Papergreat

Two more 19th century cabinet cards from Reading, Pennsylvania

2013-05-19T09:28:00.003-04:00

On the heels of Papergreat's May 8 post — "How a gentleman should properly pose himself in a fake setting" — here are two more 19th century cabinet cards (probably circa 1890) from separate photographers in Reading, Pennsylvania.

This first one is from the New York Gallery, which was featured the other day. It shows a man and a woman (presumably they are husband and wife) and there are no identifications anywhere on the photograph.

This second cabinet card is from Strunk, Artistic Photographer, who was located at 730 Penn Street in Reading.¹ In this one, we again find the man in a chair and the woman standing next to him. And, again, there are no identifications scrawled anywhere on the front or back.

The backs of the cards are also quite ornate. You can click on the image below to see greater detail.

Footnote
1. This photographer's full name was John D. Strunk, and you can browse numerous other (fabulous) cabinet cards that he produced on The Cabinet Card Gallery.

Two Pennsylvania postcards: Shohola and Mauch Chunk

2013-05-18T09:43:00.000-04:00

I have two vintage Pennsylvania postcards for you this morning.

First up is this postcard of a man and his dog that pictures Shohola. The note on the front of the card states: "Dear Etta - Here for the day & it is raining like mad. Dot."

The card was mailed in 1906. There are three postmarks, for some reason. The stamp has a faded 1906 postmark from Shohola. And there are two Brooklyn, New York, postmarks — one from 3:30 p.m. on May 28, 1906, and one from 5 p.m. on May 28, 1906.

The card is addressed to Miss Etta Flower of 790 Classon Avenue in Brooklyn.

Shohola Township is a small municipality within Pike County along the border in northeastern Pennsylvania. It was a historically significant location for sawmills, dams and bridges.

Unfortunately, the township has also been the site of at least a dozen major railroad accidents. The worst was The Great Shohola Train Wreck in July 1864, which resulted in at least 60 deaths. The dead, according to Wikipedia, were buried in unmarked graves next to the track, where they remained until 1911, when they were moved to the Woodlawn National Cemetery in Elmira, New York.

Recreationally, Shohola Township had the Shohola Glen Amusement Park from 1886 until 1907. Today, it is home of Lake Owego Camp for Boys and Camp Shohola for Boys.

For more about Shohola Township, check out the Shohola Area Historical Information Web Page.

* * *

This postcard features Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, "from the mountain road."

The name Stanley is written on the front. The back of the card was postmarked twice — at 8:30 a.m. on September 4, 1906, and at 7 a.m. on September 5, 1906, in Millbury, Massachusetts. It is addressed to Miss Lotta Ferguson of Millbury.

Mauch Chunk is now, of course, call Jim Thorpe and is the home of that famous athlete's remains. But maybe not for long. A federal judge recently ruled that Thorpe’s two surviving sons had the right under American Indian ancestral law to move his remains back to Oklahoma, where Thorpe was raised. What that would mean for the town's name remains unclear.

For more on Mauch Chunk/Jim Thorpe, see this homeschooling/travel guide on Our School at Home.

Footnote
1. Shohola is the Lenape word for "Place of Peace."

Old notebook documenting trips to the general store

2013-05-17T00:33:00.000-04:00

This is the front cover of a skinny, pocket-sized notebook that belonged to someone named ABABB long ago. I'm guessing that's actually A. Babb, but an educated guess is all that is.

Every page of the book is filled with lists of groceries and sundries and their prices, written out in pencil.

There are no years mentioned, so we're left to guess at when this is from. Some of the most repeated items are crackers, eggs, lard, apples, cookies, thread and milk.

Here are some of the listed items and their prices:

1 peck apples, .20
Braid, .05
Thread, .05
Tobacco, .10
Matches, .04
Rhubarb, .15
Eggs, .10
Lard, .28
Pork, .36
Beans, .09
Mustard, .10
Currants, .10
Crackers, 10
Peaches, .13
Oil, .14
Cocoa, .25
Flannel, .26
Candy, .05
16¾ # Ham, 2.36
Rice, .16
Raisins, .10
Beef, .56
Wood, .40
Stamps, .04
Salts, .05
Hoof Nails, .03
Shirts, .20
Drawers, .20
Stockings, .10
Overalls, .50
Shoes, .55
Suspenders, .25
Clams, .18
Sardines, .25

Shown below are two side-by-side pages from the notebook. The numbers in the far-left column on each page refer to the day of the month.

And so the notebook was used precisely as it was intended. The cover itself states: "Dry Goods and Groceries. Fancy Goods. Notions. Hardware, Crockery, Hats & Caps. Boots & Shoes, Clothing, Etc."

Actually, it wasn't used for all of those things. It wasn't used for ... notions.

I'm a big fan of using pocket notebooks for jotting down notions. I have Moleskine notebooks filled with all sorts of passing thoughts, lists, Big Ideas and oddities. Trust me when I say that those will make for some very interesting fodder for future historians and ephemeraologists.

Here's hoping that Pixlr is a cure for blogger's block

2013-05-15T00:03:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure what it's called when an ephemera blogger has writer's block.

I'm not even sure an ephemera blogger can even claim that he or she has writer's block, and lump himself or herself in with real writers, like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Charles Schulz.

