Saturday, August 10, 2013

Colorful international stamps from Postcrossing exchanges

I've gushed a lot about Postcrossing, one of the cheapest and most enjoyable hobbies for connecting with people everyday people from all over the globe, in a non-digital format. (I send and receive about five postcards per week, at this point.) My first post on the topic came back in February, and all of my Postcrossing entries are collected here.

Today, I just want to share some international stamps that have come to my mailbox in recent days from Postcrossing exchanges. Seeing stamps from around the world is just one of the many pleasures of this pastime.

From Aya in Japan


From Wanyi in Taiwan


From Wendy in the Netherlands


From Penny in Australia

Friday, August 9, 2013

Two recipes from the 1935 booklet "Prize Winning Norge Recipes"

This staplebound booklet, "Prize Winning Norge Recipes," was published in 1935 by Borg-Warner Corporation (now the hyphen-less BorgWarner).

Norge appliances were, for a long time, part of the Borg-Warner product line, and Borg-Warner also had a connection to manufacturing in York County in the second half of the 20th century.

According to a company history on Encyclopedia.com:

"The most important developments for BWC in the 1950s and 1960s were in air conditioning and chemicals. There was a large, untapped market for air conditioning. Borg-Warner executives decided to purchase the York Corporation of York, Pennsylvania, in 1956. York was the oldest firm in the business and had a reputation for high-quality products. It had scored many firsts, installing the first air conditioning system in a cinema in 1914, and in 1948 it built the first hermetically sealed room air conditioner. York, however, had lacked the capital necessary to handle growing demand. The York Division was given control of all Borg-Warner’s heating and air conditioning operations, and a plant idled by the lapse of the Ford-O-Matic contract was reopened by the new division. ... From the late 1960s to the early 1980s Borg-Warner recorded a stable if unremarkable performance, surpassing $3 billion in sales by 1984. Its manufacturing groups experienced sporadic growth, prompting BWC to sell certain operations, including the Norge Division, in July 1968 ... and the York Division, including the residential air conditioning and heating operations acquired from Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1981, in 1985. The York diversification had underperformed since its acquisition."

The front of the booklet, meanwhile, is stamped with the name of a York County Norge distributor:

NORGE HOUSEHOLD
Electric Refrigeration
H.E. GOODLING ELECTRIC CO.
335 West Market Street
Phone 41591 YORK, PA.

An introduction on the booklet's first page explains the source of the recipes:
"A contest, offering prizes for the best recipes which involved the use of the Rollator Refrigerator, brought enthusiastic response. Thousands of women in every part of the country sent in their favorite recipes and one hundred of them were awarded cash prizes. The recipes in this book are selected from the hundred prize-winning recipes. Each one of them has been tested by Norge Home Economists in the Norge Experimental Kitchen."

Most of the recipes in the booklet seem perfectly acceptable, if you skip over the gelatine-themed section that includes Jellied Tomato Salad, Chicken Salad, Ham Salad and something called Supper Salad, which is just a travesty involving lemon gelatine, mayonnaise, eggs, pimento cheese, walnuts and shrimp.1

Here are two recipes from the booklet:

Salmon Loaf
  • 1 No. 2 can salmon
  • ⅛ teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon mint leaves, chopped
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • ½ tablespoon parsley, chopped
  • ¼ cup fine cracker crumbs
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
Remove skin and bone from salmon and mash fine with fork. Leave salmon oil in mixture to add moisture. Add to fish the ingredients in order listed and mix to a paste. Place in dish and pour over it an additional two tablespoons melted butter. Chill for two hours in the Norge.

Ma Watkins Ice Cream
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 egg whites
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup orange juice and juice of 1 lemon
  • (Any other fresh fruit, crushed or sieved, may be substituted.)
Cream yolks of eggs with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat whites of eggs, with pinch of salt, until stiff. Add yolks to whites, added whipped cream, milk and fruit juice. Put in trays and freeze in Norge until mushy. Remove and stir. Continue freezing to desired consistency.

