Raadskelde(r)

 

More often than not, there really isn't much research that can be done on the old photos in my collection.  But every once in a while, there are things I can look into.  With the gothic style lettering on the building and the style of architecture, I was sure this photo must have been taken in Germany, but then I went to Google Translate and typed in Raadskelde and it came up as Dutch, and the meaning, council cellar.  Then, after scanning the picture, and blowing it up a bit, it looked like there might be an extra letter at the end.  So, I started typing different possibilities, and Raadskelder was the only word that worked.  Again, it translated as council cellar, but this time in Afrikaans.  I suppose that makes sense.  After all, Afrikaans is a Dutch dialect.  So, was this picture taken in the Netherlands, or South Africa?  

Field Rations

 

 I don't know when or where this photo was taken, but if I were to guess, I would say World War 1.  The helmets don't look like the flat type worn by the U.S. or British armies.  I think, though I'm not sure, these are French troops.  

Somewhere in Europe

 

Good Germans between the wars?  I have no idea where this photo was taken, but it's printed on Gevaert Ridax paper, manufactured in Belgium from 1905 to 1959.   

After Church

 

Over the years I've seen enough photos that can be proved to be from Europe that I think I have a good feel for a European local.  I can't prove it, but I'm guessing middle Europe, Germany, Austria, or perhaps Czechoslovakia. 

Happy New Year

 

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.

The Post War European Trip Collection-A Letter Home

As I noted in an earlier chapter of the Gloria Lee Bigewet story,  the only exception to the photos only rule of this blog is when I have ephemera that is directly related to a single source with photos.

So, in a letter written by Gloria Lee to her parents, dated "July 17, '48" she writes about her cycling trip around Europe, her dreams of being in fashion advertising and complained about the bad influence Europe was having on Bill who has taken to drinking and cussing in a very continental way.  Hey, don't be lazy, click on each page, bring up the letter in a bigger window and read it for yourself.  And speaking of clicking on things, The Post War European Collection in labels says it all.

The Post War European Trip Collection-Souvenir Snapshots 1

When I was a kid, you could go to the local Stuckey's and by a package of five or ten 35mm slides of the local tourist attraction, take them home, put them in the projector, (Or one of those little hand viewers if you didn't own an Agfa Cube.) and relive the all American road trip.  Anyway, in Europe, in 1948, tourists bought envelopes of small black & white photos of the local sights.  I've got a lot of photos from Gloria Lee's trip, but only five pictures taken by members of the tour group.  I've got 39 of these commercially produced photos, but after this, I'll be taking a break from this collection, so you'll have to wait for parts 2 through 8.  If anyone can identify any of these locations, please feel free to leave a comment.

As usual. click on The Post War European Trip Collection in labels to see more.

The Post War European Trip Collection-Swiss Mountains

All postcards, all published in Switzerland.  I wrote in an earlier  post that Gloria Lee was on an American Youth Hostel cycling trip of Europe.  My source for that information was ABE Books.  It's a website that allows book dealers to join together to sell their wares, and if you're a book lover like me, an indispensable resource.  Anyway, I found a rare book dealer in St. Louis who was selling the Gloria Lee Bigewet European trip archive.  Scrapbooks, diaries, photographs, postcards, letters and other ephemera.  Sadly there was an asking price of over $2,000, so it doesn't look like I'm going to reunite my few scrapes with the greater collection.  At that price, one would  think that Gloria Lee must have been someone with at least a level of fame in Missouri.  That would be wrong.

So yes, it is necessary to click on The Post war European Trip Collection in labels to see more and wet your appetite for parts yet to be posted, which won't happen for awhile. 

The Post War European Trip Collection-Berne 7

I'm beginning to wish I'd posted this travel brochure as one post.  Well, at this point it doesn't really matter.  This is it, the last two panels.

There are two names in the La science panel, Nicolas Manuel Deutsch, and d'Albert de Haller.  Near as I can tell, Deutsch was an artist and not a scientist, though I have to admit, I was too lazy to go beyond the less than reliable Wikipedia. Haller was also an artist, but also a doctor and anatomist. 

As usual, click on The Post war European Trip Collection in labels for lots more.

The Post War European Trip Collection-Berne 5

Yesterday I wrote that Gloria Lee might have been tired from all the cycling.  Keeping my earlier promise to continue with my research into her trip, I discovered that she was on an American Youth Hostel cycling trip through France, Switzerland, and Italy.  The trip lasted three weeks, excluding the voyage from the U.S. to Europe and home again, so it's a good bet that they used some sort of ground transport between countries.  Dare I mention it again?  Click on The Post War European Trip Collection in labels.....