Whatever it is — blogger's block?? — I'm stymied in my quest for words so far this week.

So I amused myself tonight by fooling around in Pixlr and creating this collage featuring images from posts that I've started and pondered, but not yet finished. Some day, hopefully, all of these will get their own posts.

Caption contest: Win a bundle of vintage paper!

2013-05-12T15:00:00.000-04:00

It's been many months since the last caption contest, so here you go!

Post your best caption suggestions in the comments section below, along with your name. The winner, as chosen by me, will receive a collection of assorted ephemera. I'll take entries through Monday, May 20.

This illustration, by the way, is from the 1956 schoolbook "At Home," which was published by Scott, Foresman and Company. It was written by Paul R. Hanna and Genevieve Anderson Hoyt. It was illustrated by Beatrice and Leonard Derwinski.

"Burlesque in the Church," a strongly worded 1970s religious tract

2013-05-12T07:30:00.000-04:00

Here's an excerpt from "Burlesque in the Church," a religious leaflet¹ published about four decades ago by the Gospel Tract Society of Independence, Missouri, and stamped by the North Hills Bible Church here in York County:

"BURLESQUE ... striptease ... bare exposure of the female body to the eyes of man. ... Used to be men had to pay to see such acts. BUT NOT IN THE 70's. Yes ... burlesque has now moved out into the open .. in the schools ... on the buses ... in the streets ... and yes, today most any young man can see almost anything he wants in the way of female exposure ... yes, you guessed it ... BURLESQUE HAS MOVED INTO THE CHURCH.

"It hasn't been too long since most any self-respecting girl would not allow her dress to be even a portion of an inch above her knees ... but things have changed. Yes ... used to be only the girls of ill repute would even dare to expose even half an inch above their knees when sitting down, but now ... even the deacon's daughter .. the Sunday School teacher ... the preacher's daughter ... in some instances can be seen with any number of inches of bare flesh exposed for any man to see ... free of charge. Many times lace on undergarments ... portions of milady's² panties are clearly visible ... further adding to the free exhibition that she is giving to anyone who cares to look on."

The tract continues to pull no punches in its conclusion.

So, can we safely file this one under "Every generation blames the younger generation for the moral decline of society"? (With a little fire and brimstone, sexism and misogyny mixed in for good measure.)

What are your thoughts? And no "Footloose" references, please.

* * *
Interestingly here in York County, a debate over moral standards and a church-going community are intertwined again this month in a story involving a proposed strip club that would be in close proximity to a church and other family-friendly businesses. Here are links to the York Daily Record/Sunday News' coverage:

Footnotes
1. This is the second old religious tract featured this year. This first one was back in January.
2. Milady?? What writer was still using milady in the late 20th century?

Silly Plastichrome postcard of a potato in a toy tractor

2013-05-11T18:00:00.000-04:00

This undated Plastichrome¹ postcard shows a potato sitting on the back of a John Deere-like toy tractor.

The caption on the back states: "HOW WE GROW 'EM OUT HERE."

This is a silly exaggeration, of course. It appears that the world record for the heaviest/largest potato is actually held by Lebanese farmer Khalil Semhat, who unearthed a 24.9-pound spud in 2008. Huge, of course. But nothing you'd need a tractor to haul around.

The above postcard was found inside this Plastichrome souvenir pack. Other cards feature Mount Katahdin (northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail), Sunday River Covered Bridge and potato harvesting in Aroostook County.²

Footnotes
1. Two other Plastichrome postcards from the Farmers Market in Los Angeles were featured on Papergreat last month.
2. Sprawling Aroostook County is simply called "The County" in Maine. It has a total land area of about 6,800 square miles.

Happy 1,145th birthday to the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra

2013-05-11T10:32:00.000-04:00

Wikipedia-hosted image of the frontispiece of Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra.
Original source: The International Dunhuang Project

In 1907, Hungarian-British archaeologist Sir Marc Aurel Stein purchased an old scroll from a monk at the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas in Dunhuang, China. The sprawling network of caves, also known as the Mogao Caves, includes what has been called The Library Cave. That "room" — which had manuscripts stacked 10 feet high in places — was rediscovered in 1900 after having been walled up in the early 11th century.

The scroll is about 16 feet long and was created through woodblock printing.

A translation of the scroll's colophon states: "Reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 15th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong."¹

Scholars say the date referred to in the colophon is May 11, 868.

That's 1,145 years ago today.

The scroll, now restored and held in the British Library, is the oldest known surviving printed "book" with a publication date.

The scroll is a sūtra — a collection of aphorisms. Its Sanskrit title is Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, which, according to Wikipedia, translates loosely to "Vajra Cutter Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra."

In English, it is commonly and simply referred to as the Diamond Sūtra.

One of the translated aphorisms from the Diamond Sūtra, focusing on the concept of impermanence, states:²

"All composed things are like a dream,
a phantom, a drop of dew, a flash of lightning.
That is how to meditate on them,
that is how to observe them."

There is some small irony, of course, in the idea that a scroll containing verses about impermanence has survived for more than 11 centuries. It is nearly 600 years older than the first Gutenberg Bible!

Footnote
1. Xiantong was the era name for Emperor Yizong of Tang.
2. This translation of the passage is from the Handful of Sand website.

