In recent weeks, a Papergreat commenter with the code name "Mark Felt" has left a bevy of great comments and insights on old posts. In many cases, these comments have solved or shed new light on some of the mysteries and myriad unanswered questions on this blog.
On January 30, I presented
the first set of the Anonymous/Mark Felt comments. Here is Part 2, along with my continued thanks to this individual for getting involved in this little ephemera blog in such a wonderful way.
Vintage Halloween postcard: Running away from the ghosts (originally published October 24, 2015)
Anonymous writes: As your link [in the original post] indicates, Moreau Morris, Sr. lived from 1894 to 1945. His second son was named
Moreau "Spud" Morris, Jr., who lived from 1924 to 2000. An even younger son was named Donald N. Morris, who lived from 1928 to 2009.
This obituary differs in at least one minor detail, namely the spelling of his mother's maiden name ("Sinnerman" in the obituary vs. "Simmerman" at the findagrave.com site). Furthermore, Donald's name is not listed at the findagrave site at all. (The mystery thickens.)
Donald was predeceased by one his children,
Garry Morris, who lived from 1956 to 2001. Sadly, Garry appears to have been
a homicide victim. See
here for details of the alleged murderer, who appears to have been
subsequently convicted.
One of Donald's sisters was
Dorothy Phipps, who lived from 1934 to 2013. Per the same obituary, one of Dorothy's grandchildren is named Jennifer Klinefelter Stover. Wouldn't it be karma to link back to Georgia B. Klinefelter, who features prominently in several of your posts?
* * *
Receipt tucked inside shorthand textbook from San Diego City College (originally published February 8, 2013)
Anonymous writes: Sales tax in San Diego County was 4% from January 1, 1962 to July 31, 1967. (Source:
https://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/taxrateshist.htm) Since the receipt is dated September 17, it follows that the purchases must have taken place on that date in 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, or 1966.
* * *
1906 postcard: "Four Queens and a Jack" and taunting from Los Angeles (originally published February 8, 2013)
Anonymous writes: The relationship between Orrin W. Lord and Ada Mason Fish was as follows:
Orrin W. Lord lived from 1867 to 1959. His father was
James Russell Lord, who lived from 1844 to 1925. One of James's sisters was
Dorcas Cornelia Lord Mason, who lived from 1841 to 1932. Dorcas's daughter was
Ada Mason Fish, who lived from 1868 to 1948. Thus, the two cousins were very close in age, and, apparently, close in communications with the methods available in the day.
* * *
3 colorful vintage Thanksgiving postcards featuring turkeys (originally published November 17, 2012)
Anonymous writes: Charles Kennard was one of the founders of the
Kennard Novelty Company of Baltimore, Maryland in 1890. This company was famous for producing Ouija boards in the United States. Baltimore is less than thirty miles from Glenelg, Maryland.
Mrs. Charles Kennard was one of two women: His first marriage to Caroline Barney Wickes in Chestertown, Maryland resulted in the birth of his first son, Charles Wesley Kennard Jr. and his only daughter, Adelaide G. He would later divorce Caroline and marry Katherine Hilbert. (Source:
http://williamfuld.com/ouija_people_charleskennard.html)
An interesting article about Caroline, referencing a great-granddaughter interested in Ouija boards today, can be found here:
http://www.robertmurch.com/charles-kennards-towel-pillow-case.
Of course, this may all be entirely coincidental with someone else by the name of "Mrs. Chas. Kennard of Maryland."
"Accept the mystery." — Joel & Ethan Coen, filmmakers.
Chris says: Full disclosure: My favorite Coen brothers movie is
Blood Simple.
* * *
#24-26: Men getting in trouble (Postcard Blogathon 2013) (originally published June 6, 2013)
Anonymous writes: With reference to the card postmarked in October 1919, you asked, "Were people trying to tell the Ebens something?" By 1919, Ebens (in the plural) would have been sadly inaccurate. Frank Eben
died in 1912 at the young age of 29, [according to the Reading Times in Reading, Pennsylania]. This is substantiated by
this 1914 [also the Reading Times] newspaper in which Emma E. Eben is listed as the "administratrix of Frank W. Eben." Perhaps this explains the use of the title "Mrs. Emma Eben," as opposed to "Mrs. Frank Eben," a form of address which would have been common in the day.
