Saturday, July 13, 2013

More utter goodness from the
1865 Philadelphia Inquirer, Part 1

OK, I'll admit it. I'm obsessed by all the historic coolness to be found within the pages of this August 29, 1865, issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

I've already written about the baseball game and the "Werze" trial. So I'm just going to call this Part 1 and start sharing a bunch of interesting excerpts and snippets from this 148-year-old newspaper in the coming weeks.

Maybe you find this stuff as fascinating as I do.

* * *

A Dead General. The body of General Crocker, of Iowa, was taken to the depot this afternoon, escorted by a regiment of cavalry, a regiment of infantry, and numerous military officers and civilians. It will be taken to Desmoines [sic], Iowa, under a guard of eight men.

* * *

The Cattle Plague. The "cattle plague" continues a prominent topic in English journals. The disease continues its ravages, and was spreading in various parts of the kingdom. It was disputed that the disease had been introduced by foreign cattle, and evidence was adduced to show that it was generated in England.

[This plague was rinderpest. Here's a memorial marker for some of the cattle that perished.]

* * *

From the "Educational" classifieds:
  • FAIRMOUNT FEMALE COLLEGE, GREEN ST., west of Twenty-second street, Philadelphia. This superior Boarding and Day School for Young Ladies will begin its next term Sept. 13th. A Preparatory Department for young pupils. For circulars, apply to or address Rev. J.W. BARNHART, A.M., President.
  • YOUNG MEN AND BOYS' SCHOOL.—REV. JAS. G. SHINN, A.M., will open an English, Classical, Mathematical and Scientific School for Young Men and Boys, No. 1906 MOUNT VERNON Street, on the first Monday in September. The instruction will be particular and thorough, such as will prepare young men for business or college. For terms, &c., apply as above.
  • WEST BRANCH BOARDING SCHOOL, MALE AND FEMALE, JERSEY SHORE, LYCOMING COUNTY, PA., TERMS, $150 PER ANNUM. A Christian home with thorough instruction. Catalogues with full particulars, of Philip Wilson, Esq., No. 409 Chestnut street, or address as above. F. DONLEAVY LONG, A.M., Principal.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Two fairy-tale Postcrossing cards and some #FridayReads

Here are a few quick shares on a rainy Friday morning in July.


Above: This Postcrossing card is from Albert, a schoolteacher in the Netherlands. Sarah thinks the guy pictured on the front is a gnome.


Above: And this Postcrossing card, featuring the Swan Princess, is from Irina, an English teacher in Simferopol, Ukraine.

What I'm reading

For #FridayReads, here are some of the things on my list this week:

Thursday, July 11, 2013

Today's bonus #2: 1919 Ladies' Home Journal ad for Java Face Powder

In the course of researching this morning's post, I realized this 1919 advertisement was too wonderful to crop down to a logo and that I needed to share it in full..


Here's some more about Java Face Powder and A. Bourjois & Co.:

Today's bonus #1: 1936 ad for Underwood Deviled Ham


When I was doing research for this morning's post, I came across this advertisement for Underwood Deviled Ham on a page from the April 1936 issue of Ladies' Home Journal and knew that I had to share it.

It's a great addition to the other Underwood Deviled Ham ephemera that has been featured here over the years:

Graphic design: 8 cool company logos from old magazine ads

Today, for something a little different, here are eight company logos pulled from advertisements featured in the pages of Ladies' Home Journal in 1919 and 1936.

I chose these because I thought the graphic design and typography used by these companies were creative and worth sharing here in 2013. Plus, few (if any) of these companies still exist today, so this will help keep them from being lost in the sands of time.

Kapock (draperies)

"Like a magic hand, their soft silky folds — whether in gorgeous shades of gold, quiet old blue or any of the large variety of 'Long-Life-Colors' bring joy and charm into your home." (LHJ, November 1919)


Artamo (garments)

"The ease and quickness of completing ARTAMO Outfits is as noteworthy as are the novel designs themselves." (LHJ, November 1919)


Wooltex Tailor-mades

"To meet your demand for not merely style, alone, but undoubted, enduring style, the most dependable shop in your city has selected their very limited number of Wooltex Tailor-made Coats."1 (LHJ, November 1919)


Expello

"Expello is the most successful 'demother' because in use it vaporizes, sinking into every crevice of fibre, killing the worm that does all the damage." (LHJ, April 1936)