Reader comments: Porcine poetry, Pennsylvania and US invasions

2013-05-09T23:21:00.000-04:00

Let's dive right into another fascinating and fabulous collection of reader comments...

"Piggy Pork: His Odyssey" by Thomas Yost Cooper:
Back in January, I linked to this 2011 post on a Facebook page about Hanover, Pennsylvania, history, and I recently received a couple of great responses. These two women remember Thomas Yost Cooper (1884-1967), the one-time city editor of The Evening Sun and sometimes poet.

Patricia Anderson Sullivan writes: "Mr. Cooper lived in a stone house right beside mine on Meade Avenue. My sister, Nancy, and I liked to 'visit' some of the older neighbors and he always welcomed us. He even let us roller skate on his driveway. I think he wrote more than one Piggy Pork book. They were sold at Croft's corner store on Hanover Street. I bought at least one of his books. I will always remember him."

Nancy Anderson Johnson writes: "He meticulously cultivated a variety of fruit trees and raspberries in his yard. He kept a white paper bag in his pocket with big gumdrops ... [that] he would share. I remember an kindly elderly gentleman; always seemed to be dressed in a suit."

Great details! Now I almost feel like I can picture Mr. Cooper. And all of this can help keep his memory alive, too.

* * *
Rupert Croft-Cooke observes Ruth Manning-Sanders with the circus: Wendyvee of Wendyvee's RoadsideWonders.net writes: "'I passed the Count with the monkey cart and his little cavalcade of ponies' ... is the best thing I can imagine writing."

I'll second that. Indeed, Croft-Cooke and Manning-Sanders had some incredible times, traveling with circus caravans in the first half of the 20th century.

* * *
1916 postcard from Norristown's State Hospital for Insane: There were numerous comments about this postcard in the last roundup of reader comments. To those, Stan Huskey, editor of The Times Herald, adds: "Only a few buildings at Norristown State Hospital are still in use. At this point there are probably about 200 patients left, mostly in buildings 50 and 51, where criminals suspected of having some type of psychological disorder are taken. The hospital was designed by the famous Wilson Brothers and Company, who designed such prestigious buildings as the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station in Washington D.C., where President Garfield was assassinated, as well as the main building for Drexel University."

* * *

Some ephemera within the Chemical Heritage Foundation museum: My wife, whose blogs include Our School at Home, writes: "I just have to second Chris's comments about how awesome this place was. I would recommend it as highly if not higher than anywhere we've gone to date in Pennsylvania (and I'm rather fond of my PA field trips!)"

And there are still so many places to explore! One of the first-time Pennsylvania field trips we are hoping to make this summer is to visit Cherry Springs State Park, one of the top dark-sky preserves in the United States.

* * *
EndoPest and EndoWeed make gardening MORE FUN! Anonymous writes: "Hey! My Grandma used that stuff to get the Japanese beetles off of her roses! (It didn't work.)"

* * *

Zita Spangler: From St. John's Reformed to Rolling Green Park: Of this 2011 post, Richard Snyder writes: "In 1945 through 1955 my family lived two blocks away from the main entrance to Rolling Green Park. Every summer my sister and I had season tickets to the swimming pool, and we walked there from our home, in bare feet on the hot dusty dirt roads. ... Every Fourth of July we watched the Park fireworks from a field beside our house. In the winter we walked on the frozen pond. ... Every day during school season we walked thru the lower end of the park on our way to the school. I was little and never got to ride the big roller coaster. Surprisingly enough our name is Snyder, and here we lived in Snyder County."

* * *
Why you never write the name of the person you love in your textbook: Anonymous writes: "Since books were expensive, in many schools children shared desks and books. I am imagining the two girls writing notes to each other in the book since they probably would get in trouble for talking while they were supposed to be reading."

* * *

World War I propaganda fiction: "At the Defense of Pittsburgh": Bart Ingraldi, who authors the ephemera blog PaperSleuth.com, adds this historical context: "This series of books may be more historically accurate than one would think. They have a strong similarity to Kaiser Wilhelm's Operational Plan 3, drawn up in 1903. It was the planned invasion of New York and Boston by the Imperial German Navy. The plan was shelved in 1906 when the Germany realized it didn't have the resources to succeed."

How a gentleman should properly pose himself in a fake setting

2013-05-08T21:49:00.000-04:00

This is a standard 19th century cabinet card — a thin portrait photograph mounted on heavy card stock measuring 4¼ by 6½ inches.

The card was produced by the New York Gallery, which was located at 411 North Sixth Street in Reading, Pennsylvania.¹

There is no indication who this man is. But he makes a valiant attempt at not looking too silly while standing in the midst of an obviously fake setting. It appears that everything from the props department was thrown into the frame: a flat piece of fence, a tree, an ornate "stone" wall and a painted backdrop featuring an house that's not really in proportion with anything else.

Perhaps his serious look has something to do with how much he's paying for this portrait. According to one secondhand source I came across, cabinet cards cost about 50 cents apiece. Assuming that's true and assuming this portrait dates to around 1890, that would be the equivalent of $12 to $13 today.

Anyway, the good news is that by the time I was ready for my first school portraits, many decades after this gentleman posed for his, we were long past the age of silly props and fake backdrops.