* * *
1936 dust jacket: "Around the World in Eleven Years" (originally published November 13, 2014)
Anonymous writes: As we wait for the publication of Patience Abbe's memoir
I, Patience, we can watch and learn from
her nephew's video biography of Patience's life. Meanwhile, Amazon and numerous public libraries offer
various books by Patience from the 1930s.
* * *
Six more neat things inside the 1964 Sunday News TV Week (originally published November 3, 2012)
Anonymous writes: Nathaniel N. Craley Jr. served as the only Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania's 19th District from 1960 through 2012. [Source: My former boss Jim McClure's
York Town Square blog.] The same article asked whether a Democrat might finally represent the 19th District as of the start of the Congressional term on January 3, 2013. We now know the answer — no and no:
1. No, because the 19th District was reapportioned out of existence after the 2010 census. (Pennsylvania now has only 18 Congressional districts.)
2. No, because York County is now part of the 4th Congressional District — represented by Scott Perry, Republican.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania's_4th_congressional_district
* * *
Vintage ink blotter supporting Quigley for mayor of Chelsea (originally published April 19, 2016)
Anonymous writes: The clue may be the Allied Printing Trades Council logo found at the bottom of the card. Appendix 1 of
this source indicates that the logo printed on this card was adopted in 1897 but was apparently superseded by other logo(s) as of 1940. If so, the campaign of the younger Quigley would have used a more recently adopted logo. Thus, although this is far from a definitive conclusion, the "costly experiment" may very well have been by process of elimination the 1930-1931 mayoral term of John J. Whalen. Lawrence F. Quigley was subsequently elected to two two-year terms, 1932-1935.
The number "16" next to the logo represents the particular shop number which printed the card. As to which shop that represents, that is a mystery for another day.
For the same or similar logo printed on various other cards from the early part of the century, see for example,
https://victualling.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/businesscard2.jpg and
http://www.vintage-ephemera.com/cmstore/images/product_images/389099729a.jpg.
* * *
With apologies in advance ... Happy Halloween! (originally published October 31, 2014)
Anonymous writes: As for the Expo '70 card, this is from the
1970 Exposition in Osaka, an event similar to the World's Fair. The card is advertising the "Moving Arts Show," presented by the Koguma Theater, a Western-style puppet show or a "kami-shibai" (Japanese version of puppetry using tableaux and illustrations). In particular, the show lineup included the "Lotte Mates" (entertainment sponsored by
the Korean food conglomerate Lotte, whose corporate presence is very large in Japan) and the clown Wimpey.
In Japanese, the name of the theater troupe ("Koguma-za") is a play-on-words with the term for the constellation
Ursa Minor.
As to whether there was/is just one Wimpey the Clown in existence, that is a mystery for another day; still, here is
a cute photo of Wimpey and his not-very-amused progeny.
Also, the Expo featured a performance troupe of costumed performers (something like the Mickey Mouses — Mice?!? — who wander around Disneyland taking photos with guests). Japanese-language source:
http://www.kogumaza.co.jp (Best to use Google Translate.)
* * *
Theodor Kittelsen postcard: Trollkjerringer på Norefjell (originally published December 18, 2013)
Anonymous writes: More than one Trollkjerring (troll witch or troll crone) play a part in Henrik Ibsen's play "Peer Gynt." [Source:
2012 book Trolls by Gail B. Stewart.] The play is based on the Norwegian fairy tale "Per Gynt." "Peer" is an older, unusual spelling of "Per." [Source:
2016 Penguin UK edition of Peer Gynt and Brand by Henrik Ibsen.] American audiences are more likely to be familiar with the suites of the same name, composed by Ibsen's friend and contemporary, Edvard Grieg.
Have a listen.
