Written on the back, "Sylvester, 1955/56" I don't know if Sylvester is the name of the photographer or the last name of the woman in the photo. Whoever Sylvester was, we can be sure he or she didn't know on which side of midnight this photo was taken. Rather dressy for a home party. Printed on Agfa Brovira paper, so far more likely this was taken in Europe than the U.S.
Navigate back to the beginning of the month, and you'll find a post about the Grand View Ship Hotel, a local tourist attraction from western Pennsylvania, not in Pittsburgh. This is another postcard dedicated to a tourist site that I visited in my childhood, though, since it was on the other side of Pennsylvania, only once. (For the life of me I can't remember why we ventured to the other side of the Appalachians.) So, the caption on the back of the card, "READING'S PAGODA, Reading's pagoda is situated on the southwest extremity of Mount Penn at the terminus of Duryea Drive. This unique structure is Reading's top tourist attraction and at an elevation of 886 feet above sea level and 620 feet above the city of Reading, it affords its many visitors an exceptional birds-eye view of the surrounding hills and suburbs of Reading, Pennsylvania." Now why someone thought building a seven-story Japanese-style pagoda in Reading, Pennsylvania was a good idea, well I'll never know. Built in 1908, as a luxury hotel, eventually, it fell on hard times and was purchased by the city. Unlike the Grand View Ship Hotel, which burned down, it's still there.
Do Scots wear floor-length kilts? Not that I'm aware of. I've written about this before. I spent decades working in photo labs, and while the type of labs I worked in mostly did large business accounts like movie studios and advertising, we also had a certain number of walk-in accounts, and some of those had "private" images. Lots of naked wives and girlfriends, amateur pin-ups, nude men, people having sex, fetish imagery, and lots of cross-dressing. The conclusion that I came to was that if people can think it, they'll do it, and they'll take pictures. So, why is it that I've been collecting old photographs, and I rarely find such photos if so many have been made? My theory is that after mom and dad have died, the kids find the box of old photos, and can't stand seeing naked mom, dad in a pretty dress, and both parents wearing matching lingerie, so those photos get fed to the flames.
It's a shame, actually. I'm a big believer that vernacular photography tells us a lot about people and how they lived., so wiping out that which embarrasses the children destroys the history of the everyday. And one other thing. A lot of the crossdressing photos I printed, well, I only knew they were men because I was told that comely young lass was a man, so it's logical to conclude that the number of men with dresses in their closet is larger than supposed.
The last three photos from this very small collection. Each image is labeled "Erie PA" We already know the woman is Elizabeth Gibson from previous posts. The bottom photo in the column has something else written on the back. "Caught you napping-or is it only blinking? or winking?" Click on Erie Catholics in labels to bring up all three posts.
All three of these photos are labeled, "Elizabeth Gibson, Erie PA." The same Elizabeth Gibson mentioned in the first post of this series as being a friend to Father Lester Quinn. In addition, the first photo in the column also has this written on the back, "A typical jovial Tillie enjoying life abundantly. A heartfelt smile with a hearty chuckle." I grew up near Erie, Pennsylvania. I did a MapQuest to get mileage, and it came out to about 140 miles. Of course, as is typical with the site, that route included a significant dogleg to pick up the interstate. When we drove there, it was a straight shot on back roads, so fewer miles. Too, there's a Gibson Park a dozen or so miles northeast of Erie, so I'm thinking the Gibsons may have been a prominent family. If nothing else these photos give the appearance of financial wellbeing. Click on Erie Catholics in labels to bring everything up.
I haven't put up a multi-part collection in a while, so here goes. There are only nine images, so I'll post three parts, three photos each. I'll put them up without interrupting the series with other posts, and I'll label them all Erie Catholics so one click will bring them all up.
Written on the back of the top photo, "Erie PA Father Raymond Quinn & Father Lester (?) Quinn-(special friend of Elizabeth Gibson) with their mother & 2 sisters." The second photo, "On the O.L.S orphans outing June 1924. Fr. Raymond Quinn, Erie, PA." And the third, "Erie PA Mrs. Loval Gibson."
So, brother priests? The question mark may call the first name, Lester into question, but the writer seems sure of the last name. My guess is all of these pictures were taken around the same time, perhaps not all in 1924, but certainly in the twenties. Are the three women in the top photo mother and sisters of the priests? Sure looks that way. Some of the pictures yet to be posted are labeled Elizabeth Gibson, and the older woman in the bottom photo isn't her. Probably Mrs. Loval Gibson is Elizabeth's mother.
