How Albany Looks

It didn't start out that way, but it looks like I'm posting river front postcards.  (The Mount Washington Incline is 100 or so feet from the Monongahela River.)  So, about a month ago I read Volume one of Edmund Morris' biography of Theodore Roosevelt.  That monstrosity of a building in the far background, the one with the tower and turrets, is the New York state capitol building, which opened when TR was a state assemblyman.  I'm more interested in the river boats.  Even in this day and age, I see riverboats as a perfectly reasonable way to get around the mid-west.  So it takes a couple of days to get from Pittsburgh to St. Louis.   I mean, if you're not in a hurry, what difference does it make. 

Sent to "Mrs Laura Knight, Ludlow, Vermont."  Three postmarks on this one, "TROY N.Y. SEP 21 1 PM 1906," "WATERVLIET N.Y. SEP 21, 1 PM 1906,"  and a smeared one , all that's visible is the date, "SEP  22 7 AM 1906."  Obviously from Ludlow.  How Troy and Watervliet can have the same postmark date and time is beyond me.

Insect Love

I've read a lot of strange messages on the backs of old postcards, and this one's right up there on the weird scale.  "Eddie Pease & Nellie Rice, one had fleas and one had lice.  I have a checker board.  L. B. Spaulding."  Alright, I get the whole attempt at humor.  A couple, plagued by insects, and a somewhat disparaging note.  But the checker board reference?  That I don't get.  It just doesn't fit.  Mailed to "D. Burbank, No. Pomfret, VT."  It was mailed, but the postmark is so faded that I can't make it out.  No publisher's mark.

Vermont in Color 3

On the back of the first print, the lake front shot, "Labor Day Sept. 4, 1961." On the next two photos, "Sun. June 24, 1962 1st Sun. home. She came Wed., June 20 & she & Doc left on Tues. 8-21-22 her 41st b'day." The family standing on the porch steps, "Wed. Aug. 15, 1962." And in the cemetery, "Sun. Sept. 3, 1962." It's actually rather frustrating that the person who was so careful about recording the date that the photos were taken didn't write down any names.

Vermont in Color 2

More color snapshots from Vermont! The first four photos are labeled "Fri. Sept. 1, 1961" In addition, the fourth photo is also labeled, "Our 41st Ann." I assume that is a reference to the couple's 41st wedding anniversary. The rest of the photos are labeled, "Sun. Sept. 3, 1961." And now for how I figured out that these photos are from Vermont. Images five and six are also labeled, "Kent's Museum." And the last three, "Walcott Church." I went through a road map atlas, very old school, and found all the Walcotts in the United States. Then I went on the net and began looking for a Kent's museum in one of the states with a Walcott. What I found was Kent's Tavern State Museum in Montpelier, Vermont.

Vermont in Color 1

I've been wanting to add some more color snapshots to the blog, and these, I think, make a nice start. All have a Kodacolor logo on the back of the print. starting in 1942, Kodacolor was the first practical, true color film offered to the general public. Before loosing an anti-trust suit in 1954 Kodacolor could only be processed and printed by Kodak. The people who took these photos were very detail oriented. Each print is dated, in neat, easy to read script. The first seven prints are dated, "Sat. Aug. 19, 1961." The last three, all of the man on the chaise, are dated, "Mon. Aug. 21, 1961." In addition, the last print of the series has, "G's 40th B'Day." I assume that G is the lady in the blue dress. Two more parts coming.