Chris says: You can read more about Grieg and Gynt in this August 2015 Papergreat post:
Alex Steinweiss' cover artwork for Columbia's "Peer Gynt"
* * *
Deep thoughts: Is it ephemera if it's only on the Internet? (originally published September 1, 2014)
Anonymous writes: "I'm not sure I agree with you 100% on your police work." — Joel & Ethan Coen,
Fargo.
The word
"ephemera" stems from the Greek, meaning "lasting a day." By comparison, the Internet is forever — [2013 The Daily Beast articled headlined:
"Dear Old People: The Internet Is Forever"]
Digital advertisements (or digital anything) are not at all ephemeral; rather, the cloud will outlast everything saved in drawers and envelopes or tucked away inside books. All the more reason to cherish our ephemera.
Chris says: I'm going to have to respectfully disagree, at least with regard to some aspects of the Internet's permanence and the idea of Clouds vs. Drawers. In my
Lost Corners of the Internet series [first post
here], I have previously cited a BBC article headlined
"The decaying web and our disappearing history: Our online history is disappearing at an astonishing rate, creating a black hole for future historians."
I do not have confidence in the permanence or reliability of the Internet (which, I know, is an odd thing for a person who has devoted at least 1,600 hours to this blog over the years to say).
My first attempt at blogging, UsedPandas.com, circa 2002, is nowhere to be found in cyberspace.
The first iteration of Papergreat, a yorkblog.com effort titled Relics (http://www.yorkblog.com/relics/) is nowhere to be found in cyberspace. (It's OK. I printed the whole thing out years ago.)
As someone who has worked in newspapers for more than two decades, I can tell you that countless pieces of great and important journalism have vanished from the web. Certainly, it was deliberate human action — or inaction — that caused these pieces of history to disappear. But they are gone nonetheless. Hard copies (newspapers, printouts, microfilm) still exist, but in most cases you won't be able to find them online unless they happened to be captured by something like the Wayback Machine, which, despite incredible efforts, has preserved only a sliver of our online history.
Also, without getting too political, let's just say we're living in some disconcerting times right now when it comes to the preservation of online archives and data, especially at the governmental level.
So, my rallying cry remains: Print it out and stick it in a drawer!
* * *
Terry S. McMahon, ham-radio operator, drops Papergreat a line (originally published July 15, 2014)
Anonymous writes: Sad to report that Terry
passed away in mid-2016.
Chris says: Thank you for sharing this news. I'm so glad that Terry and I had a chance to connect and share some of his memories before his death. Here is an excerpt from this obituary, regarding the incredible life he lived:
"Always excited by technology and inventions, Terry was a ham radio operator at age twelve and worked as a computer and AV consultant on many projects throughout his life. He was an early developer of holograms and created the first hologram with Georgia Governor George Busbee. Terry had a lifelong passion for Apple computers and was one of the first developers of using Apple computers to assist in [his wife] Polly’s early clinical practice with learning disabled and traumatized children."
* * *
Old postcard showing Teufelsbrücke (Devil's Bridge) legend (originally published November 30, 2013)
Anonymous writes: Altdorf is located by Lake Lucerne, basically smack-dab in the middle of Switzerland [
map].
The von Matt brothers ("Gebr.", abbreviation for "Gebrüder", or "brothers") were the sons of patriarch Jakob von Matt. The sons included Kaspar, Theodor, Eduard, and Josef, with just one daughter, Marie. Details here [in German]:
http://teufelsbruecke.ch/Teufelsbruecke/von_Matt.html.
Here is
a photograph of the Teufelsbrücke (Devil's Bridge) almost assuredly portrayed in the postcard. If you're thinking of planning a visit to the bridge and want to steer clear of any satanic interference, have
a read of various tourists' advice. The bridge itself is in Andermatt, about an hour south of Altdorf.
Details here.
* * *
Lancaster's Hotel Brunswick, where you outen the lights (originally published December 27, 2014)
Anonymous writes: Joan's post about the Pennsylvania Dutch [German, really] adjective "stroobly" or "strubbly" is augmented by
this extensive etymological analysis of the term (p. 140 of "An Analytic Dictionary of the English Etymology: An Introduction," by Anatoly Liberman).
