A Japanese Class Photo

 

I don't do it often because shipping has a tendency to be expensive, but from time to time, I go on eBay and purchase photos from overseas.  So, is this a Japanese class photo or the staff of the local building supply store?  I'm betting it's a class photo with the older-looking men as faculty, and the younger-looking guys, the students. Anyway, I don't speak or read Japanese, so the caption that's on the back may tell the real story, and for anyone who can translate, do me a favor and leave one in comments. 

Teaching About Zoo Animals

I hope she wasn't smoking in front of her students.  When I was in grade school, many of my teachers reeked of tobacco.

Snakes on a Sharon

Or to be more precise, snakes on Mr. Sharon.  I'm sure it was the inspiration for the movie.

Teachers

Well, the building does have that whole institutional vibe going,  and with the two kids in the background, teachers seems like a good bet.  But, why an all Asian faculty?  For the era, I would think that an odd thing for the United States.  Perhaps Hawaii or the Philippines.

The Pforzheim Album 5

It's more than the class photo that makes me think this album belonged to a teacher.  All the photos in the album appear to have been taken by professional photographers.  Posing the woman with a book hints at someone with an interest in the intellectual.  I don't know about Germany in the 1920s, but in the United States, at that time, teaching was one of the few jobs held by a woman that required a college education.  I doubt it was much different in Europe.

The Pforzheim Album 3

A large group of women.  My first thought, all the women in a single family, but then I saw the man off to the side wearing what looks like some sort of uniform.  Now I'm thinking teachers.  The second image is the one of two, non postcards in the album.  (And yes, I did notice the child in the lower left.)  Other than the date, 1929, I'm going to allow an actual German speaker to translate what was written on the back.  My one term of College German, forty years ago, and Google Translate isn't enough for me to make out the handwriting.

Just For the Hell Of It

Just for the hell of it, I thought I'd try a different approach.  In my collecting, I pick up all sorts of old photos,  some of which are rather faded.  I've noticed something new in my additions to this blog in the past month or so.  The more faded the photo, the darker it uploads.  Just for the hell of it, I converted the very faded, brownish print I uploaded in my last post, to a greyscale.  A fancy way of saying, I got rid of the brown when I scanned the photo to my hard drive.  Sadly, it made not a whit of difference when I posted it to the blog.  I guess the tech boys at Blogger did what the tech boys do. They changed things.  In this case, a bit of auto correct, with no means of over riding what, in my case, is neither needed or wanted.  Oh well, I'm not happy, but what can you do.

Marblehead

What is wrong with blogger?  The original print is very, very light.  Washed out, and ghosted back.  That's the way the scan looks on my computer, and then when I add it to the blog, it's all this muddy brown.  Frustrating, because I have no idea what to do.

Anyway, labeled "G.H.S. Marblehead 1936"  I'm guessing that the H.S. in G. H. S. stands for high school.  I went to the Marblehead, Massachusetts city website, and looked up schools.  No matches.  With a name like Marblehead, one would expect some sort of mountain redoubt of a town.  Actually, it's a coastal town with a history that revolves around the sea.  Fishing, and now yachting.  Oh those rich people.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 36, The Loose Ones

This is it.  The end, finito, it's all up.  The last of The North Texas State Normal College collection.  Thirty-six separate posts that can be accessed by clicking NTSNC in the labels section at the bottom of this post.

It's not just the old photos that I'm drawn to in my collecting.  It's trying to figure out the stories behind the images.  Sometimes it's easy.  Names, places, and descriptions are added to photos, and from that info it's easy to infer some sort of life story.  And, thanks to the internet, it's sometimes possible to actually look up an on-line biography.