Angostura

"Fish fairly melts in your mouth when basted with Angostura and melted butter. For Free Book of Recipes Write Angostura-Wuppermann Corp. 254 Park Ave., N.Y.C." (LHJ, April 1936)


CosyToes (felt slippers)

"CosyToes Feltwear [from the Standard Felt Company2 of West Alhambra, California] is produced from famous California sun-bleached all-wool felt, noted for its luxurious broadcloth finish." (LHJ, November 1919)


Ohio-Tuec (vacuums)

"After testing and comparing it to others, nine women out of ten choose the OHIO-TUEC Electric Vacuum Cleaner.3 It will pay you to learn the reason." (LHJ, November 1919)


Azurea (face powder)

(Because it's so cool, I scanned more than just the company logo.)

"Its Distinctive Fragrance Makes It Conspicuously Smart — Its Delicate Fragrance Makes It Smartly Inconspicuous." (LHJ, November 1919)


But wait, there's more...
Check back to Papergreat this evening for two bonus posts featuring additional vintage advertisements from Ladies' Home Journal.

Footnotes
1. The Wooltex logo is part of a full-page advertisement for The H. Black Company. The 1919 coat prices ranged from $45 to $175. That's the equivalent of $590 to $2,300 today. Oof.
2. The following excerpt regarding the history of the Standard Felt Company comes from "Alhambra (Images of America)" by Michael Anthony Orozco: "Alfred Dolge converted the San Gabriel Winery buildings into a felt factory in 1903. In 1908, the company was reorganized as the Alfred Dolge Felt Company. By 1910, it was renamed the Standard Felt Company, by which it would be known for the next 75 years of operation. The buildings were torn down in 1987 to make way for Target, Costco, and various other businesses."
3. For more about this company, check out this forum on Vacuumland. (Yes, there's a website called Vacuumland. It's pretty cool.)

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

1949 offering envelope for Greenville Methodist Church


This small "Weekly Offering" envelope for Greenville (Va.) Methodist Church was tucked away inside a copy of the 1935 edition of "The Modern Encyclopedia (Complete in One Volume)".1

The envelope is 4¼ inches wide and is stamped with the date of January 23, 1949. The number 34 might refer to the 34th Sunday in the church or membership year. If you count backwards 34 weeks, the first Sunday would have been June 6, 1948. Did that church's year run from June to May?

According to the envelope, the offering goes:
"For the Budget of the Church: Local Expenses; Ministerial Supper (Pastor, District Superintendent, Bishops, Conference Claimants); General Administration Fund; and World Service (General and Conference Benevolences) for Missions and Church Extension, Christian Education, Ministerial Training, Temperance, Hospitals and Homes, Lay Activities, Pensions, Distribution of the Bible, Evangelism, and World Peace."
Phew!

The name on the envelope looks like M.C. Olczyk. But if the (empty) envelope was tucked away inside an old encyclopedia, does that mean Offering #34 was never made?

Footnote
1. The encyclopedia's editor was A. H. McDannald. Other items tucked away inside this encyclopedia included a bookmark for the Staunton-Augusta County Community Chest in Staunton, Virginia, and an envelope, postmarked on December 15, 1950, that had been unfolded and used for notepaper. One of the notes written on the envelope is:
Numbers 22:6
for I wot

The King James translation of Numbers 22:6 is as follows:
"Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed."

The 1865 Werze/Wirz Trial: "A Fresh Accumulation of Horrors!"

A couple of weeks ago, in a post about an 1865 baseball boxscore in The Philadelphia Inquirer, I mentioned in passing that there was also an article about the trial of a Confederate officer for war crimes at Camp Sumpter, a prisoner-of-war camp he commanded in Andersonville, Georgia, during the Civil War.

The man on trial was Heinrich Hartmann Wirz, who was better known as Henry Wirz. For some reason, The Inquirer spells his last name Werze throughout this edition of the newspaper. It would be interesting to know how that misspelling came about, because I can't find much other evidence online of that spelling being used. It's not even the most common misspelling of Wirz — there are some instances of his last name being spelled Wertz in the historical record.

So, anyway, I'll use Werze today, because I'll be quoting this 148-year-old issue of The Inquirer.

From August through November of 1865, Werze was tried, convicted and executed in Washington, D.C., for "combining, confederating, and conspiring ... to injure the health and destroy the lives of soldiers in the military service of the United States" and for "murder, in violation of the laws and customs of war."

You can read about Werze on Wikipedia, on an official report about the tribunal housed at the Library of Congress, and at CivilWarHome.com.