Oh, wait...

Never mind.

Footnote
1. There's an interesting story involving Reading's Grimshaw Silk Mill, the New York Gallery, a deadly tornado and a commemorative cabinet card. You can find it about 3/4 of the way down this history page on the Grimshaw Origins and History website.

Vintage ink blotter for Shafer's Flowers of Coraopolis

2013-05-07T23:41:00.000-04:00

Margaret C. Shafer had you covered 24/7 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, in the mid-20th century. This old ink blotter highlights the "Night Calls" number at Shafer's Flowers, among other things.

In case you had an emergency need for flowers at 2 a.m., of course.

The ink blotter features the Mercury-powered logo for FTD from back when the company was still Florists' Telegraph Delivery. (It changed to Florists' Transworld Delivery sometime in the mid 1960s, if you're scoring at home.)

And the blotter itself was printed by Brown & Bigelow, a company from St. Paul, Minnesota, was that was founded in 1896 and is still around, churning out quality promotional products for customers. Clearly, I should ask them to produce some Papergreat ink blotters. If they still even make ink blotters.

Why you never write the name of the person you love in your textbook

2013-05-06T12:39:00.000-04:00

Because some dorfy blogger might tell the whole world about it 130 years later.

In paging through a battered copy of "Monroe's Fourth Reader,"¹ which was published in 1872, I came across a few pages that feature the writing of a long-ago schoolgirl.

Here's a look at the title page...

Joan and I deciphered this together and this is what we came up with:

Miss Stella M. Gross
Mechanicsburg Pa.
Sits with
Miss Carrie E. Donson
Mechanicsburg Pa.
in the year
1883
But the back of the textbook is where the true secret is revealed.

Here's the last page of the book...

We think the wraparound pencil-writing states:

Stella Gross is in love with Jim McCormic.
On the following page, which is the inside back cover, is this statement:

Stella Gross is in love still With Jim McCormic.
Of course, we're counting on both (1) Joan and I having deciphered Stella's cursive writing correctly and (2) Stella having known the correct spelling of Jim's last name.

Wouldn't it be great to find out how the lives of Stella, Carrie and Jim turned out?

Footnote

1. The textbook was written by Lewis B. Monroe, the dean of the Boston University School of Oratory. It was published out of Philadelphia by Cowperthwait & Co. The first section of the textbook teaches the sounds of the English language with the help of the illustrated boy pictured at right. The short reading lessons in the book's second section include:

Audubon and His Pictures

The Lost Penknife

The Merry Autumn Days

A Dog Saving a Ship

The Nail-Maker

Underground Travels (by C.L. Matteaux)

The King and the Goose-Herd

The Poor Tavern-Keeper

The Gunpowder-Harvest

Thanksgiving Dinner at Plumfield (by Louisa May Alcott)

The third section is poetry and the final section is "Dialogues and Concert Readings," including a piece titled "The Money Panic."

Postcrossing card from Pushkino: "hear the croaking of the frogs"

2013-05-05T19:00:00.000-04:00

Here is the final entry of this week's series on the postcards I've received from around the globe through Postcrossing.

Sender: Katya in Pushkino, Russia

Message: "Hello Chris! My name is Katya and I live in Pushkino. Pushkino it is little town next to Moscow. Here cozy, quiet and calm compared to Moscow. My house is near the river and in the summer hear the croaking of frogs. I love fairy tale. Alice in the wonderland my favorite fairy tale. With Best wishes."

It sounds like a wonderful place to live!

Pushkino is a very common name for towns and villages in Russia. Perhaps it is like Greenville or Springfield in the United States. Just within the Moscow Oblast, there are seven locations named Pushkino, according to Wikipedia. So I don't know for sure which one is the bucolic location featuring Katya's river and croaking frogs.

The postcard illustration is by Russian artist Elena Bazanova. You can see more of her fabulous illustrations from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" here.

Finally, Katya's postcard features the Russian Ryazan Kremlin stamp, which was issued on October 1, 2009.

World War I propaganda fiction: "At the Defense of Pittsburgh"

2013-05-05T09:49:00.000-04:00

This is the cover of the 1916 hardcover "At the Defense of Pittsburgh, or The Struggle to Save America's 'Fighting Steel' Supply." In the genre of early 20th century juvenile fiction, it stands out as a notable and intriguing series.

It was written by chemist/author Harrie Irving Hancock (1866?-1922) and published by Henry Altemus Company of Philadelphia.¹

The book is the third title in 1916's four-volume "Conquest of the United States" series by Hancock and Altemus. All four books had the same paste-down illustration on the cover. The titles are:

Invasion of the United States
In the Battle for New York
At the Defense of Pittsburgh
Making the Last Stand for Old Glory

Elizabeth S. Frank published an article in 1997 titled "Advocating War Preparedness: H. Irving Hancock's Conquest of the United States Series." The abstract nicely sums up the series:

"The Conquest of the United States Series is a propaganda piece for the war preparedness movement, which preceded America's entry into World War I. Written in 1916 by popular juvenile author, H. Irving Hancock, the series follows the boys of Gridley in their fight against the 1920 invasion of the United States by Germany. From the shores of Massachusetts until the final victory outside of Pittsburgh in 1921, the series incorporates most of the arguments popular in the war preparedness movement. The assertion was that the United States was not ready to fight a modern war in terms of personnel, military equipment, or national will."

