Two York Daily Record front pages, 3,520 days apart

Here are the front pages of the newspaper I work for, the York Daily Record/Sunday News, from September 12, 2001, and this morning. I note proudly the great work by my newsroom colleagues on both of these editions. In 2001, they had all day and night to produce a comprehensive report on the day's shattering news. Last night, they had well under two hours to tear up the front page and coordinate strong reporting, editing and design for the new front page.

How many copies of the 2001 York Daily Record are still in existence and are kept safely in drawers, closets, attics, etc.?

And how many copies of either of these newspapers will still exist 50 years from now? Plenty, I'm guessing. It's fairly easy to find copies of significant newspapers from World War II and the moon landing, for example. These are the significant keepsake newspapers of our time, and they will be kept and passed along to future generations.

Here's an article from Poynter on today's national newspaper front pages. It also includes links to other newspaper galleries related to the September 11 attacks.

And here's a link to today's best photo, from the New York Times, of reaction to yesterday's news.

Also: My column on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 for the York Daily Record/Sunday News.

Card from Wayside Gospel Crusaders in Lancaster

Today's piece of ephemera is a little bit of a mystery. In fact, when I typed "Wayside Gospel Crusaders" into Google to begin my research, it returned just one result.¹

That result was the obituary for Landis E. Hershey, who was born November 2, 1916, and died on August 26, 2005. According to his obituary on LancasterOnline.com:

Landis E. Hershey, 88, formerly of 1647 Old Philadelphia Pike, Lancaster, died Friday, August 26. He was the husband of Ruth Martin Hershey. ... Born in Leacock Township, Landis was the son of the late Chester H. Hershey and Anna E. Hershey. Landis was a bookkeeper for the former Lancaster Brick Company and was president and a member of the board of directors of the former Ezra W. Martin Meat Company for 37 years. He and Ruth attended Mellingers Mennonite Church where he served in many active roles. He was a board member and treasurer of Mellinger Mennonite Cemetery. Landis was an early proponent of Christian education and served as chairman of the school board at Locust Grove Mennonite School for a number of years. Landis is remembered by many for his life of service to others, especially as volunteer and regional director of Mennonite Disaster Service from its beginning in 1955. He was a member of the Lancaster Chapter of the American Red Cross and was also treasurer of Wayside Gospel Crusaders. He was well respected as a godly man of integrity and sincerity.

I placed in bold the two references above that stood out.

First, Hershey formerly lived at 1647 Old Philadelphia Pike in Lancaster County. That same address is printed about the bottom of the blue "Accept Christ" card.

Second, Hershey was once the treasurer of the Wayside Gospel Crusaders. But that's it. Nothing further.

Eventually, I found some more information that tips us off about this organization by searching Google's online collection of books. The complete text of many books and periodicals is not yet available online, so I could only pull a few snippets and excerpts from my search results. Those snippets include:

• From "The Mennonite Community, Volumes 1-3", published by the Mennonite Community Association in 1947: "...Replace that beer, liquor or tobacco sign with the WORD OF GOD Posters 8y2 feet by 20 feet [sic], for standard-sized billboards are available now. For additional information CONTACT WAYSIDE GOSPEL CRUSADERS Route 5 Lancaster Pennsylvania...".
• From "The sociology of Mennonite evangelism", a 1954 book by John Andrew Hostetler: "...The 'Wayside Gospel Crusaders' make and promote billboard roadside evangelism ... to bring men and women face to face with the Gospel, who possibly would not come to our church houses and could not be contacted in any other way."

So the best information at this point is that the Wayside Gospel Crusaders practiced an earlier form of billboard evangelism². What else the group did, how many billboards were posted, how long the group was active and other questions remain unanswered for now. I am sure, though, there are people in Lancaster County who can tell us much more about this group's history.

Footnotes
1. That's kind of, but not quite, a Googlewhack.
2. Billboard evangelism remains extremely popular today in the United States. A couple of current examples can be found here and here.

Saturday's postcard: "Unusually High Tide"

This undated and unused postcard, most likely from the middle to late 1960s¹, is promoting The Marine Room Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge in La Jolla, California. The caption simply states "Unusually High Tide".

