Before & During

 

Written on the back of the top image, "July / 41 Batavia, Ill."  So, four to five months before Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entry into World War 2.  Written on the bottom print, "Helen & My Ma taken in the Sunken Gardens just of the hill & the Hotel. August 1944."  Not long after D-Day.  

Music To My Ears 2

Well, Ann Parker sure looks a lot like Mary Reagan from the last post.  It also looks like Leverne Reagan has made an exit from the act.  Once again, I've dated this clipping from the movie ads on the back.  Mr. Skeffington, starring Betty Davis, was released in 1944.

Again, click on Music To My Ears to see more from this collection.  I'll be taking a break from this and going to other things for awhile before returning with some studio portraits.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 14

The top photo really suggests some big questions.  Dated April 1944, it looks like Stara Zagora was spared the ravages of World War 2.  The city looks untouched and the two gentlemen in uniforms seem rather happy and self satisfied.  In April of 1944, Bulgaria was still an ally of Germany, but the Soviet army was just five months away from tossing out the Germans as well as the fascist  government.  Were these two young men  happy to be living in a Nazi state or were they looking forward to liberation, as short-lived as that turned out to be?  Of course, they may have been thinking about the two ladies in the second photo.  I almost didn't scan the back of the second photo, but I thought it might be a local way of  writing a date.  February 9, 1942, or perhaps September 2, 1942.  Then again it might be a notation that only the owner of this album could understand. 

Click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 8

When I start one of these albums, I don't take the whole thing apart before I start posting images.  I disassemble the collection as I go along and discover things as they come.  The top photo has something written on the back,  Three letters, possibly the initials of the young lady and a date, 1941. As can be seen, the second photo in the column has far more information on the back, including a 1944 date.  Rather than thinking of this album as being about students, perhaps I should have thought of it as a memory album of those who either survived or died in World War 2, Bulgaria.  In any case, The Bulgarian School Boy Album remains the common tag for this collection.

The Bulgarian School Boy Album 7

I haven't forgotten the Bulgarian school boys, I've just been busy the last couple of days.  In any case, it's Bulgarian school girls today, though the 1944 date on the back of the first print is far enough from the first few pages of this album that these ladies might be Bulgarian school girl graduates.  In any case, I'm not going to try and translate the back.  I can, to a certain extent, read Cyrillic lettering, but it's a bit too much for me to piece everything together.  I think, however, we can conclude that the line above the date is the name of the two girls, and, of course, it's easy to translate Zagora, referring to the city, Stara Zagora in Bulgaria.

And, of course, click on The Bulgarian School Boy Album in labels to see more.

The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection-Snow Clouds Around the Heads

I've gone through this before, but what the hell, let's repeat.  Awhile back, I bought an envelope of photos from an eBay dealer who assured me everything was from a Wisconsin estate sale.  Anyway, I'm always aware that dealers are as likely to tell you what they think you want to hear, as they are the truth, so with a big grain of salt....another from The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection. (Clickable in labels for more pictures and info.)

This photo is mounted on a fragment of an album page.  Written on the back of the page, "Bedford 1944."  Bedford, Massachusetts is my best guess.  New England, snow, it's a fit.  Although, I also found a Bedford in New Hampshire, another snowy, New England locale, and a Bedford from my own home state, Pennsylvania.

And for those wondering, if it's white on the print, it's black on the negative.  The snow is easy to explain, but the white out around the parent's heads: the film may have been exposed to direct light while the film was being loaded or unloaded from the camera, or that area might not have been developed.

The Here, There, and Everywhere Collection,-Dearborn

As can be seen on the full album page, this one is dated "Jan.- 1944."  I've actually written about this before, but here it goes again.  During World War 2, millions of young American men were in the service.  There were women in the military, of course, but their numbers were far fewer.  In other words, there were millions of American women, on the home front, with no male companionship.  When I find pictures from the war years, especially mid 43 through late 45, I'm never surprised when there aren't any young men in the photos.

There are no pictures on the back of this page, but it's labeled "Dearborn-Sept-'43."  I've known about Dearborn, Michigan for years, but I have to admit, I've always assumed it was Deerborn.  I figured some early pioneer had founded the city where he had seen a doe and her fawn.  Well actually, I never thought about it all, but I did think it was Deerborn.  It turns out the city was named after  Revolutionary War General Henry Dearborn.  Who knew?

Click on The Here There and Everywhere Collection in labels to see more photos and for information on the lot.