 No such luck with this lot.  A normal college, in the first several decades of the twentieth century, was where teachers went for training.  There are some photos in the actual album that could be college pictures, but mostly, it's family photos.  Rural family photos.  There are a couple of names written in the back of the album, Miss Cypert and Mrs. Rollins.  Without first names or an exact location, it wasn't possible to find anything on-line.  The loose pictures have plenty of school photos, pretty much cementing the school teacher assumption, but beyond that....nothing much.  Since only a handful of the school photos have names, and student photos at that, it's not even possible to tell which person is Miss Cypert or Mrs. Rollins, or what their relationship, if any, might have been.  Frustrating, but it's still been a good run.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 34, The Loose Ones

Do public schools still do the whole class photo thing?  When I was in school, once a year, we'd all troop into the cafeteria to have our pictures taken by the local photo studio.  Stamped on the back of the third photo in the column, "SMALL PHOTOS 15 CENTS EACH.  8 FOR 75 CENTS.  ENLARGEMENTS 75 CENTS, OR ALL FOR $1.00.  PLEASE REMIT PROMPTLY TO TEACHER."  Actually, it doesn't say cents, but has that "c" with the line through symbol which my keyboard doesn't have.  I wonder why such a common symbol is missing.

Click on NTSNC in labels to bring up the whole collection.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 32, The Loose Ones

Why would anyone save an old Christmas tag?  The only photo in this lot with any writing on the back is the first in the column.  "A school boy age 13."  He mustn't have made much of an impression.

Click on NTSNC in the labels section to see the whole collection.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 31, The Loose Ones

Stamped on the back of the first print in the column, "Koen Studio, Plainview, Texas"  Two teachers on summer break?  Could be.  I know it's hard to read flopped printing, but take a close look at the bottom boarder on the second photo.  "NITRATE FILM"   Camera film base was once made of nitrates, a highly flammable, unstable concoction that, over time, would liquefy.  Motion picture nitrate film stock was considered so dangerous that it wasn't allowed on buses, planes, or passenger trains.  Film companies would eventually develop safety film, and end the danger of nitrate film caused movie theater fires.  And the bottom picture...Well, it's possible that the boy was named Emma.  I went to school with a guy named Janet.  His mother died in child birth, and he was named for her.  Looking back on it, it was  kind of cruel.  Every time he signed his name, it was a reminder that his mother died when he was born.  In any case, written on the back, "To Aunt Etta.  Rotan, age 14."  Rotan isn't much better than Emma.

Click on NTSNC in the labels section at the bottom of the post to bring up the collection.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 30, The Loose Ones

Is there no end to this collection?  Why yes, there is.  Just not today.  One of the adults in the class picture could be the owner of this album.  Wish I knew.  As usual, click on NTSNC in the labels section at the bottom of the post to bring up the whole lot.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 28, The Loose Ones

It's time to return to the North Texas State Normal College Album collection.  The actual album pages have all been published, so once again, it's the loose photos that were stuffed between the album pages as they came out, not placed in any order.

The top photo has a studio stamp on the back, "Koen's Studio, MAR 13, 1943 Plainview, Texas"  I'm not very good at judging a child's age, but I'm betting the little girl in the photo was probably born in '40 or '41.  The other two labeled photos are the "School Days" picture and the young soldier.  The girl is labeled "Etta" and the soldier, "PVT. Denny R. Garner June 13, 1966 Ft. Polk, La.  To Aunt Etta."  I suppose it's possible that she's that Aunt Etta, but I'm thinking she might be a cousin Etta to young Denny.  Another relative with the same name.  But it's Pvt. Garner that's a bit more interesting.  Click on NTSNC in the label's section to bring up the collection.  Take a close look at post number 27.  The last photo in that post is "Denny, age 11" Take a look at the chins.  Same person.  I went on line and looked for Dennis R Garner, and I think I found a hit.  Dennis R. Garner, born January 10, 1949, Vietnam veteran, died age 47, November 17, 1996, buried Barrancas National Cemetery, Pensacola, Florida.  I couldn't find an actual obituary, just the bare facts in the cemetery data base.

The North Texas State Normal College Album 25

Well, it's time to wrap up the album portion of this series.  (There are about fifty or sixty loose bits to go.)  We've got a couple of names, Miss Cypert and Mrs. S. W. Ruths.  Probably one of those two women owned the album, but which one...My guess is Miss Cypert, but unless someone out there in blog world recognizes the album we'll never know.

The last couple of pages were damaged, and it looks like someone pasted the Three Kings back cover as a repair.

As usual, click on NTSNC in the labels section at the bottom of the post to bring up the whole lot.  Start with post number one, and it will be a bit like going through the album in order.