If every picture tells a story, does that mean a photo album is a novel? I think not, but I do think that an album, including ones that are not labeled, or poorly captioned, can lead us in interesting directions. The Army Hospital Album's first half is dominated by the hospital itself. Because no bandages, casts, or visible wounds can be seen, I've speculated that it was a psychiatric facility, though, of course, I can't know that for certain. And then it was civilian life. Soldiers sent home, possibly cured of what ailed them, possibly not. What was once called shell shock, combat fatigue, and now referred to as PTSD. There were some teenagers pictured, 18 years old, photographed in 1963. In other words, children born right after World War 2. Others born latter. All guess work as to what it all means. But of course, that guess work, that speculation, is what's attractive about collecting old, forgotten images.
The only one of the three pictures with any writing on the back is the third one in the column. "Charles Edward Murphy born Jan 31th. Weighted-5 lbs-13 ozs. He weighed 8 1/2 lbs. when this picture was taken." Wording as written.
And now that it's done, click on army hospital collection in labels to see everything. Start with post number 1, and while it won't be like holding the album in your hands, it's the best than can be done in this blog.
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