If that analysis is accurate, there is a semantic relation to the noun "strumpet." Linguistics takes you down almost as many paths as ephemerology does.
* * *
Saturday's postcard: The Howard Gould case (originally published April 7, 2012)
Anonymous writes: Here is the downstream genealogy of the recipient of this postcard, Daniel Stover of Valley Falls, New York. Fasten your seat belts:
Daniel Martin Stover lived from 1843 to 1914. He died in Valley Falls. Daniel had several children, including
Peter L. Stover, who lived from 1882 to 1958. He also died in Valley Falls [
second source].
(Note that the last site listed above was updated very recently, namely on January 13, 2017, by his namesake, Peter Lewis Stover — q.v. below.)
The earlier Peter L. Stover (1882-1958) had one son,
Charles Agan Stover (1906-1993). Charles Agan Stover was the father of the younger
Peter Lewis Stover. (Again, the younger Peter Lewis Stover updated this last link as recently as February 25, 2015 — an avid genealogist, it would seem.)
In fact, much of the Stover family tree can be traced to
the family bible currently in the possession of the younger Peter Lewis Stover. This leads to
the obituary of Peter Lewis Stover's mother-in-law, Evelyn Sierk Cady (1918-2013).
According to that obituary, she is survived by many descendants, including granddaughter Carolyn Stover — still a resident of Valley Falls, New York. No doubt Carolyn and her extended family members would be overjoyed to read your post about her great-great-grandfather's ephemera — which is anything but ephemeral.
Chris says: Thank you! I might indeed attempt to contact Carolyn with this little surprise. Of course, I'll first have to figure out which box it went into after I wrote about it.
* * *
Reader comments: Memories of collecting QSL cards (originally published May 26, 2012)
Anonymous writes: Jim Fahringer's summary of the shortwave and QSL scene c. 1985 is an excellent snapshot of the intrigues of the pre-Internet Cold War era, redolent of high frequencies and short wavelengths of decades past. Unfortunately, many of the broadcasters he mentioned no longer issue QSL cards, no longer broadcast to the United States, no longer broadcast in English, or no longer broadcast, period — to wit:
On the other hand,
Radio Havana Cuba still broadcasts in English to the United States and still issues QSL cards.
Finally, as mentioned in another post on this site, after the better part of a century, Radio Australia on shortwave just went dark two days ago (January 31, 2017).
Have a listen to the lugubrious obsequies intoned by the last of the shortwave greats, Glenn Hauser.
To quote Mr. Hauser: "Sad." 73.
* * *
1910 advertisement for West Laurel Hill Cemetery (Wanamaker Diary) (originally published November 18, 2012)
Anonymous writes: John Cromwell Bell Jr. (the nineteen-day governor of Pennsylvania)
is buried at St. Asaph's Church Cemetery. Although close to one another, St. Asaph's Church Cemetery appears to be separate from the Laurel Hill Cemetery and the West Laurel Hill Cemetery. So is John Cromwell Bell Jr. truly one of the celebrities interred at West Laurel Hill?
Chris says: Excellent catch! Another history merit badge earned.
* * *
An invitation to the 1946 Florence-Pope wedding (originally published November 25, 2011)
Anonymous writes: A litany of extended Pope family members (including the above-mentioned affianced Fletcher and Mary) are listed on
this 2003 family reunion site. The most active Pope family genealogist appears to be one Sandra Pope. Although more than a decade has passed since this family reunion site was posted, her e-mail address may still be active. As a journalist, you may wish to give it a try, as bringing family ephemera to descendants and collateral relatives is a blessing.
Chris says: Another great tip! Again, though, I will first have to check to see if I still have this item, which I likely haven't touched since 2011. With more than 2,100 posts over the past six-plus years, I simply haven't been able to hold onto everything. I'm trying to stave off the
"Hoarders" intervention as long as possible.
