded by the Spaniards in 1781 and passed into American possession in 1846. It was, however, of no great importance till after 1880, when it underwent an almost unprecedentedly rapid increase in population and wealth. It's population rose from 11,183 in 1880 to 50,395 in 1890, and to 102,479 in 1990, and it's former adobe houses have almost entirely been replaced by stone and brick houses and blocks of tasteful wooden residences. It is now a crowded and lively town of wide streets and spacious sidewalks, with an extensive and beautiful residential quarter, and over 130 churches." And yes, Tuebla is what it says on the card.

Zuver Studios

Lewis W. Zuver was a professional photographer in Butler, Pennsylvania. He was active from the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century. He had a brother, Leonard Zuver, who had a studio in Tionesta, Pa., and a sister Mary Zuver West who was also a professional photographer who specialized in portraits of women and children who had a studio in Bradford, Pa. There is a small, difficult to see, embossed logo on the photo directly underneath the portrait. It has what I think is a horse, with a Z underneath, in a shield, with "ZUVER STUDIO, BUTLER, PA." around the outside of the shield.

The Merry Widow Hat

The Merry Widow was an operetta written by Austrian composer Franz Lehar (Libretto by Victor Leon and Leo Stein) that premiered in 1905 and soon became an international sensation. It also inspired a fashion craze for large, oversize hats for women. I did a Google search for I. Grollman, the publisher of this card, and didn't find anything about Grollman, but I did find page after page of Grollman cards for sale, many of them built around the Merry Widow theme and all novelty cards.

The Ladies Only Picnic

Every time I see photos that look like they could have been taken during World War 2, I wonder how the people in those photos were affected by the war. From Pearl Harbor to V-J Day, more than 16 million Americans, almost all men, would spend some time in the military. There must have been a lot of all women picnics in those years.