The Post War European Trip Collection-Berne 2

I wonder if Gloria Lee did what a lot of tourists do.  Did she take her tourist brochure and go looking for the view pictured?  It looks like there's a handrail right at the bottom of the photograph, and there is that map. Click on The Post war European Trip in labels to see more.

The Post War European Trip Collection-Berne 1

It's time for a travel brochure for Bern, Berne in the local German dialect, the capital of Switzerland. Interesting, since the brochure is in French.  We know that Gloria Lee toured Europe in 1948, so while it's quite possible that it was printed pre '48, we know when she got it.  I'm not sure how I'm going to break things up, but all but one of the panels has some sort of photograph, so at least there's that.

Click on The Post War European Trip Collection in the labels section at the bottom of the post for more of Gloria Lee's vacation.

The Post War European Trip Collection-Gloria Lee, Probably

It's been more than a month since I started in on this collection, so a brief explanation why a pencil sketch  has ended up on a blog devoted to old photographs.  I bought an envelope of material that documents, pretty much, a trip by Gloria Lee Bigewet, from the great state of Missouri.  This envelope has brochures, postcards, some photographic, some illustrated, a letter, and this drawing.  Had the collection been related by theme, I would have published the non photographic stuff on my Fair Use blog, but since it's all from a single person, everything, including stuff that didn't start life in a camera, will end up here.  So, click on The Post War European Trip Collection in labels to see what's up, and what will be up in the future. 

As far as the artist, I have no idea who Ann Reeves is, but I'm doing what little research I can as I go along, so who knows what will turn up in the future.

Sitting Near Water

Alright, I'm assuming that the "1.VII.21"  in the lower right corner means either January 7, 1921 or the first day of July, 1921.  I'm leaning towards Europe and July because of the laefy green tree in the background.

The Sandy Beach

Look what I found.  I was going through the ever growing stack of unsorted photographs on my desk when this image popped right out.  These two people are the same couple from a post from a month ago.  The Rocky Beach has been replaced by a sandy one.  I still think, without any actual proof, that it's from Europe, and I'm still wondering about people who go to the shore all dressed up.  Click on beach in labels, and a whole lot of photos will show up.  The Rocky Beach should be the next one back.

The Grand Tour

I love this photograph.  It reminds me of all those stories I've read about the grand tour.  For the English, it was sending one's son off to the great cities of the continent, meant to give them some real life experience they'd need to become proper young members of the gentry.  For Americans, it was rich parents dragging their eligible daughters, like the young lady on the left, in a sick pursuit of a titled husband. 

The Rocky Beach

We Americans love nice, sandy beaches.  I've been on beaches on the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coast, and while I've seen beaches with  a few rocks, I've never seen a beach covered with small pebbles like this one.  Throw in the faded Agfa watermark on the back, and I'm guessing somewhere in Europe.

Is It Polka Time?

Maybe it's a polka band, maybe it isn't. but it is a real photo postcard printed on Agfa paper.  It's also slightly larger than postcards found in the U.S, a size commonly found in Europe.  Germany, Austria, or somewhere else in central Europe.  Forgive give me music aficionados, but I like accordion music.

Two Women on Vacation 4

In the previous  post of these two ladies, I wondered if they had traveled to more than one country on their vacation.  Take a look at the top photo and see that they are standing in front of a poster with writing.  I went back to Google translate and neither vytvarne and umeni came up as Bulgarian.  After trying a few different European languages, I got Czech for both words.  Vytvarne came up as artwork, and umeni was art.  So, perhaps Prague in what was then Czechoslovakia.

I suppose I think of eastern bloc nations during the cold war as gray, dull places with nothing beyond concrete apartment buildings and massive government buildings.  But, of course, most eastern European cities survived World War 2 relatively in tact.  Back in 1972, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia must have been nice, and cheap places to visit.

These are the last o photos from this collection.

Two Women on Vacation 2

As promised in my last post, a clue.  In the top photo, "700 LET 1272-1972."  Clearly it's an anniversary of some kind, so I went to Google Translate, typed in let and began searching central and eastern European languages.  Flight came up a few times, and no translation.  It wasn't until I tried Bulgarian that years came up, the only realistic possibility.  But what kind of anniversary.  For the hell of it, I looked up Sofia, Bulgaria's capitol, but Sofia has been around for far longer than 700 years.  After that, I stopped searching.  After all, there are thousands of cities, towns and villages, not to mention castles, forts, and people that could have turned 700 in 1972.