Odd choice for a Christmas card? Anyway, I did a quick search for Kenneth Lee in Battle Creek, Michigan, and found a lot of people named Kenneth, middle name Lee, then a lot of different last names. My guess is that this Kenneth Lee is one of those Kenneth Lees.
I don't know where this was taken, but I walk through the old, abandoned, Los Angeles Zoo, from time to time, and sure looks like it was taken near the cages.
Written on the back, "Daddy, Ruth & Eddie, Joyce & Ruthann with Xmas gifts." Well, we are getting close to Christmas so it's time to put this one up. I've been holding on to it for a while and with any luck, I'll be out of town on the big day.
Just a bit out of focus pretty much covers it. Every time I put up a photo like this, I wonder if the subject is still alive. My guess is that this photo was taken some time from the late 1930s into the 40s, so this woman could be still alive, though nearing or even in her 100s. Almost certainly dead, but who knows.
I used to visit this place when I was growing up. I can remember that it was on the side of a mountain, and yes it was a pretty good view from the top. We never stayed at the hotel, but we did eat in the restaurant and bought souvenirs in the gift shop. The caption, "S.S. GRAND VIEW POINT SHIP HOTEL ON LINCOLN HIGHWAY 17 MILES WEST OF BEDFORD, PA. ELEVATION 2,464 FEET. GRAND VIEW SHIP HOTEL, at the most beautiful spot in U.S. Summit of Alleghany Mts. 17 miles west of Bedford, Pa. on Historic Lincoln Highway, overlooking 3 states and 7 counties. Elevation 2,464 feet."
Okay, I know that that is one messed up caption, but I've double-checked, and I have transcribed it as printed on the back of the card. And by the way, I assume that people know that the hotel wasn't really a ship. It was an old roadhouse that had a ship's facade nailed on, made of wood, it eventually burned down.
Actually, I'm not sure she's all that old. Mature, but not necessarily ancient.
Forgive me if I've posted this image before. I didn't start The New Found Photography to share my collection with the world. In a nutshell, I had picked up so many old photos that it had become impossible to look at them and as far as storage, to put it mildly, a mess. Anyway, while this blog made things better, my filing system has been chaotic and with over 2,000 posts, it's hard to scroll back and double check to see if any individual photo has already been published. I don't think this shot of a lady, probably from the twenties, standing in her backyard has been posted before, but if it has, sorry for the repetition.
Do people still do things like this? Do they get dressed up, go to a friend's house and have a sit down dinner. Maybe a family dinner at Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Well the computer died and with it the very old but quite serviceable scanner. Sadly, while I managed to get another used scanner, I've had a hell of a time getting it to work. I'm not sure I've completely figured things out, but an old picture which has never made it to The New Found Photography. Not a great one, and my best guess is from around the beginning of the twentieth century.
Okay, the computer was down and my old scanner, well I didn't have the disc anymore, and it was too old to be supported. To make a long story short, after doing some wandering around, ended up with a free, relatively new, scanner. I'm still trying to figure everything out, but so far, so confusing. So, one guy, three youngish women who look enough alike to be related, and one older woman. Mom and four of her kids, picture taken by dad? A smoking family? Bad habit.
No, I haven't lost interest in the blog. A fair number of places where I bought old photos didn't survive the pandemic and I'm also making less money. Anyway, I look at this photo and wonder if this is what the California coast from the late teens to mid-twenties, before the oceanside bluffs got developed, looked like. Not a high rise, expensive hotel, or millionaire's house in sight.
No, I'm not posting an ad for a flea market. These were stapled to some of the telephone poles in my neighborhood and I liked the photo. Actually, after seeing the back, I liked that a lot more. Anyway, this card is a couple of years old, so I have no idea if the flea market has survived the pandemic.
Otto Patzig, photographer from Wurzburg, Germany. Well, I couldn't find much about Otto. One very brief mention that he was a photographer and painter from the city. Apparently a minor one, since I couldn't find any images of his paintings and the only photos I could find were other CDVs for sale on eBay, which is where I got this one. I liked the hat. Maybe a student, maybe a minor government functionary, but not military.