So, Hancock's series could be called propaganda fiction or even "retroactive alternate history" — something that an author such as Harry Turtledove might write. But the best label for this type of series is invasion literature, a genre that had its peak between 1871 and 1914 and is thought to have influenced public attitudes toward various conflicts.

Here is more about the series, from Wikipedia:

"Hancock's four-book series ... depicted a fictional invasion of the USA by Germany in 1920-21 — reflecting, and to some degree helping to intensify, the shift of American public opinion toward getting involved in The First World War. ... This kind of books were credited — by some politicians at the time and by historians and researchers later — with intensifying bellicose public attitudes in various countries and contributing to escalation and war. ...

"[In the series] the Germans ... launch a surprise attack in 1920, capture Boston despite heroic resistance by 'Uncle Sam's boys', overrun all of New England and New York and reach as far as Pittsburgh — but are at last are gloriously crushed by fresh American forces. ...

"Hancock's plot has a basic implausibility in that it assumes either an overwhelming German victory over the British, giving them mastery of the seas, or a British 'friendly neutrality' and a free hand to invade America. Further, it assumes the German Navy to be capable of utterly defeating the US Navy, followed by ferrying no less than a million German troops across the Atlantic and keeping them supplied for years-long hard fighting. The experience of the first two years of the actual war, at the time of writing, already conclusively proved the Kaiserliche Marine manifestly incapable of anything remotely of the kind."

Dale Cozort gives more details about the series on his Alternate History website, and sums it up with these insights: "The broad outline of the war is so much like what actually happened between Germany and Russia 25 or so years later in World War II that it's almost uncanny. The Germans win battle after battle but the opposition moves industry out of their reach, builds up overwhelming superiority in manpower and strategic mobility, then cuts off the cream of the German army. Sounds a lot like Eastern Front World War II up through Stalingrad."

Footnote
1. Henry Altemus Company has been mentioned a couple other times on Papergreat, most notably in "American flag history, compliments of Leinbach & Bro. in Reading" on July 4, 2011.

Postcrossing card from Horsens: Fairy tales and famous prisons

2013-05-04T19:00:00.000-04:00

(If you're checking in for the first time in a while, I'm in the final two days of highlighting some of the dandy postcards I've received through the Postcrossing project. See the initial post here, and see all of the cards in the Postcrossing subcategory.)

Tonight's postcard...

Sender: Kirsten in Horsens, Denmark

Message: "Hello Chris, I'm a retired teacher living in Horsens, Denmark. Horsens was known for its huge, ugly State Prison. It closed in 2006, and now the building is an interesting prison museum — a bit like Alcatraz! Concerts (rock mainly) and other events are also held there. A few weeks ago there was a crime(!) book fair/show going on there. The artist who did this painting on the card (Svend Otto S.) is very famous in DK. He died in 1996. Has illustrated hundreds of books."

I love this card, which came to York from nearly 3,900 miles away (as the crow flies). Some thoughts and notes:

Horsens looks like it would be a wonderful place to visit (or live). The Wikipedia image at right shows a street in the older section of the city. It reminds me of the other human-scale streets in Scandinavia — Fiskargränd in Visby, Sweden, and Møntestræde in Odense, Denmark — that I've written about in the past.
Fun coincidence: Kirsten mentions Horsens State Prison and Alcatraz and, on the day I received this postcard in the mail, I came home from work to find my wife and daughter watching the episode of MythBusters in which the team investigates whether Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Morris could have successfully escaped Alcatraz in 1962 using an inflatable raft made from ponchos. (The verdict: Plausible.)
The Discovering Denmark blog had an interesting post about Horsens State Prison just a few days ago.
The full name of artist Svend Otto S. (1916-1996), who did the Snow White illustration on this postcard, is Svend Otto Sørensen. According to information provided by Maria Nikolajeva on Answers.com: "His illustrations are characterized by a richness of detail, elaborate technique, and warm humour. They also show a clear tendency to counterbalance the Disney style. Unlike many illustrators of classical fairy tales, Svend Otto S. addresses primarily an audience of children, avoiding adult connotations or allusions. He has also written and illustrated original fairy tales, exploring characters from Norse mythology, like trolls."
Kirsten notes that the Swedish translation of Snow White is Snövit.

Finally, Kirsten used three wonderful stamps to mail her postcard. The first one is Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale stamp in Denmark.

Postcrossing card from Fort Nelson: Life on the boreal forest's edge

2013-05-03T19:00:00.000-04:00

Sender: Sherina in Fort Nelson, British Columbia, Canada

Message: "Hello from Fort Nelson, BC, Canada. My name is Sherina, I am 23 years old. I was born and raised in Fort Nelson and recently bought a home to spend another 20 years. It is a small community of 3000 but increases to over 10000 during the winter for work. The closest community to Fort Nelson is 4 hours (400 KM's) south."

Oil and gas are (unfortunately) the primary industries in beautiful Fort Nelson¹, which sits along an edge of Canada's three-million-square-kilometer boreal forest. (A boreal forest, also known as a taiga, is a huge region of coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruces and larches.)

