Dilapidated building, Spain Edition

This photo was taken during my grandmother's trip to Spain in 1978. The caption on the back states: "Old abandoned store in little town where we had lunch."

Clearly, I come from a long line of relatives who enjoy Falling Down Things!

Related posts

• Dilapidated structures of Southern Jersey
• The abandoned Great Barrington Fairgrounds (Massachusetts)
• Taftville/Ponemah Mill in eastern Connecticut
• Creepy & dilapidated structures of the eastern United States, Part 1
• Creepy & dilapidated structures of the eastern United States, Part 2
• Old house in Coudersport, Pennsylvania

July 1941 cover of Agricultural Leaders' Digest (plus a tasty recipe)

I don't have any ephemera specifically related to Memorial Day right at hand¹, but I think this works nicely. It's the July 1941 cover of the Agricultural Leaders' Digest², featuring a boy in overalls saluting the American flag while he dog sits nearby.

The magazine had a circulation of just under 29,000 that year, and an annual subscription was $2. Estes P. Taylor was the editor and publisher.

This issue features articles titled:

• Rural Consumers Get Consumer Education
• Paint and Cushions Vamp Up Old Porch Furniture
• Motion Pictures Are Made a Part of Education
• Training Rural Youth for National Defense
• Roofs and Exterior Walls of Red Cedar Shingles
• Women Meet to Improve Bread Making
• Boys and Girls of 4-H Go To College
• At Jelly Time, Rather Be Sure Than Lucky³

Finally, the Cooking Corner contains this nice recipe for Coconut Jam Dainties, if you're looking to whip up a dessert for this evening.

Coconut Jam Dainties
About 15 cakes

• 1 package fast granular yeast
• 3 tblsp. lukewarm water
• ⅓ cup shortening
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• ½ tsp. lemon extract
• 2 cups flour (sifted)
• ½ cup milk
• 1 cup strawberry jam
• ⅔ cup shredded coconut
• 1 tblsp. powdered sugar

Pour the granular yeast into the 3 tablespoons lukewarm water, add a pinch of the sugar, stir and allow to stand. Cream the shortening, sugar and salt until fluffy. TO this add one egg well beaten, and the lemon extract. Mix the softened yeast with 1/2 cup of the sifted flour and blend with the creamed shortening and sugar. Add the remaining flour and milk alternately, mixing well with each addition. Blend in the beaten yolk of the other egg and when the mixture is smooth, turn into greased muffin tins, filling slightly more than half full. Set to rise in warm place (1⅓ to 2 hours).

Bake at 375 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes. After baking, allow to cool and remove from the tins. Next cover top and sides of cakes with jam and roll the cakes in shredded coconut. Beat the remaining egg white until stiff and stir in the powdered sugar. Top the cakes with this and place in over on a cookie sheet at 350 to 375 degrees F., until meringue is nicely browned. Decorate the cakes with small American flags, and try them on children (ages 6 to 60).

Footnotes
1. You can, however, check out my 2013 post on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
2. Previous Papergreat posts referencing the Agricultural Leaders' Digest include:

• Stock photo of pilgrims and a dead turkey from a 1940 magazine
• An unfortunate 1940 advertisement for white lead paint
• Celebrate Papergreat's 400th post with a gallery of chickens

3. I'm not entirely sure what that means. I guess I could read the article.

From the readers: Indians, color photos, hot dogs and much more

Thank you, as always, for your comments on the various Papergreat posts from throughout the years. I think this is a fun "mailbag" to present for you today, from the home office in York, Pennsylvania. Enjoy!

Straight Arrow Injun-uity card from Nabisco Shredded Wheat: Jim writes: "I ate Shredded Wheat, and collected the cards. I remember that they helped me and inspired me for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. I would want to polish off a box of them as soon as they arrived from the A&P, but Dad and Mom enforced patience on me .... circa 1954, West Fitchburg, MA."