Wurzburg, on the other hand, lots of info on the city. Some of the low lights. Between 1626 and 1631 there were witch trials with somewhere between 600 and 900 executions. All burned alive. On August 2, 1819, the Hep-Hep riots started in the city and eventually spread, first through Bavarian and then the rest of Germany. The Hep-Hep riots were anti Jewish, so a precursor of things to come in Germany. During World War 2 a sub unit of the Flossenburg concentration camp was located in the city. And finally, on the night of March 16, 1945, a bombing run carried out by British Lancaster bombers destroyed 90% of Wurzburg. Not an end, by the way. A rebuild and restoration.
I've mentioned this before. When I first started The New Found Photography it wasn't about sharing my collection of old snapshots. It was just a way of being able to go through the photos without having to dig out boxes and looking at the actual pictures. Anyway, some of those early boxes didn't get organized all that well, a problem I'm trying to solve far too late in the process. I don't think I've ever posted this photo, but where I found it, I'm not sure this is a first appearance. She does have a stern expression on her face.
Actually a half frame camera is a 35mm camera that shoots an image that is half normal size. It allows for 64, more or less, square images on what would normally be a 32 exposure roll of film. I've been trying to get one that actually works for my own photography for years, but I'm also cheap so I don't want to pay a lot.
Now, this is not a real half frame image. Either someone in the lab screwed up processing or the printing, though more than likely the young lady was just standing behind something. Look at the ribbon she's wearing. I bet she won a prize of some kind, and since it looks like she's standing near a school, I'll bet it was for academics.
Or so it says on the clock, and since it's analog, not quite, but close enough. It wasn't until I got my first digital watch that I ever thought to be so exact as to give an actual minute as the time. It was always about ten after, or around half past. Anyway, the calendar has a picture of Santa, but I can't make out a year, but I know those plastic, plaid dishes from my childhood, so let's say late fifties to the early sixties.
Great jacket. It's nice to find a snapshot with a great pose like this. I'd love to know if the photographer always took such interesting pictures or was this the lucky shot?
This is another in the ongoing series (not really) of where the hell is this? There's an army censor's stamp on the back of the print "PASSED BY U S ARMY EXAMINER 20222" My guess is this image is form the World War 2 era and is either a stateside base or something in occupied Europe.
On one hand I hate the color restoration setting on the scanner. It's different from the image I have in hand. On the other hand I love the color restoration setting because it allows me to see what the photographer saw when he opened up the envelope of newly printed images. Written on the back, "Sept. 1972, Juanita."
Mostly because I'd like to know where this photo was taken. Over time, I've seen enough photos where I could verify a location to give me a not infallible sense of America vs Europe, and this looks like Europe to me. Anyway, there's a stamp on the back, "AUG 1925 A.N. DAHLSTROM" Well, Dahlstrom is a Swedish name. At least I think it is.
Probably, though for all I know they could be any sort of relative or no relation at all.
It looks like they've got a mountain cabin somewhere. All conifers, a sure sign of a more western local. I didn't notice it until I scanned and enlarged the top photo, but she's smoking. Apart from the health issues, not a good idea in our modern dry, drought stricken world. Too, when I saw the bottom photo, I thought the man's arms were crossed. After scanning and seeing it in a bigger window, it looks like he's holding her legs.
Looks like he's getting ready to go out on his bike. So am I. Hope the heat doesn't get to me.
Is she a bit old for prom? Perhaps some sort of college mixer. Anyway, she's got the whole wrist corsage thing going on. This is a textured print, which makes it difficult to get a really sharp scan.
I started this blog not to share all of my old snapshots with the public. In fact, I've always thought my obsession with other people's photos a bit odd. I started it because it was easier to look at things if I didn't have to go through the old shoe boxes. In any case, I think I've put this one up before but I can't be certain. The collection has become too big for me to just sit down and scroll back to see everything. Now, I've started to buy archival boxes and sleeves to separate the scanned and posted from the non, well whatever. Collecting is an addiction I don't wish on anyone. It is, however, better than a heroin addiction. She may be a movie star and this may be a wallet sized photo given to the public for publicity. Then again, imitating glamour photos is good business for a street corner photo studio.
The man and woman who are wearing ties seem to have a family resemblance. Brother and sister perhaps.
The last of the Swedish portrait series. Click on Swedish CDVs to see the rest. I saved this one for the end because it was the only one with anything written on it. It can be hard to read, but "Grandma & Grandpa Erikson." Grandpa is wearing a medal, but from which war? Or is the medal military? It could have been for years of service as a postman. I guess we'll never know.
