Liberty Ship

Another exception to the all photos rule; in this case, two cards sent by the same person to the same person. The liberty ship was based on a British design. Facing growing losses to U-boats and bombing raids, unable to build replacements, the British Admiralty began ordering cargo ships from U.S. shipbuilders. In 1941 The U.S. Maritime Commission began making some changes to British designs. Engines that ran on coal were replaced with ones that ran on oil. Sections would no longer be riveted, but rather welded. All sections and parts would be mass produced and then shipped to shipyards for assembly. At first liberty ships needed an average of 230 days from the laying of the keel to launch. Eventually that average fell to 42 days. The liberty ships were ugly, slow, and occasionally they broke apart. They also allowed the allies to move tons of weapons, ammunition, and food all over the world, something the axis powers were unable to do.

Both cards were addressed to, "Mr. John W. Lenhart, Route 1, Andalusia, Ala." There is a return address written on the liberty ship card, "Junior Lenhart, 155 Adams St., Mobile, Ala." The message on the liberty ship card, "June 1, 1943. Hello Folks, How is everything? I am O.K. just working every night and sleeping every day. I don't do much work. I just stand around most of the time. Nobody works very hard. Why don't you all begin to write? I've been here a week and haven't heard from home yet. Answer soon and tell everybody hello." Postmarked, "MOBILE JUN I 6:30 PM 1943, ALA" Credited, "Mobile Cigar & Tobacco Co., Mobile, Alabama. Photo by McNeely, COLOURPICTURE PUBLICATION, CAMBRIDGE, MASS U.S.A." The second card, "June 30 Hello Folks, I will answer your letters I got yesterday. Everything is O.K. down here except that I have got two cards from the draft board this week. I have to take the preliminary physical exam today at 3 o'clock. Yea, Joseph got here Sunday evening. He sent me a telegram to meet him at the bus station. I went back to work yesterday. We will be home Friday night about 10 or 11 o'clock if nothing happens. I will have more news when I get home. Just Jr." Post marked, "MOBILE JUN 29 7 PM 1943 ALA." Credited to, "U.S. NAVY COMICS. GENUINE CURTEICH-CHICAGO C.T ART-COLORTONE POST CARD (REG. U.S. PAT. OFF.)" Note that on the upper right corner there is a serial number, "USN-11" I would suggest clicking on the second image to bring it up in a bigger window in order to read the poem on the card.

The Epworth League Album 11, The Dead of Winter

Only one picture on today's page. Imagine having to get around in the dead of winter in an open sleigh. No heater, exposed to the elements, it would be possible to die of hypothermia just going to town. A broken runner or a lame horse, and no public transit and one could be snowed in for weeks or even months.

The Epworth League Album 10, Life on the River

I wrote in an earlier Epworth League post that the pictures in the first part of the album had a mid-western feel to them. Well, here's a bit more of that feel. A river this wide, in the United States, is probably the Mississippi, the lower Missouri or the lower Ohio. There might be some other candidates out there, but those three are the most likely. I spent some time, on line, searching for images of old bridges along those rivers and couldn't find a match. But someone out there must be able to recognize these locations. As always, click on Epworth League in the labels section to bring up the lot.

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.

The German American Collection, The Broken Ones

It's my preferred practice, when scanning mounted prints, to crop out everything but the actual photograph. Too, I prefer not to impose a symbolic meaning to old, family photos. But in this case, where a dealer went to an estate sale and bought up boxes of old photos that no one was willing to save from the prying eyes of strangers, it only seems right that there should be some damage to things. Take a good look at the child on the left in the final print. I'm convinced that's a little boy in the dress. What were they playing? Peter Pan? Click on German American in the labels section to bring up the rest of the collection.

Pals

Two affectionate soldiers? I know there's a modern day obsession with with trying to define people by their sexuality, and yes, there is a very good chance that these two soldiers were gay. But it's also possible that they were two men who faced war together and were pals. Pals who have faced death together and have a strong emotional, rather than sexual bond.