Footnote
1. There is also a rather simplistic recipe for scrapple that I'm sure the Pennsylvania Dutch would not approve of.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Preparing a list of Pennsylvania rental properties for Spring 1915



This postcard was tucked away inside a century-old Harper & Brothers edition of "Redgauntlet," one of the Waverley novels by Sir Walter Scott.1

The pre-stamped card is postmarked 8 p.m. on February 3, 1915, in Philadelphia.2 It was mailed to Mr. W.H. Gutelius, who lived in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, and/or Hopewell, New Jersey, as indicated by the scratching out of Wallingford and the writing of Hopewell in pencil.3

The card has a purple stamp on the back for C.P. Peters & Son, which handled "real estate, business opportunities [and] insurance" and had its offices at 608 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia.4

On the typed postcard note, C.P. Peters queries Mr. Gutelius on the following:

Dear Sir:-
If the property offered by your daughter last spring is now or is soon to be for rent, we would be glad to take it in hand. We are now preparing our furnished and unfurnished rent lists, and believe there will be an increased demand shortly.

So, who was Mr. W.H. Gutelius?

Here are some clues and possibilities:
  • From the "Proceedings of the Delaware County Institute of Science"... "OCTOBER 1, 1908. - Regular Monthly Meeting, with the President, T. Chalkley Palmer, presiding. The usual reports of Curators and Committees received. William H. Gutelius, of Wallingford, Pa., was elected to membership in the Institute."5
  • A classified advertisement from the March 14, 1911, edition of the Chester (Pa.) Times... "FOR SALE - Dump Cart, harness, good cow, forward springer; 200 bu. cob corn, cedar bean poles. W.H. Gutelius, Wallingford, Penn."6
  • From the February 14, 1920, issue of Advertising & Selling magazine... "W.H. Gutelius, Editor, Dies. William H. Gutelius, editor and publisher, died Tuesday at his home, 34 Gramercy Park, New York, of heart disease. He was in his sixtieth year and had been ill for three weeks. Before purchasing the True American published in Trenton, N.J., and which he used to support Wilson for the presidency, Mr. Gutelius had been managing editor and publisher of the Pittsburgh Times. He had also been managing editor of the Philadelphia Press and of the old Chicago Record-Herald. Mr. Gutelius is survived by a wife and six children."

I would say all of these fit with the man we're looking for, but, of course, I could be wrong.

Finally, in a Google search, I came across this amazing property for sale from our friends at C.P. Peters & Son, in this classified advertisement from the December 1917 issue of Forest and Stream magazine:

FOR SALE-GAME PRESERVE; MOUNTAIN farm, 300 acres, suitable for preserve, in the deer and bear hunting section of the Allegheny Mountains, Pennsylvania; fine trout and bass streams; 230 acres woodland; 80 acres developed; 1200 fruit trees, 10-room house, bars, etc.; a plentiful supply of fine spring waer at house and barn by gravity; and ideal club proposition; abundant cottage sites; near station; offered at low price.

I wonder who bought that property, what it was used for and what that land is like today. With our luck, somebody is probably fracking it.

Footnotes
1. Illustrations from this set of Waverley novels have been featured in these two previous posts:
2. On February 3, 1915, according to The History Place, this is what was happening in World War I: "Turkish troops launch an unsuccessful attack against the British-controlled Suez Canal, which is regularly used by the British to ferry Dominion troops from Australia, New Zealand and India to European battle grounds."
3. Full disclosure: I lived in Wallingford in the late 1980s and early 1990s and graduated from Strath Haven High School.
4. The building at 608 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia is along Independence Mall and is diagonally across from the Liberty Bell. Instead of stating that it is "diagonally across," I was originally going to state that the building is "catty-corner" from the Liberty Bell. But that sent me on an Etymology Quest. Catty-corner (or its alternate form kitty corner) is a corruption of the term cater-corner, which itself has a much-debated and interesting etymology that might or might not involve Scandinavian origin.
5. The Delaware County Institute of Science is still going strong, and has a website!
6. Here are some other classified advertisements from that 1911 issue of the Chester Times:
  • GIRL WANTED - Blake's Candy Store, 402 Market St.
  • FOR SALE CHEAP - 25 homing piegons, banded, 1126 Kerlin Street
  • WANTED - a first-class Butcher. Apply to W.H. Mitchell, Media, Pa.
  • WANTED - Polish girl for general housework. Apply to Mrs. Thomas Davis, 920 Barclay Street
  • LEIPER QUARRIES (1775-1911). When you are ordering the material for that new house, remember that stone will not need a coat of paint each year. We have all kinds - Foundation, Face, Curb, Dimension Stone, Sand and Dirt. C.I. LEIPER, Swarthmore, Pa.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

More thoughts on old birthday greetings card from York newspaper

Last week's post about a birthday greetings card issued by the The (York, Pa.) Gazette and Daily spurred a lot of memories from readers.