Fort Nelson owes most of its existence and growth to the Fort Nelson Airport (in the 1930s), the creation of the 1,387-mile Alaska Highway (1940s), oil and gas exploration (1950s), and the introduction of a railroad to transport lumber, oil and gas to markets in the south (1970s). Tourism is also important to Fort Nelson, as RVs headed to or from Alaska stop there throughout the year.

Footnote
1. Fort Nelson is a community within the boringly named Northern Rockies Regional Municipality, which provided the aerial photograph for this postcard.

Postcrossing card from Germany: Hotel Astoria, Leipzig Central Station

2013-05-02T19:00:00.000-04:00

Click on above image for larger version with much better detail.

Sender: Sielke from Germany

Message: "Hello Chris. You're interested in history? So here you get a very old card from the time before our re-union. These old trams built in Czechoslovakia are now only in a museum. On the right you see our famous car called TRABANT (the one with the red roof). You almost ordered it when you got 18 yrs old to get it about 10 yrs later. Crazy?¹ This was reality for us. Now it's easier to buy a new car. The station is more modern inside, too. They made lots of shops inside. Outside it's the same, but no flags today. Regards, Sielke."

The city pictured is Leipzig, Germany. (Sielke, according to Postcrossing, lives a bit west of Leipzig, near the town of Merseburg.)

The building on the left is the Hotel Astoria, which opened in 1915 and closed in 1997. It is now vacant, and its future is uncertain.

The huge building to the right of the Hotel Astoria — the "station" that Sielke refers to — is Leipzig Central Station, which is the world's largest railway station by floor area. Like the Hotel Astoria, it opened in 1915. It was damaged by Allied bombing during World War II and restored in the 1950s. Wikipedia has a nice gallery of past and present images of the station.

Footnote
1. The Trabant was dubbed "the car that gave Communism a bad name" in an article by Time magazine on the 50 worst cars of all time. It is also cited as one of the failures of having a planned economy.

Map to help you find Coppini's Silversmith in Florence, Italy

2013-05-02T09:25:00.000-04:00

This undated old advertising card, which is 4½ inches wide, includes a map to help you find Coppini's Silversmith in Florence, Italy (Firenze).

Fratelli Coppini has been around since about 1740, according to its website. The company profile states:

"Know-how and craftsmanship, research and contemporary design. Fratelli Coppini has been a benchmark of excellence in fine jewellery and precious stones in Florence since 1740. The company began as a silversmith's workshop and then made its entry into the watchmaking and jewellery world by designing one-of-the-kind pieces. The creations by Fratelli Coppini are designed in the workshop by Benedetta and handcrafted by artisans of the highest skill. Ongoing research and careful selection of precious stones, creativity and insight are the key to the success of Fratelli Coppini, which now ranks as an equal among the greatest names of Italian high jewellery, such as Chantecler and Pippo Perez."

One older example of their work, a silver folding travel spoon, is for sale at Ruby Lane for $165.

The map also makes reference to Florence locations such as Old Palace (Palazzo Vecchio), Uffizi Gallery, Pitti Gallery, Strozzi Palace, Nazional Museum Bargello and more.

Here is the other side of the hand-lettered advertising card...

Postcrossing card from Hong Kong: Another fan of history and language

2013-05-01T19:00:00.000-04:00

Sender: Joanna in Hong Kong

Message: "Warm greetings from Hong Kong! Being an editor was once my dream. I enjoy reading a lot and I am sure we both appreciate the beauty of languages and words much! We call USA 美国 in Chinese. ... Hong Kong is a self-governing city of China, it was once the colony of the Great Britain and therefore the city develops as an international cosmopolitan one. You can find cuisines from all around the world here! I really enjoy your blog, please keep it amazing!!! (I love history.) PS. The card reminds me of fairyland, hope you like it."

Joanna also uses about five smiley faces and three hearts on her super-sweet postcard. And I promise I did not ask her to say those things about Papergreat, so I will definitely keep working to make it "amazing."

Joanna's wonderful postcard is certainly a different kind of "Shoe House" than the one we have here in York County, the Haines Shoe House.

Up next for Paul Thomas Anderson: Inherent Vice

2013-05-01T09:19:00.000-04:00

Cigarettes & Red Vines has broken the great news that shooting will begin shortly on Paul Thomas Anderson's seventh movie, which will be an adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's "Inherent Vice."

The novel is set in 1960s Southern California (an area that PTA knows well) and features as its main character a frequently stoned private eye named Larry "Doc" Sportello. We know that "Doc" will be played by Joaquin Phoenix, but no other casting has been announced.

This, of course, will not be the place to follow regular news about the new movie. For that, you'll want to read Cigarettes & Red Vines and follow it on Facebook and Twitter.

You can also find a coven of PTA obsessives at the slightly obscure (and it likes it that way) movie message board xixax.com. (I used to post there regularly in the early 2000s but am now correctly labeled a "Sell Out" in my profile.)

I haven't read the novel yet. It's on my reading list for 2013, as I mentioned in December. Usually, it's fascinating to compare the script to the film when it comes to PTA's work. For example, if you're familiar with "Boogie Nights," check out this snippet from the script and think about all the ways in which it differs from the movie.