What I'm including here are three excerpts from The Inquirer's coverage of the Werze tribunal. It's a long article that features 10 headlines, including "A Fresh Accumulation of Horrors!" and "Further Details of the Rebel Slaughter Pen."

* * *

WASHINGTON, AUG. 28 — The Werze Commission reassembled this morning.

The cross-examination of Robert H. Kellogg was resumed by Mr. Baker. The witness said he entered the United States service on the 11th of March, 1862, and was discharged on the 1st of June, 1865.

Question — Were you at any other prison than Andersonville?

Answer — I was at Charleston and Florence.

Question — Was the treatment at those places materially different from that at Andersonville?

Judge Advocate Chipman objected.

Mr. Baker — I thought my question was a little out of the way, but that no objection would be made.

The Judge Advocate — This manner of cross-examination will not be tolerated. If the counsel persists, I ask for the enforcement of the rule that reduce his questions to writing.

Mr. Baker — The intention of my question was to show that the treatment of prisoners was equally good as that of other prisons.

Judge Advocate Chipman — That is a point of your defense, but not proper in a cross-examination.

Mr. Baker — The indictment charges Captain Werze with acting contrary to the laws and usages of war. This is the gist of the whole thing. No matter how destitute the prisoners were, or how much they suffered, if we show nothing was done contrary to the laws and usages of war, then this man cannot be punished, as we think.

Judge Advocate — The question is improper. There is no evidence as to the treatment in other prisons.

The Court sustained the objection.

The cross-examination was resumed and long continued, during which the witness said that unless men sent out to cut wood were strongly guarded, they would overpower the guard, and would have been fools if they had not attempted to make their escape; the proper guard for a squad of twenty men would be an armed corporal and six men; he did not know of his own knowledge that Captain Werze prevented men from going out to cut wood; he knew that the men dug a well with whatever they could get, such as half canteens and tin plates and spoons; the water at the wells was fair; there was not room enough to dig all the wells which were needed; the space was required for the prisoners; he never saw Captain Werze order or take away from the prisoners anything which contributed to their health and comfort; he thought the police regulations might have been better; on one occasion Captain Werze did him a kindness; he had been in the woods and had left his knife there, and Captain Werze was the means of his recovering it; he did not himself know, from his own observation, of any willful or inhuman act by Captain Werze.

* * *

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Postcard: The Haunted Room in the Mint House, Pevensey


It doesn't look like a very spooky room, does it?

The "Haunted Room" in the Mint House in Pevensey, England, which is featured on this old postcard, looks perfectly cheery. Not like a place for ghosts and spirits.

According to the wonderfully named Ye Olde Sussex Pages, the Mint House dates to 1342, while the site itself was used as a mint centuries before that — to the extent that it was mentioned in the 1086 Domesday Book.

Of the haunted room, Ye Olde Sussex Pages author A.J. Jinks writes:

"Of course a building of this age simply must have a traditional ghost and next to the Oak Room is a little chamber — the smallest room in the house — which is reputed to be the abode of a feminine member of the spirit world, attired in costume of the sixteenth century. Many people have asserted that they have seen this spectre..."

One of the "eyewitness accounts" of the female phantom can be found within the Ye Olde Sussex Pages. There is also this (ghastly) account of what might be the ghost's "origin story":

"It occurred in 1586, when Thomas Dight, a London merchant, resided awhile in Pevensey with his mistress, having rented the Mint House from the owner, who was then abroad. Returning unexpectedly one evening and finding the lady in the arms of a stranger, Dight, in a fit of jealous fury, caused his mistress's tongue to be cut out, and then had her securely bound and carried to what was formerly the Minting Chamber. At the merchant's direction his men-servants suspended the captured lover by chains from the ceiling, and built a large fire on the stone floor beneath him. The woman was forced to lie and watch the struggles of the unfortunate man being slowly tortured by heat and smoke, until death put an end to his agonies.

"In the stillness of the night his body was quietly carried down to the town bridge and cast over, to be carried out to sea. The woman was then carried to one of the upper rooms, where she was left, still with hands and feet tied. Lying there, without food or light, she suffered a lonely and painful death.

"Her body was afterwards buried on or near the premises and nothing was known of the incident until Dight recounted it to his friends in a confession made shortly before his death in 1601."

And so there you have it. Maybe this little chamber isn't the best place for you to hang out after dark, if you ever find yourself in Pevensey.