To me, it looks like a publicity still for an Irwin Allen film.²

The Marine Room (I believe the "Cocktail Lounge" portion of the title is no longer in use) is now in its 70th year of operation and doing quite well as a prestigious dining establishment in extreme southern California.

Here's an excerpt from the restaurant's website:

For generations of San Diegans, the “Seahorse” symbol of The Marine Room has long stood for its dramatic on-the-surf location and award-winning cuisine by Executive Chef Bernard Guillas and Chef de Cuisine Ron Oliver. Considering this rare blend of culinary excellence, uncompromising service and beachfront setting, it’s no wonder The Marine Room has become a true San Diego landmark. Simply stated, this is fine dining at its finest.

Opened in 1941, The Marine Room quickly became famous as pounding surf created dramatic displays against the restaurant's windows. For more than half a century, celebrities, world figures, residents, and visitors have made it a habit to enjoy the spectacular panoramic views of the Pacific and exceptional cuisine. We invite you to San Diego's premier dining destination and experience how each tide brings something new to The Marine Room.

In fact, today's Papergreat post has unintentionally good timing, because The Marine Room is celebrating is 70th anniversary in the entire month of May with some special offerings. According to the website: "The Marine Room opened on May 29, 1941³ with a menu of Fresh Lobster a la Newburg in a shell for $1.35, Rainbow Mountain Trout Saute Amandine for $1.25 and Martinis for $0.35. For the month of May, three specials ... including two new twists on the original menu, will be available, including Maine Lobster, Scallop and Prawn Newburg, Ancient Mariner Style Alaskan Halibut and Free Range Veal Chop Oscar."

Another neat thing about The Marine Room is that it's fully on board with the digital and social-networking eras. The restaurant has an email newsletter, a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a promotional YouTube video. It also offers Foursquare check-in. How many restaurants that opened in 1941 can say that?

Footnotes
1. Here's another image of the postcard, only it's a black-and-white version and includes a different caption on the back.
2. Perhaps the 1976 made-for-television movie "Flood!", which starred York County's own Cameron Mitchell?
3. Way off on an tangent: May 29, 1941, is also the birthdate of more Major League Baseball player John Edward Kennedy, who has a fascinating life story and some interesting connections with President John F. Kennedy.

Down South, the lost ephemera of lives torn apart

The American South is just starting the long process of picking up the pieces and putting itself back together in the aftermath of this week's devastating round of tornadoes that killed more than 300 people.

In the wake of the tragedy, a fascinating and heartening project has emerged on Facebook: a page titled "Pictures and Documents found after the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes".

Nobody is pretending that the scattered ephemera of so many shattered communites and households should be given priority at this moment. Those in the South who were affected need medical care, clean water, food and places to sleep.

But if getting back that irreplaceable picture of a baby or a great-grandmother can help some survivors reclaim a piece of their lives or their family history, that's worth something, right?

So, as thousands of pieces of paper were blown miles from their original location and even into adjacent states, a curious thing happened. Someone decided that, instead of stuffing all of that "trash" into garbage bags and sending it to a landfill or incinerator, they would post images of the photos, letters and documents -- some only tattered scraps and pieces -- on Facebook and see if the owners can eventually be found.

It is one of the most innovative and noble uses of Facebook I've seen.

Here are a few more of the hundreds of images of found photos and ephemera that have been posted on Facebook:

All of these images -- and contact information for the people who found them -- can be found on "Pictures and Documents found after the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes". Check it out, and please spread the word. Anyone in the world might be able to identify some of the people in these photos or names on these documents.

Beautiful handmade bookmark and the "Alice and Jerry" readers

This fine piece of child's artwork -- a smiling sun and a teepee resting on a rainbow-colored plain -- was being used as a bookmark inside a 1957 copy of "Guidebook for Round About" by Mabel O'Donnell.¹

On the back of the bookmark is a pencil drawing and what is presumably the young artist's full signature in cursive. I cannot make out the entire middle name, so the most accurate I can be is to say her name is Debbie L. Schell.

"Guidebook for Round About" was part of The Alice and Jerry Basic Reading Program, which was a lesser-known alternative to the Dick and Jane basal readers.