[Untitled April 10 post featuring the Indian-head test pattern]: Marty Rotten (possibly not his real name) writes:

"Cheech and Chong c1972:
Cheech: So whatcha watching?
Chong: I'm watching this movie about Indians, but it's really boring.
Cheech: That's not an Indian movie, man. That's a test pattern!"

(This, if you're keeping score at home — and heaven help you if you are — represents the first mention of Cheech & Chong on Papergreat.)

Great links: Prokudin-Gorskii's color photographs of Russia: Similarto writes: "Were these Russian photographer's pictures colored when originally taken or have they been digitally enhanced or improved using some similar technique? Did we have colored pictures in those days?"

Indeed, we did have color photography in the early 20th century, and experiments in color photography date to the mid-1800s. Here's an excerpt from the Library of Congress' description of how the Prokudin-Gorskii color images were created:

"We know that Prokudin-Gorskii intended his photographic images to be viewed in color because he developed an ingenious photographic technique in order for these images to be captured in black and white on glass plate negatives, using red, green and blue filters. He then presented these images in color in slide lectures using a light-projection system involving the same three filters."

Here are more Prokudin-Gorskii color photographs, from a January post.

Front covers and opening passages from four old books: Bessie Blue writes: "Great site! Love these vintage series, especially Grace Harlowe."

1907 postcard: Nubilous but moonlit sky hangs over riverside town: Mom writes: "I'm voting for Linden Hall in Centre County for this postmark. I graduated from Linden Hall in Lititz a long time ago, and I never heard that the school ever had its own post office. We had individual mail boxes but they were only for sorting."

Six illustrations from 1920's "Primer of Sanitation": Joan writes, in all caps: "IS THIS BOOK STILL IN THE HOUSE??? If so I want it!!!"

Everyone will be happy to know that the sanitation book has been bequeathed to Joan, and it now sits in a spot of honor on her desk at the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey. I'm pretty sure she's the only one in the building who has this particular volume in his or her office.

Obscure nostalgia: 1970s plastic mugs from Whirley Industries: Dawn Sanders writes: "My mom has one and [her] grandson loves it. He is only 8 months old. The 'Hands Off My Mug.' Wish that there was a way to get a replacement top."

1936's "Albanian Wonder Tales": Frontispiece and endpapers: Anonymous writes: "Post Wheeler was a member of The Pilgrims Society, which constitutes the secret 'Senate' of the world's big rich, as conceived by Cecil Rhodes in the 1870s to be 'a secret society gradually absorbing the wealth of the world.' (Review of Reviews, May 1902, pp 556-558.)"

Note: I cannot confirm the above information. I'm just passing it along. For more information, please contact your neighborhood Illuminati representative.

Card for a free game of Skilo at Palisades Amusement Park: Anonymous writes: "I worked at Skilo 1968-1971. ... I still have my employee admission card."

Book cover: "Six Little Bunkers at Miller Ned's": Barbara Peters writes: "Wonderful stories for your boy\girl. I really like them. Thank you for posting it."

Victorian trade card for George Boepple, bologna manufacturer: Jann Bauer writes: "Jacob Bauer mentioned above was my grandfather, I remember going to his store in Worcester when I was four years old. That is a strange card for sure!"

Silver Floss sauerkraut and the Pennsylvania Casserole: Anonymous writes: "What's holding up the hot dogs?!!"

(Please direct that question and all other questions about gravity-defying meat to The Pilgrims Society.)

Coupons from the E.H. Koester Bakery Co.: Alice Crowell writes: "My dad worked there. He went by the nickname of Hump."

Cheerful Card Company can help you earn extra money for the holidays: Responding to The Post That Keeps Giving, "Mkay" writes: "I sold 'em too! I am 55 now ... did this door to door til I was old enuf to make money babysitting. Loved it!!"

***
Finally, a woman named Sandi sent me a wonderful email about Papergreat, which she said I was free to share here:

Hi Chris,
I too love old books and pictures, old cards and letters, and all the rest of the random bits and pieces that tell of another life in another time. I have been following your page for a while, and I love reading about your discoveries and your speculations on their histories, along with the facts you can dig up.

Two days ago, I happened on a box of old greeting cards at a flea market, and my friend and I spent a lovely evening reading through the years as tracked by the Easter and birthday cards that Mabel sent to her sister Ethel. There were also a handful of cards from Ethel's lodge sisters, the occasional thank you card for a gift sent, and invitations to bridal and baby showers, as well as a postcard from a couple on their honeymoon.

It was a magical journey, but just as much fun as reading their exchanges was seeing these beautifully preserved old cards, dating from the late 1930s through the mid 1960s.

Thanks for making me feel less like a freak. :)
Sandi

We're not freaks! Thanks for writing, Sandi. I appreciate that you took the time to write and share your thoughts about ephemera and Papergreat. That sounds like a great find you came across. I still get energized by this hobby/passion, even when I don't have as much time to devote to it as I might like. The "every piece of paper tells a story" motto rings so true, especially when it comes to things like the postcards and letters and book inscriptions and greeting cards. It's our time machine into the past.

Stuff from 505: "Woman Reading" by Pieter Janssens Elinga

Now that we have successfully completed the clean-out and move-out of my mom's house in southeastern Pennsylvania (which had been in the family since the 1950s and was mostly filled with stuff put there by my grandmother and great-grandparents), I have a ridiculous amount of new "old stuff" to write about here.¹ I think I'll come up with a new Label² to delineate items that fall into this category. "Stuff from 505" — 505 being the house number — is one Label possibility, but maybe that's a bit to obscure. Then again, this whole blog is obscure.

I'll think of something this week.

There have already been a few 2015 posts which would fall into this new category — "Revolving Poker Rack," "Mystery tiny notepad" and "Luckyday buttons," for example.

Today's item is a small piece of wood, about the size of a baseball card, upon which has been placed an image of a woman sitting in a room and reading a book.

A little easy research has determined that this is a cropped version of Woman Reading, which was painted by Pieter Janssens Elinga sometime around 1668 to 1670.

This painting joins a nice collection of Papergreat-curated illustrations of girls and women reading books:

• Grace Harlowe's Golden Summer
• Around the World with Hob
• Georgina Finds Herself
• A Dark and Stormy Night
• Judy Garland, a black cat and a ghost book

So, on that note, share what you're reading this weekend in the Comments section!

Footnotes
1. Of course, the Papergreat backlog was already borderline ridiculous, though I was chipping away at it. Now it's back to full-blown ridiculous.
2. Labels are those category links you see at the bottom of each post.

Vintage Scholastic cover: Revolt on Alpha C

If this book, Revolt on Alpha C, had been on my shelves last autumn when I was putting together the epic Scholastic Fest countdown of my Top 25 favorite covers, I think it would have had a great shot of finishing in the top 10. But, since it only joined the shelves this year, the book will have to experience a lifetime of regret for what could have been. (Assuming books can experience regret, which is unlikely. So never mind.)

In lieu of official glory, however, let's chat about this mid-century volume a bit.

This is the August 1962 second printing of a TAB Books paperback published for Scholastic Book Services as TX137. Revolt on Alpha C was written by Robert Silverberg, who is coincidentally also the author of Scholastic Fest's #1 book — Lost Race of Mars.

Revolt on Alpha C was illustrated by William Meyerriecks. There's not much information out there on Meyerriecks, but this is certainly a great cover. Another Scholastic cover he is credited with is Spooky Magic.

This book was Silverberg's first published novel, originally coming out when he was 19 or 20. According to a description of the novel on Majipoor.com ("The Quasi-Official Robert Silverberg Web Site")...

"Revolt on Alpha C is not a major work by any standard, but as Silverberg's first novel it does occupy a cherished place in the history of science fiction. It contains many of the hallmarks of his later work (distrust of authority, questioning of tradition), but in embryonic form, showing more promise than accomplishment. In spite of its shortcomings, it has been reprinted many times (including an unknown number of printings by SBS with different covers) and translated into foreign languages."

Amusingly, the novel features a character named Harl Ellison — a tribute to Silverberg's neighbor, Harlan Ellison. (Man, what was in the tap water in that neighborhood!?)

