Lovers Lane, along the shore of Rangeley Lakes in Maine

This old postcard from the American Art Post Card Co. of Boston is labeled "'LOVERS LANE,' THE SHORE WALK, RANGELEY LAKES, MAINE."

According to the Maine Office of Tourism's visitmaine.com website, the Rangeley Lakes region "consists of six major lakes plus hundreds of smaller lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams stretched out below 4,120-foot Saddleback Mountain."

These days, the area is fairly built up for vacationers. Recreational options include "The Ducks," a pair of lakeside camps; a $300-per-night log cabin rental home complete with 1,000 feet of private shore front and DirecTV; regular seaplane trips and much, much more.

I couldn't determine whether there's still a portion of the lakefront that's referred to a "Lovers Lane" and, if there is, whether it's public or private. We're going to need a regional expert to help with that one.

The postcard was never mailed, but a "Vera R." wrote the following note to "Gertrude J.":

"Although this picture isn't in color its [sic] a beautiful place to walk after a day of work. You can't see them but there are lots of cottage along the way."

Related posts

• Two old postcards from Maine
• Postcard: New Waldo-Hancock Bridge in Bucksport, Maine
• Clambake at Cabbage Island (Maine): Then and now
• Illustrated map of "Desert of Maine"
• Brochure for "Sightseeing Pleasure Tours of Portland Maine"
• QSL card: The motorcycling Doughtys of Bucksport, Maine

Postcard: 111-year-old photograph of the Milky Way

My god, it's full of stars!

This old postcard features the Milky Way, as someone has conveniently written in ink across the top. Specifically, it's the Milky Way near Rho Ophiuchi.

This postcard, never used, is from the Adler Planetarium and Astronomical Museum in Chicago, which opened in 1930. The image itself is quite a bit older than that, according to the text on the back of the postcard:

"The nebulous matter overlying this region is in part illuminated by the enmeshed stars and in part remains dark, recognized only by obscuration of the stars of the background. The dark lanes extend far beyond the limits of this picture. Photograph by Barnard, 5 April 1905. Exposure 4.5 hours Bruce telescope temporarily at Mt. Wilson."

Barnard refers to astronomer E.E. Barnard (1857-1923), while "Bruce telescope" likely refers to the 24-inch Bruce Doublet, which was first installed at Harvard University in 1893. You can read more about it here.

One of my bucket-list items is to get a good view of the Milky Way with the naked eye. My best bet is probably Cherry Springs State Park, in Potter County, northcentral Pennsylvania.

8 super-cool bookplates from the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress website is a tremendous educational and browsing resource, full of millions of pieces of digitized ephemera and other artifacts. In addition to the obvious books, photographs, works of art, maps and periodicals, there are films and audio recordings. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you're looking for a great way to pass time on a quiet afternoon or evening, the Library of Congress has something for you.

Bookplates, for example. There are numerous bookplates in the digital collection. Here are a few of them, to whet your appetite.

Bookplate of Helen Louise Taylor, Cincinnati, Ohio
Circa 1900-1930

Bookplate of Charles Chaplin
Circa 1918

Bookplate of English author Mrs. G. Linnaeus Banks
Circa 1876

Bookplate of Bella C. Landauer with "Lend a hand" motto
Linocut circa 1925

Edward Penfield, bookplate designer
Circa 1900-1925

Bookplate of Jack London
Circa 1900-1016

Bookplate of artist Francis D. Millet
Circa 1870-1912

Bookplate of Buddy Lankes
1920

Also, for the definitive blog on the world of bookplates, check out Lew Jaffe's Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie.

Galactitags: The must-have accessory in the event of alien abduction

Strange and silly stuff should be saved for posterity, too. It all goes toward telling the story and history of our times.

This advertisement for Galactitags is from 28 years ago. It appears in a 1988 issue¹ of UFO Magazine, which was published from 1986 to 2012.

The Galactitag concept is fairly straightforward. If you are abducted by Oobagonians and/or find yourself on some sort of star trek, you might end up alone and hopelessly lost. But your Galactitag — basically a dog tag for folks roaming the nebulae — would help you get back home.

As the advertising copy states:

If you are abducted by alien beings, lost in space, and escaped ---- how could you find your way back to earth???

GALACTITAG™

Military dog tags, imprinted with Voyager, Pioneer, 10 and 11's Pulsar Map, created by astronomers to tell alien space travelers earth's location in our galaxy.

IF you are wearing Galctitags™ and are abducted by alien beings, Galactitags™ will identify you with earth and help in your return by friendly beings.

Don't be caught without yours!!!

(Of course, if the aliens who find you aren't friendly, you are pretty much out of luck. Additionally, said antagonistic aliens will now know where to find Earth. They will examine the Galactitag after eating you and have a perfect map to take them to more snacks.)