When it came to tracking down information on the "Alice and Jerry" series, I found two fellow bloggers and one geneaology newsletter that provided some history and insight.

1. On Alana's Vintage Collectibles, Alana wrote a November 2010 entry that states that the "Alice and Jerry" series was published between 1936 and 1966. Primary author O'Donnell² set the book in the fictional towns of Hastings Mills and Friendly Village, but those locations and characters were based on the real town of Aurora, Illinois, and some of its inhabitants.

2. On Prairie Bluestem, Genevieve L. Netz wrote a March 2006 entry in which she remembers enjoying O'Donnell's books as a schoolgirl. Netz writes:

Modern reading texts are a hodge-podge of stories, poems, plays, and so on, drawn from every culture imaginable. The Alice and Jerry books taught children to read through interesting stories about American children in authentic, historic settings. In the four Alice and Jerry readers I know best, each chapter in the book continues the story from previous chapters. The books follow a group of children through a year (or thereabouts) of their life.

3. Finally, in the January 2005 edition of "Self Seekers"³, Barbara Peck wrote an article titled "Singing Wheels." In her introduction, Peck writes: "[Y]ou just may have been one of the small minority that read the 'Alice and Jerry' series. And just when you were getting tired of these children and their inevitable dog (named Jip), you had a pleasant surprise waiting for you! When you reached the fourth grade, you began a whole new story -- an entire book of over 300 pages -- called 'Singing Wheels.'"

Peck reviews "Singing Wheels" and its plot in fascinating depth. Most significantly, she expounds on the "geneaological implications" of O'Donnell's books:

As I became re-acquainted with both books, I realized that they taught me my first lessons about genealogy. As "Singing Wheels" begins, 9-year-old children can instantly relate to a boy and his family, even if they live in other times. But when they start "Engine Whistles" one grade later, they suddenly discover that "Tom" is not the person they remember, but rather, his son. In the space of a little over 300 pages, new characters with familiar names are introduced and old characters disappear--a clear instance of given names being "handed down" to another generation. While Ms. O'Donnell never really mentions "death" or "dying," the reader soon realizes that time has passed in the story--and people have, too.

This is the first and only children's book series I recall that dealt with genealogy in any way. Even though that "big word" was never written in its pages--and even though the author merely alludes to the ebb and flow of the generational tide--she clearly implies a genealogical interest and imparts her enthusiasm to young children in an entertaining way. We've said this before: family history and research, formerly thought to be a pastime only of the elderly, doesn't have to be boring. It can be made fun for even the youngest reader, as Ms. O'Donnell managed to do in her books. A popular classroom activity that illustrates genealogical continuity is assigning students to draw a "tree" of the Hastings Family from 1850 to 1950...and the next logical step is to encourage them to make their own chart as far back as they can find out from their own relatives.

Peck's article is a great read and shows how important of an author O'Donnell was, even if her books didn't achieve the everlasting fame of the "Dick and Jane" readers.

Footnotes
1. I acquired this book from a wonderful lady who lives in Glen Rock.
2. Here's a facsimile of a Sept. 18, 1954, Aurora Beacon-News article about O'Donnell. There's some tremendous primary-source information in there.
3. "Self Seekers" is the The Self Family Association Quarterly Online Newsletter Supplement.

Why don't I own this? ("Gianni and the Ogre" Edition)

Years ago, I acquired a used copy of Ruth Manning-Sanders' folk-tale anthology "Gianni and the Ogre". But the copy I bought didn't have the original dust jacket.

So I do not own the beautiful dust jacket illustration by William Stobbs, which is pictured above.

This rankles me.

That is all. Have a pleasant night.

Tree quiz from "The Fun Encyclopedia"

This is an old, typewritten¹ list that was tucked away inside a copy of E.O. Harbin's thick 1940 tome "The Fun Encyclopedia (A Comprehensive, All-purpose, Entertainment Plan-book for the Home, Club, School, Church, and Playground)".

Harbin's 1,008-page book is certainly comprehensive. It contains entries on tongue twisters, match tricks, brain teasers, holding banquets, magic, tag, picnic games, icebreakers, storytelling, treasure hunts, folk games, amateur plays, puppets, general and seasonal parties, finger plays, how to be a good hostess², musical games and much, much more.