Here's an excerpt featuring the opening passage of Silverberg's rookie novel:

"The stopover at Pluto was brief, but for Larry Stark it seemed to be much too long. The Carden and its crew had spent a week on the cold, small planet at the outermost edge of the solar system, making the necessary change-over to overdrive. This was the second stop on a journey that would take him to the fourth planet of the star Alpha Centauri, four and a half light-years away."

33 years in perspective: It was really all about a monkey washing a cat

Silver Floss sauerkraut and the Pennsylvania Casserole

Here's a staplebound recipe booklet, about 3½ inches wide, filled with recipes for Silver Floss sauerkraut.

Its 24 pages are filled with ideas for using "sour cabbage" in cocktails, appetizers, salads, sandwiches and meat dishes. (No dessert ideas, though.)

The booklet was published sometime in the early 1960s by the Empire State Pickling Company in Phelps, New York, which was then the producer of Silver Floss. The popular brand of sauerkraut has changed corporate hands a few times since 1965 and is now under the corporate umbrella of GLK Foods.

Before diving into the recipes, the booklet touts sauerkraut's "low-calorie nutrition," its Vitamin C, thiamine and riboflavin, and its flavor and versatility. It claims that Silver Floss replicates the old-fashioned flavor of sauerkraut:

"For generations sauerkraut has been a traditional addition to winter meals. Mother or Grandmother always 'put down' sauerkraut each Fall in an earthen crock."

(Sauerkraut is a cousin of kimchi, a Korean dish that was first described to me by one of my ESL students in South Carolina in the late 1990s.)

Moving past the sauerkraut balls, kraut tomato aspic and kraut stuffing, I thought the most appropriate recipe to share from the booklet would be the one called Pennsylvania Casserole. Here's the picture, followed by the recipe.

Pennsylvania Casserole
(Makes 4-6 servings)

• 1 cup boiled or baked ham, cut into ½ inch pieces
• 3 cups Silver Floss
• 1½ tbsp. lemon juice
• ¾ tsp. salt
• 2 medium apples, sliced

Mix ham, kraut, lemon juice and salt in lightly greased casserole. Place a layer of kraut mixture on the bottom, then a layer of sliced apples. Alternate layers until casserole is filled. Cover and bake in a 350° oven 30 minutes.

That sounds pretty good. I like sauerkraut, but I've been struggling to find things to eat it with since I transitioned to pescetarianism two years ago. Sauerkraut and pork are pretty much joined at the hip, taste-wise. I'm also still trying to find the perfect vegetarian Reuben.

I'll leave you with this final image from the Silver Floss booklet...

Unmailed vintage postcard to "soldier boy"

For our Saturday afternoon "Intermission," here's an old postcard that was written out, but never stamped or postmarked. Perhaps it was hand-delivered. Perhaps it went into a drawer and was utterly forgotten ... until now.

The front of the card features a photograph of a woman playing a piano while a man sits and listens. They are in a well-furnished and well-decorated room. An odd filter has been applied to the image. It's green at the top and red at the bottom, and neither color does much to enhance the photo. It reminds me of stories I've heard about three-color filters that people could apply to the front of their black-and-white televisions, to make the broadcast appear in "color."¹

The postcard was addressed to Mr. R.R. Daire (or possibly R.R. Gaire) of 843 West 34th Street in Baltimore, Maryland. The cursive note on the split-back card states:

"Dear Friend - I rec'd your card was very glad to hear from my soldier boy Lovingly Yours Virgie"

Footnote
1. Tiffanie, writing on her Truly Skrumptious blog in November 2012, discussed the "Instant Color TV Screen." An excerpt:

"It actually sort of worked for scenery, but obviously failed with people, especially close ups of their heads! It was a lot of fun trying though, and we were actually happy to have ours, over plain black and white. Many of you may not believe that, but it’s true, as kids we had a lot of fun with it. The same way kids these days love playing with cell phones to be like adults, we liked to pretend we had a real color TV."