The Galactitags, made of aluminum, cost $8.50, which is the equivalent of about $17 today. A T-shirt was also available, but I think that would have been less useful. What if you were abducted, but you were wearing your Buckaroo Banzai T-shirt that day, and not your Galactitags one?

According to the Trademarkia database, the Galactitag trademark was registered by John Manion Brisben Jr. of Sea Girt, New Jersey, in August 1986. The trademark is described on Justia, with a straight face, as "Military type dog tag imprinted with the pulsar map for the purpose of identifying humans lost in outer space as an inhabitant of earth."

In the late 1980s, Brisben earned his way into a far more lasting fame than an appearance in UFO Magazine or Papergreat: He was mentioned in The New York Times.²

"The Inspired, the Silly and the Useless," a November 13, 1987, article by Dennis Hevesi, highlights "about 150 of the nation's silliest people" attending Fad Fair III at the Sheraton Centre in Manhattan. The article concludes with this vignette:

Jack Brisben of Sea Girt, N.J., is selling Galactitags, "military dog tags imprinted with what is known as the Pulsar map."

The map is part of the message to inhabitants of other planets that is bolted onto the Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft. It pinpoints the location of Earth.

"I contend," Mr. Brisben said, "that if you are wearing your Galactitags and are abducted by alien beings, the tags could help return you to Earth."

Mr. Brisben expects to sell a lot of Galactitags to the other space cadets at the fair.

But wait ... there's more

I thought that would be all for this post. But then, in one final round of Internet sleuthing, I came across a mysterious YouTube video. It is titled "Galactitags.com" and was posted by Jack Brisben in July 2011.

Galactitags is still alive and kicking, more than a quarter-century later!!³

The Galactitags website is way spiffier than that 1988 UFO Magazine advertisement. It has a short video scene of an alien abduction (complete with alarmed dog), background info on the product, a list of publicity the product has received (including the mention in The New York Times) and fan mail. Here are two samples of that mail:

• Michael from Potstown P.A. says: Please let me know if your tags are still available. I am trying to hitch a ride off this rock and want to make sure all my friends have then, thanks.
• Alix from ID. says: I would like a set of your tags for my girl friend. who is being abducted by aliens almost daily, her birthday is January 27th. I hope there is enough time before she's taken by some Klingons, without a map.

And, of course, Galactitags can still be purchased. They are $15 now. And you can still get T-shirts, too, for $20.

But wait ... there's even more

Now for something really special. On a whim, I contacted Jack Brisben and asked for an email interview. Jack, now 66 and still living in Sea Girt, kindly agreed. So here's a Papergreat Journalistic Exclusive:

PAPERGREAT: I have found references to Galactitags dating back as far as August 1986. When did you first have the idea for the tags, and what was your inspiration?

JACK BRISBEN: I got the idea some time in 1982. I saw a news story about someone who claimed to have been abducted by space aliens. I thought there must be some way to help. I knew about NASA's Pulsar Map on space probes, and thought if displayed on something like a dog tag it could help with the return of abductees back to Earth.

What did you need to do to take Galactitags from idea to reality? What were the obstacles, if any, along the way?

For Galactitags to be a reality I located a company that could make them in large numbers. I also had to make sure I could use the Pulsar Map that was created by Dr. Frank Drake and Dr. Carl Sagan. The map is in the public domain so it was a go.

Was there any reaction (friends, family, etc.) when you were featured in The New York Times in 1987?

The reactions were good, it was the age of the Pet Rock after all. As for the Times article, it was because of the Fad Fair that was held at the Sheraton Center in NYC that the article was written. I entered Galactitags in this Fad Fair contest, and won a booth at a trade show and media event for new product ideas. Galactitags got lots of attention, and world wide publicity. This led to a meeting with the trade minister of Japan at the Marriott Marquis in NYC. We made a deal for ten thousand tags to be sold in gift shops at the World Expo in Tokyo.⁴ After that Galactitags drifted in a wave of publicity for years.

Were you already a reader of UFO Magazine or is the connection there just that you were looking for the best places to advertise your product?

I was looking for a good place to sell the tags.

It seems there was a hiatus between the original marketing push for Galactitags in the late 1980s and the renewed online marketing, via galactitags.com. When did you launch the website, and what inspired you to start selling the tags again?

After the publicity that we got from the trade show there was no need for an online presence until about ten years ago.

Are the Galactitags that you're selling now from the original batch in the 1980s? How many do you still have available?

The original batch is long gone. I still have about 50 in stock.

Are you wearing a Galactitag right now?

I have a tag with me at all times.

What are your favorite science-fiction books and movies?