This typewritten list seems to be adapted from a section of the book that describe how to hold a tree picnic in June. It includes this subsection:

Tree Riddles.--
Which is the straightest tree that grows? Plum.
Which tree is made of stone? Lime.
Which tree is older than others? Elder.
Which tree languishes? Pine.
Which tree is found after a fire? Ash.
Which tree keeps milady³ warm? Fir.
Which tree is often kept in bottles? Cork.
Which tree is homely? Plane.
Which tree do you carry in your hand? Palm.
Which tree reminds you of a couple? Pear.
What tree suggests your sweetheart? Peach.
What tree is sticky, but good to chew? Gum.
What tree suggests a color? Redwood.
What tree suggests clothes? Cottonwood.
What tree is an insect? Locust.

Whoever typed up their own list of tree riddles obviously took some inspiration from the above passage in "The Fun Encyclopedia". Some clues are similar, while others are new. How many can you figure out?

Footnotes
1. Just this week, there have been some news reports about the (possibly premature) death knell for typewriters. See, for example, "The typewriter's day is nearly done" and "Last typewriters for sale? Not so fast, U.S. firm says".
2. Harbin writes: "Believe it or not, being a hostess can be fun. ... A 'charming hostess' is marked by the following qualities: modesty, sincerity, poise, sympathy, tact, perfect manners, ingenuity, and good taste."
3. Milady (from "my lady") is an English term of address to a noble woman. It is the female form of milord.

Florida's famed Cypress Gardens and the aquamaids

(This entry is a reworking of a pair of posts that originally appeared on Relics, a now-vanished blog that was the precursor to Papergreat, in January 2010.)

Pictured above is the front cover of a pocket-sized, fold-out brochure for Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven, Florida. It is from the 1950s or 1960s. Inside, the brochure touts:

"The world famous aquamaids and champions star in four water ski shows daily. 'America's Tropical Wonderland,' a combination of beautiful girls in old fashions amid settings of tropical plants and flowers. Truly a photographer's paradise featured in movies, television, newsreels and magazine covers."

The admission rates printed on the brochure were $1.50 or $2, depending on the time of year. Children ages 12 to 16 got in for a mere 35 cents, while children under age 12 got in for free.

The aquamaids were the big attraction. They were even featured in the 1953 MGM Technicolor musical "Easy to Love", starring Esther Williams.

Williams is still with us at age 89, by the way.

Sadly, though, Cypress Gardens is not.

Despite several attempts to save it in the past decade and smart ideas from bloggers like Garland Pollard, the park's doors were closed for good in September 2009. In January 2010, Merlin Entertainments bought Cypress Gardens and announced that it would be turned into Legoland Florida, which is slated to open in October 2011.

Pictured at right is a directory of Florida attractions from the same vintage Cypress Gardens brochure. (Click on the image for a larger version that you can read.) How many of these attractions are still around? How many have been razed? And how many are just deteriorating by the side of the road, as cars race by to somewhere else?

I found an interesting 2007 Washington Post article by Susan Harb that touches on Cypress Gardens (two years before its final demise) and other vanishing roadside attractions in Florida.

Harb wrote: "More than 150 Florida roadside attractions have closed since the heyday of the 1950s and '60s. Victims of interstates that bypassed the two-lane amusements, changing tastes in entertainment and stricter government regulations, many of Florida's mom-and-pop sites are on the endangered list."

The September 11 terror attacks took a toll, too, causing some potential travelers to remain at home.

For her article, Harb revisited Sarasota Jungle Gardens, Cypress Gardens, Spongeorama in Tarpon Springs and Weeki Wachee Springs to get the pulse of those Florida attractions.

Of Cypress Gardens, she wrote: "The aquamaids no longer wear tutus and tiaras, the human pyramid on skis is only three persons high, not four, and the audience has to listen to a half-dozen endorsements before the show begins. But the Cypress Gardens skiers are still doing their signature stunts -- barefooted, backward, over ramps and with a pair of wings."

But that only lasted for another 20 months or so after Harb's visit.