The German American Collection, The Wedding Picture

Again, I bought the butt end of an estate collection. A dealer had sold a number of photos individually, and then put everything else on-line in a couple of lots. This was the one I was able to get. Because it's all such a mish-mash, I'm putting things up when I get around to it with no real time table. Basically, when it gets done, it gets done. This photo, and what's left of an old photo album which is a long way from being posted, is why I'm calling it the German American collection. Stamped on the back, "Photohaus Karl Borft, Hieben, Bahnhofftr. 63" Well, my German is pretty bad and some of the letters were in the old style, Gothic script, which I often find confusing, but here goes. Photohaus is pretty obvious, so let's say Karl Borft's photo studio. I know that banhof is a station, so I'm guessing that the added tr. makes it a train station. I am confused about hieben though. I ran it through Google translate and got "cut down" and that makes no sense to me whatsoever. I hope this couple got out of Germany before the 1930's. Click on German American in the labels section to get the other parts that are available for viewing.

A Hand Comes Into the Frame

In the past I've noted that I don't really care for pictures of babies. The truth is they all look alike to me. And while we're on the subject of infants; Moms, if you're kid is too young to walk, talk, and too young to stop slobbering, please don't plop him on my lap and ask me to admire his chubby cheeks. Anyway, I can imagine the photographer crying out, "If you want a picture of the damn kid stop him from bouncing around all the time." And so the mother's hand creeps into the frame and holds the swing steady. Taken with a view camera.

Two Girls, One Boy

My best guess is that this picture was taken in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century and what a future these children would face. Let's assume that these three kids are children of an American middle class. All children of the poor and working classes were raised to eventually make a living, but for the middle class and the wealthy, girls were raised to make a marriage. They would have been given an education that would have given them a certain amount of charm, wit, and grace. Perhaps it would have included a women's college, perhaps not. Boys would have been raised to their father's business, a true career, and membership in an appropriate club. But things change. These three would have faced World War 1, a flu pandemic that may have killed as many as 100,000,000 people in eighteen months. Then the roaring twenties, probably the period of greatest social change in the last 100 years. Then the great depression, 30 % unemployment at a time when most women didn't work which probably would translate into 50 % unemployment by today's standards. Then World War 2, and if these three kids were born no earlier than the 1890s, there was a decent chance that, at the least, they lived to see Korea and the beginning of Vietnam. May you live in interesting times.

Marie and Malcolm Carskadden

An albumen print, mounted on a card, "Marie and Malcolm Carskadden" written on the back. I did a search on both Marie and Malcolm Carskadden and couldn't find a thing.

Oops-A Preference For Film

If this was taken on a digital camera, the subject would have grabbed the camera and hit delete. Too embarrassing. Well, that's my contention and I'm standing by it. But, it was shot on film and she couldn't have ripped the film out of the camera without destroying all of the other vacation shots. After a bit of time goes by and it's less embarrassing and more fun. Of course, it falls into the hands of someone like me who posts it on a blog for the whole world to see. If she's still alive she might have wished she'd thrown this one away. Oops, sorry.

Steamed Crabs on Fisherman's Wharf, S.F.

Addressed to "Lois & Gil Yorba, 110-Morton Ave., Sierra Madre, Cal." This is the second postcard I have, sent to the Yorba family during World War 2. (Navigate back one to see the other.) The great depression and the war were great periods of internal migration in American history. The Yorba family had either family or friends who, at least, got to San Francisco and New York City. If they were like most Americans they knew people who spent time at a military training camp in some other part of the country, working at a war plant far from home, or overseas in Europe or the South Pacific. My father was born in 1919, dropped out of high school in the ninth grade because of the depression. He and his father ended up living in a dug out. (They dug out a flat spot on a hill side, pounded in some planking as a roof, shored it all up, and had an old rug for a door.) Then he ended up a homeless teenager, spending time with both the CCC and WPA. Then it was into the peace time army, then a few months after returning to civilian life, drafted into the war time army. As a cryptographer he never saw combat. but he did live in Iceland, England, France and then Germany. He thought that that was a good thing, and if it hadn't been for the depression and the war, he may have never got further than a few hundred miles from his small, home town.

"One of the principal industries of San Francisco is fishing, and centers around this point. From Fisherman's Wharf the fishing boats leave each morning to make their catches in shell fish and other sea foods. Here one may partake of the freshly caught ocean delicacies in one of the many outdoor stands or in the fine restaurants adjacent." Post marked, "SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF MAY 31 9:30 PM 1944" And the message, "Hello, We are simply eating ourselves in to a stupor but surely enjoying it. Going dancing at the Mark tonite. C you this weekend. Mary & Steve." And written in a different hand with a different ink, 'STAN HAS A NEW CADILLAC!" Of course since the auto industry had been turned over to war work, Stan had a used Cadillac new to him.

The Pepsi Service Men's Center

Well, this is really irritating. Usually when I get an image that's a screened print, I can't get a decent scan, and the descreen setting, though it softens the picture, is a much better option. This time, however, I'm not really getting a clearly better result. Oh well, at least anyone who is interested in comparisons can see for themselves. This is the first of two cards I've picked up addressed to the Yorba family of southern California. "Center built and maintained by the Pepsi-Cola Company for the members of the Armed Forces of the United Nations, in co-operation with New York City Defense Recreation Committee." Post marked, "NEW YORK, N.Y. JUL 23 2-P.M. 1943." Addressed to "Mrs. Gilbert Yorba, 500 Orange Grove, Arcadia, California." And the message, "Dear Lois & Gil, Having a wonderful time. It's going to be hard to get down to business again. As ever, Herb." Interesting, during World War 2, members of the military had franking privileges with the U.S. Post Office. Basically, they could sign their names and write down their unit designation and get free postage. This card has been stamped, but it's from a military service center. Was Herb a civilian? And a final mea culpa, because this is a photography blog, I don't put up postcards that don't have a photographic base. I think this is a hand colored photo, though I'm a lot less sure than I usually am. And, I really prefer Dr. Pepper.