The Day the Earth Stood Still (the one from 1950), 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Star Wars, Dune. That's just some of them.

Footnotes
1. Specifically, the advertisement is on page 44 of UFO Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 4. The cover price was $3. "UFOS ON TELEVISION" is the main headline on the cover. This magazine was part of a box lot of books and magazines that a used-book dealer was getting rid of, to purge unwanted inventory.
2. Papergreat had its own New York Times mention in August 2011.
3. There is NO WAY that I'll still be writing Papergreat in 2038, although my hope is that it will have been adapted as a Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda by then.
4. Brisben might be referring to the Expo '85, although that took place before Fad Fair III, so I'm not fully clear on the timeline.

Linen postcard: Cave Rock Tunnel along Lake Tahoe

This Genuine Curteich-Chicago linen postcard shows Cave Rock and its first tunnel, along the shore of Lake Tahoe in Nevada. The postcard was never mailed, but there's a note in pencil on the back that states:

Wed Aug 9
We expect to go thru here after a few minutes

The Cave Rock Tunnel consists of two tunnels along U.S. Route 50; the westbound tunnel (seen on the postcard in an early version) is 153 feet and the eastbound tunnel is 410 feet. The first tunnel was built in 1931, as part of a renovation of the Lincoln Highway. Work on the second tunnel did not begin until 1957.

The tunnels have been considered controversial among the Washoe people, who were the region's original inhabitants. According to Wikipedia:

"The Cave Rock area is considered sacred by the Washoe tribe. The Washoe tribal leaders were not consulted about the construction of either bore, and were upset about the perceived desecration of their tribal lands. Within the last decade, the Washoe Tribe has had a larger influence on Cave Rock and its historic preservation. In 2007, the Federal Government ruled on a precedent-setting case that has restricted activities around the tunnel, such as rock climbing."

Coincidentally, a $6 million Nevada Department of Transportation project to extend the westbound tunnel began this week. It will continue through this fall.

Here is the DOT's description of the project:

"The Nevada Department of Transportation is taking preventative measures to ensure the future safety of the traveling public within the Lake Tahoe Basin. As a result of large scale rock fall that occurred in early February 2015 and due to the threat of large diameter rock fall in the future, NDOT will construct a tunnel extension / rock fall shelter on the north side of the westbound Cave Rock Tunnel. This approximately 60' long, 27' tall, flat-topped structure will protect the traveling public by catching falling rocks all while blending into the natural surroundings with colors, patterns, and textures matching the adjacent rock faces.

Additionally, stormwater quality improvements will be made from approximately one mile north of Cave Rock at Milepost 8.4 through Milepost 11.4. Improvements include paved shoulders, new drop inlets, new sediment filtration systems, slope scaling, and barrier rail."

Here are a couple of DOT renderings of what the renovation will look like, upon completion:

Old library ephemera inside 1972's "Welsh Walks and Legends"

I recently finished reading Welsh Walks and Legends, which was written by author/outdoorsman Showell Styles¹ (1908-2005) and first published in 1972. Styles published more than 160 books, ranging from historic navy adventures to juvenile fiction to mysteries (usually with an outdoors theme). He also authored more than three dozen non-fiction books on mountaineering, backpacking and hiking. Later in life, most of these focused on his native Wales.

Welsh Walks and Legends is a quick read at less than 100 pages. Styles' approach is to present a short piece of Welsh history or folklore and then follow it up with instructions on how to hike to and from a real-life ruin or location mentioned in the tale. As a folk-tale writer, he has a nice touch. And his hiking descriptions show an eye for detail and a love of the outdoors and Welsh history. (I suspect, however, that some of the hikes he describes aren't feasible in quite the same way, more than four decades later.)

It was from this book that I discovered the story of Madoc, a Welshman who, perhaps, sailed to North America in the 12th century and had himself and his crew assimilated into Native American civilization, leading to later legends of "Welsh Indians."¹

I also liked the tales of the church at Llangar; Afanc the relocated lake monster [pictured at right, in an illustration from the book by Elwyn Davies]; the farmer who caught a fairy; the cursed village of Nant Gwrtheyrn; and the brave dog Gelert's unfortunate end.²

And there was a bonus with my copy of Welsh Walks and Legends: It's an ex-library volume that still has some of its circulation materials intact. If you know me, you know that makes my heart beat a little faster.

First up, here's a look at the card pocket and the circulation-stamp sheet on the first page of the book.

This book, we can see, was No. 17223988 at the Lancashire County Library, which had its headquarters in Preston, England. (It appears that all of the Lancashire libraries are now controlled and operated by the Lancashire County Council.) The colorful and haphazard array of stamps has dates ranging from July 1973 to August 1990.

And here are the two cards that were still in the card pocket. For perspective, the first is the size of an index card and the second is only the size of a credit card.

Of minor note: There seemed to be some confusion regarding whether Styles' book belonged in 790 classification (recreational & performing arts) or 796 classification (athletic & outdoor sports & games) under the Dewey Decimal system. I'm not sure either one is a great fit for a book that's half folklore and half hiking guide. Styles, it seems, created his own genre with Welsh Walks and Legends.

Related posts

• There's beauty in them thar old library circulation cards
• Pennsylvania College's old library copy of "Flatland"
• Old-style Ruth Manning-Sanders library book borrower's card
• Today's work of art: Page from an old library book

Footnotes
1. Intrigued? Check out Footprints of the Welsh Indians: Settlers in North America before 1492 and/or dive into the Wikipedia article "Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact theories."
2. Sarah did not enjoy Gelert's tale. She thought Llywelyn the Great should have used a little more common sense and some investigative skills before slaying his beloved dog.

Mystery Japanese print of 2 women under an umbrella

OK, we're going to need the art experts out there to step forward.

This art print, framed by a paper matte, was acquired, I believe, by my great-grandmother during a trip to Japan in the early 1960s. It ended up in an album of travel mementos and never saw the light of day again until Mom and I came across it during one of our (nearly) endless rounds of going through everything in the Oak Crest Lane house.¹

The portion of the illustration that shows through the matte is about four inches wide.²

I'm easily impressed by artwork. And even with this just being a print, it's a really striking image of two Japanese women, bent forward and trying to stay under their umbrella in a rainstorm. One of the women is clearly a geisha (though it seems odd that her legs are white, too).

There's a signature on the right-hand side of the print, but I can't read Japanese, so we'll need some help there, too.

A Google image search didn't turn up anything helpful.

Shown below is the full image underneath the matte. As you can see, a good bit of the artist's work has been cropped out.

Thoughts and feedback welcome!

Footnotes
1. Among the other posts that refer The Great 505 Cleanout:

• "A long-gone motor inn, longer-gone ancestors and a sketch"
• More stuff from my grandmother's 1978 trip to Spain
• Mystery tiny notepad from the past

2. Speaking of inches, I'm currently reading Whatever Happened to the Metric System by John Bemelemans Marciano. The author was born in the same year as me (1970), and so we have that shared experience, unique to our generation, of being told in grade school in the late 1970s that the United States was going to the metric system and we had better get ready for it. And then we didn't.

Old postcard of a somewhat alien-looking landscape

Good morning! As I get back into the groove after a few days of working and mowing and working some more, here's a funky old postcard showing a place that looks like it could be straight out of a Star Trek (TOS) set.

This real-life spot is located in Guadix, a city of 20,000 in southern Spain.

The "Libreria Perez Ruiz" postcard is titled "The Caves View" (or Vista de Cuevas). These centuries-old cave homes, carved from tuff (soft rock made from volcanic ash), are known by a number of names, including Barrio de Santiago, the troglodyte cave dwellings and Barrio Troglodyte.

Here's some history from Andalucia.com:

"The most interesting feature of the Guadix area is that many of the inhabitants of this large town live underground, in the southern part of the town, in what are known as cave houses. The jagged ochre terrain and the dazzling whitewashed chimneys and doors of the caves contrast dramatically with the snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada, which loom above. The cave district is signposted on the main street of the town as the 'Barrio Troglodyte'.

"You can drive through the cave area, but you should also get out and take a stroll. The 'troglodytes' [are] very friendly people and are also very house-proud, or 'cave-proud', as you wish. If you show an interest in their homes, you will be sure to be invited in to have a look. Ever since the Moorish times, the Andalucians have been fond of living underground because it is the best way of escaping the summer heat waves, and don't be surprised if you are invited in to have a look around. Most of today's cave-dwellings are well-appointed, like any other Spanish home, and some are even quite luxurious, with marble floors, fitted kitchens, faxes and internet connections."

(I was kind of hoping they'd be more like hobbit holes, light on modern technology and safe from the boss's email. But you can't stop progress!)

For more about the caves of Guadix, check out these articles on Seriously Spain and Travel Pulse.¹

Getting back to the postcard, it was mailed to an address in Hagerstown, Maryland. Unfortunately, I cannot read the year on the postmark and there is no other indication of the date. The message states:

If you lived here you could "get away from it all!" Or wouldn't you want to? It was darn hot on July 7 as we drove through on the way to granada. However, there's a breeze in the shade and it cools off at night. An 8 year old budding capitalist sold us these cards & had handfuls of all kinds of foreign coin. Have a good vacation. See you in Sept.
Love,
M & M.

Footnote
1. And, because of course there is, there's a 2013 Huffington Post article titled "9 Amazing Cave Villages You Can Still Visit."