First up are these thoughts from Jim Fahringer:
"I received some of these birthday cards when I was a little boy in the very late 1940s and through the 1950s. It was always fun to receive the postcard in the mail. It is still fun to receive personal mail today — although most people don't receive very much because of the 'Electronic Age'. Perhaps we should all start sending more personal cards and letters — they are much more meaningful than emails!! It is a shame that these postcards and other giveaways like the Gazette and Daily calendars have disappeared. I remember the Gazette and Daily calendars — they were much more beautiful than the ones printed by the York Dispatch. The Gazette and Daily calendars often included pictures of local and historical interest. However, not to be outdone, The Dispatch offered real silver dollars to kids who had their writing or artwork published in the weekly 'York Junior Dispatch' from the late 1940s and through the 1950s."

It's always great to hear from Jim! Here are some other great memories he's shared here:

Meanwhile, here are some other comments from Facebook and elsewhere regarding this greetings card:
  • "I have some of these cards that were sent to my dad on various birthdays. Dad was born in 1921, so these cards are probably more like 80 years old!"
  • "I, along with my brother Jack, belonged to the Gazette's birthday club. Still have the picture and letter I sent in to join and it is laminated (about 1953), so it must be the copy the paper sent to me."

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Pictures: This year's Haul-A-Palooza from the Book Nook Bonanza

Here (finally) are some of the highlights of this year's haul from the final day of the Book Nook Bonanza here in York. The Bonanza comes with the highest recommendation, and if you're within driving distance of southcentral Pennsylvania, you should mark your calendars right now for next June's event.

If you've followed the blog for awhile and/or know me, few of these picks should be surprising.

This first set of vintage science encyclopedias is something I could not resist, even though I scarcely have room for it on the shelves at this point.


This book, meanwhile, was one of the first general-knowledge/browsing books that I had as a kid, so of course I had to pick it up.


Some wonderful assorted paperbacks...



Monday, August 5, 2013

Mystery update: Did Daphine Richardson create this illustration?



Three weeks ago today, I presented a unique endpaper illustration from the 1912 novel "Corporal Cameron." While I was impressed by the artwork, I was also left wondering who the artist had been.

What is presumably the artist's name, shown in the second image above, was not 100% legible. Joan and I had some guesses, but we also wanted to hear your thoughts.

And so W.G. Burns of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, provided the following:

"The signature looks like Daphine Richardson, guessing at a few letters. What's interesting ... is the Richardson family on Wellington Crescent, grain merchants in Winnipeg and NOT known for any artistic ability nor for anyone called Daphine, lived directly across the river (Assiniboine) from the Ralph Connor House on West Gate. The Richardson House is now torn done and the land was donated to the city of Winnipeg for a park. The Ralph Connor House is owned by the University of Manitoba Women's Alumnae."

Very interesting. ... I agree that Daphine Richardson (with a middle initial of W) is a possibility for that name, especially the Richardson part. And is it just coincidence that the author of "Corporal Cameron" lived near the estate of a famous family named Richardson?

I think this is a lead worth pursuing further...

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Sunday reads: Typography, relics and authors Ludwig, Calvino & King

Looking for something to read on this summer Sunday? Look no further. I've rounded up some great recent reads for you right here!

(And if you've come across anything yourself recently — books, magazine articles, blogs, restaurant menus — that you'd like to share, please do so in the comments section below. No one should keep great reads to themselves!)


Footnote
1. This list does not include what I consider to be one of Calvino's most important contributions: 1956's "Italian Folktales."
2. Two related links: 1. Jennings also discussed Ludwig and soil quality in a post on her personal blog, My Inside Voices. 2. I mentioned Ken Ludwig in this February 2012 post about a now-vanished York County bookstore.