(Big points if you cite the differences in the comments section. I admit, you probably have to be a bit obsessive about the movie, like me, to see where it differed.)

In this case, though, the fun will come in seeing how PTA "breaks the back" of Pynchon's novel and comes up with an entertaining film.

Can't wait!

Postcrossing card from Kyiv: A meal of varenyky and uzvar

2013-04-30T19:00:00.000-04:00

Sender: Slava in Kyiv, Ukraine

Message: "Hi Chris! Greetings from Ukraine! On frontside of this postcard is Ukrainian cossack who eat varenyky with uzvar (I guess)."

Cool!

Varenyky are stuffed dumplings that are popular in Ukrainian cooking. They are quite similar to pierogi, which is what Americans would be most familiar with. According to Wikipedia, varenyky are made of unleavened dough and "stuffed with mashed potato, sauerkraut, cheese, cabbage, meat, hard-boiled egg ... or a combination of these, or with a fruit filling." Other fillings could include mushrooms, cottage cheese, salty white cheese, fish, liver and offal.

Varenyky translates, quite elegantly, to "boiled thing."

You can check out some recipes for varenyky at All Things Ukrainian and AllRecipes.com. And there's a recipe for sweet blueberry varenyky on About.com.

Meanwhile, uzvar is, again according to Wikipedia, "a kompot [clear juice] prepared from several kinds of dried fruits ... and sometimes berries sweetened with honey or sugar. Uzvar is a traditional Christmas Eve supper drink in Ukraine."

You can read a recipe for uzvar on Food.com and there is also a neat post on The Kat & The Falling Leaves blog about Ukrainian Christmas Eve, which includes varenyky, uzvar, whole roasted stuffed fish and much more.

But lost in all this talk about food is a startling thing about this postcard. Go back and look at it again. The cossack appears to be using psionic powers to guide the varenyky into his mouth!

Handy tips from "How to Prevent Spoilage in the Grocery Store"

2013-04-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

"How to Prevent Spoilage in the Grocery Store" is an undated staplebound booklet that was published by The Grocery Trade Publishing House¹, located at 4925 West Erie Street in Chicago.

The price of the booklet was 15 cents.

The introduction states: "Every item in your store represents money. Your shelves contain 'package dollars.' Your bins, your canisters, your barrels, your cases in the 'back room' or in the basement — all contain goods paid for with hard-earned NET profit money. Most of those items are of a perishable nature. They deteriorate and spoil in time. This booklet tells you how to prevent spoilage — and thus save money. Read it carefully and see that everyone connected with the store reads it through. Keep it for reference. It will prove of great value to you in your business."

Here are some grocery-preserving tips from this decades-old booklet:

Pickles in bulk: Examine the barrels and kegs for leaks as soon as you receive them. ... It is absolutely necessary that pickles be kept at all times well under the liquor in which they are packed. Otherwise they will become soft and shriveled and will spoil quickly, the trouble extending through the entire package. ... Relish, chow chow, and other pickles of this kind should be stirred frequently in order to prevent stock from becoming dry on top.
Olives in bulk: Olives should be kept in a cool place and when opened should be kept away from odorous articles, such as kraut, salt fish, onions, etc.
Sauer kraut:² All kraut will continue to "work" or ferment for a certain time and for that reason when a package is received it should be placed on end and the plug withdrawn. If this is not done, the pressure of fermentation will push the staves and heads out of shape, leaving the package in a leaky condition and with the appearance of being slack filled. Kraut should be brined at least three times a week while in dealer's hands, taking care not to use too much salt in the brine. Five ounces of salt to each gallon of water is the right proportion. When the package is opened to be retailed, a heavy weight should be placed upon the kraut so that it will be constantly covered with the brine.
Canned goods: Do not put canned goods on a dirt floor. ... If your cellar has a dirt floor, build a platform at least six inches from the floor on which to store goods.
Fish: If salt codfish is found upon arrival during hot weather to have on it red specks, it should not be sold as such specks are signs of deterioration. Notify at once the jobber from whom you purchased the goods. If the red specks develop later, they should be trimmed off to prevent their spreading.
Cheese: If you find that during the warm weather a cheese has become puffed or swollen, taking a fine wire and puncture the cheese in two or three places, then turn it upside down. In a short time the cheese will return to normal.³
A Good Way to Get Rid of Rats: Use a small size steel trap and secure the chain so you will find the rat where the trap was set. Lay one sheet of newspaper (after the trap has been set) over the trap and chain, to entirely conceal same; sprinkle shorts, corn meal, or, best of all, the soft part of graham bread, over the newspaper, just a little about the edges of the paper and a teaspoonful over the trap. If there is a rat about, you will have him sure next morning.
Will Prevent Breeding of Flies: Sprinkling a little borax in with the garbage will effectively prevent the breeding of flies.

Footnotes
1. Other titles issued by The Grocery Trade Publishing House, mostly from the 1920s through 1940s, included "The Grocer's Answer Book," "Food Buying Today," "The Handbook of Food Selling," "Food Buyer's Information Book," and "5000 Food Selling Phrases." Alexander Todoroff appears to have been the company's primary author.
2. Full disclosure: I love sauerkraut. But I'm the only one in my household who does. So I get most of my kraut from convenience stores and from small cans that I open and warm up when I'm least likely to offend others.
3. Ummm.

Postcrossing card from Minsk: Fairy tale characters

2013-04-29T19:00:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned how much of a blast I've been having with Postcrossing, the website that facilitates sending of postcards to and receiving postcards from people all over the world?

I'm not sure what I enjoy more — picking out and writing postcards or receiving postcards from others who still enjoy handwritten mail.

So far, I've sent more than two dozen postcards and I've received 21, each of which is an absolute treat. I mentioned my love of folklore and fairy tales in my Postcrossing profile, so I've received some neat postcards with that theme.

But part of the fun is sharing, too. And I've already received too much great stuff to pack into one blog post. So I'm going to share one received Postcrossing card every day this week at 7 p.m. Be sure to check back daily! (And I'll still be posting about other ephemera too, of course.)

Sender: Polina in Minsk, Belarus

Message: "On this postcard you can see the most Belarusian and Russian fairy tale characters. I hope you and your daughter like this. Best wishes!"

But where is Baba Yaga? Maybe she was too scary to include...

The postcard is also printed with the statement: "2012 — Year of Book. Children's books."

Indeed, I found a January 3, 2012, article from the Belarusian Telegraph Agency that states:

"MINSK, 3 January (BelTA) – Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko signed Decree No 618 'On declaring 2012 the Year of the Book' on 30 December, BelTA learnt from the presidential press service.

"The decision was taken to enhance the role of the book and reading in the modern society, to nurture love to the art of declamation among the younger generation, to develop native literature and support the national book publishing industry.

"The head of state instructed the Council of Ministers to adopt an action plan to implement the Year of the Book.

"The announcement of the Year of the Book in Belarus shows that the issues of preserving spirituality, developing the Belarusian literature and culture are among the priorities of the state."

Way to go, Belarus!

Finally, this postcard has a terrific stamp. It appears to be a pixelated chicken.

Potluck Monday: Four random things to kick off your week

2013-04-29T10:00:00.000-04:00

Happy April 29, everyone! It was 243 years ago today, in 1770, that Captain James Cook first made landfall on mainland Australia, named the area Botany Bay and was abducted moments later by Khan Noonien Singh and his henchmen, who had been abandoned on the harsh continent decades earlier by members of the East India Company who mistook Australia for New Zealand.¹

To commemorate that dark moment in world history, here are four unrelated pieces of ephemera. At least three of them fall into the categories of "Why Hasn't This Been Thrown Away" and "Who Would Scan And Blog This."

I think you must admit, though, that this first piece is a nice bit of vintage artwork.

1. Unused label (probably a crate label) for Hearts Delite citrus fruits from the Marion County Citrus Company in Weirsdale, Florida.

2. A four-inch-wide card with an illustration labeled "The look-out." Nothing else is written on the front or back.

3. An old wrapper from a Swan's Ice Cream Bar, produced by Swan Ice Cream Co. in Saginaw, Michigan. The price was a nickel.

4. Finally, here's a 3¼-inch-wide illustration card featuring two Tom Thumb-sized children climbing flowers. It was produced by Sunshine Publishing Company of Philadelphia, probably in the late 19th century.

Here's a closer look at the little girl's oversized head.

Footnote
1. Just kidding! It was actually Cook's second in command, Zachary Hickes, who was abducted by Khan's men. Hickes later escaped and proved instrumental in keeping Leonardo da Vinci's Genesis Device from falling into the hands of the pirates aboard the Kobayashi Maru.

Pennsylvania College's old library copy of "Flatland"

2013-04-28T17:30:00.000-04:00

One of the volumes in our family book collection is Gettysburg College's old copy of "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions," which is one of Joan's favorite books.

How old is it? It's so old that it was in Gettysburg College's library when the school still went by its original name — Pennsylvania College. (It didn't become Gettysburg College until 1921.)

While Joan enjoys the book for its examination of mathematical dimensions, I just like it for its oldness and the cool stuff inside. (It's true. Some of us ephemeraologists are a pretty shallow lot. We don't care about all those words and ideas. We just like pretty things.)

First, here's a closeup of the cover illustration.

"A Square" was the punny pseudonym used by author Edwin Abbott Abbott when the book was originally published in 1884.

Moving along, here's the bookplate¹ from the inside front cover.

As I mentioned, this book was originally added to the library when the school was known as Pennsylvania College. The bookplate includes the shelving information for this volume.

Elsewhere inside, there are stamps that state "GETTYSBURG COLLEGE LIBRARY," so this edition of the book remained on the shelves for awhile after it was published by Little, Brown and Company in 1915.

On the (formerly) blank last page of the book, someone wrote out a geometry problem in neat pencil handwriting. But the coolest part of this copy of "Flatland," to me, is that the library card pocket and circulation card both remain intact on the inside back cover.

This circulation card is skinny, measuring just two inches wide. It has been stamped seven times. There's an identical blue card in the pocket, too. But it was never stamped.

Shown below is a closeup of the handwriting on the circulation card. I wonder what employee of the college library meticulously filled out the circulation card and how many hundreds (thousands?) of them he or she neatly created over the years.

To see more terrific old circulation cards, from the time before everything became computerized, check out this June 2012 post.

Footnote
1. Here are some previous posts in which bookplates are featured: