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Don't Smoke, Visits Saloons: 1910

May 1910. Wilmington, Delaware. "James Lequlla, newsboy, age 12. Selling newspapers 3 years. Average earnings 50 cents per week. Selling newspapers own choice. Earnings not needed at home. Don't smoke. Visits saloons. Works 7 hours per day." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

May 1910. Wilmington, Delaware. "James Lequlla, newsboy, age 12. Selling newspapers 3 years. Average earnings 50 cents per week. Selling newspapers own choice. Earnings not needed at home. Don't smoke. Visits saloons. Works 7 hours per day." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Very Strange

This 2008 post, last commented on in 2010 showed up today in the daily top 5 list on my browser when I logged in to Shorpy. I was born and raised in Wilmington, DE and the son of this fellow, interviewed by Joe Manning, was my Scout Master in the 60s.

The "vets club" mentioned in the interview would be Diamond State Post 2863, VFW of Delaware. I have sent links to this photo and Joe's site to a friend of mine there asking if there are any photos or other records of James' activities while a member there. I will let you all know if I hear any further news.

The strange thing is, just yesterday I was looking for Joe Manning's web address for a different project I am working on involving a vet I served in the Army with in 1971. It's truly a very small world.

Franklin Rubber Stamp

It's called Franklin Rubber Stamp and it's still on Franklin Street downtown. The window has all the original lettering still intact. I walked by it a few years ago and actually stopped to admire it and the architecture of the building.

Dang right!

I use rubber stamps every day. Ordered new ones not that long ago too. We had one that was 30 years old or so and had to be replaced. Rubber stamps are the best. Those new kind, which we use for faxes and stuff, wear out within a year or two of service.

James Logullo

"He belonged to a veteran’s club right across from his cab company, and he’d go over there on amateur night. He loved the Ink Spots and the Mills Brothers and Al Jolson. He’d sing their old songs and people went crazy. He was very good at it. He was in his glory." -Tom Logullo, son of James Logullo (correct spelling of surname.)

This is Joe Manning, of the Lewis Hine Project. James was actually only seven years old when he was photographed. He was a colorful character, much loved by his son, whom I interviewed. See the story at:
http://morningsonmaplestreet.com/2014/11/26/james-logullo-page-one/

Ledgers R Us

Appears to be a stationery store, with paper, notebooks, writing instruments, ledgers, calendars and of course rubber stamps. Most have long become Office Max and the like.

I have seen some wizened kids on Shorpy, but this kid may take the cake. If you cut and pasted that face on an old man, it would work. No way he's 12, either. He looks like the old man in Prizzi's Honor, whose name escapes me.

Wilmington Newsboy

His name was not Lequlla, but it was pretty close. I'll have to hold back more information until I interview the family. Stay tuned.

Wilmington Newsboy

This is Joe Manning, of the Lewis Hine Project. I just found this boy's grandson. I talked to him and linked him to the photo, and he says it's his grandfather. His own father, the newsboy's son, is in his eighties. The family was not aware of the photo. More later.

[Amazing! (As usual.) Is his last name really Lequlla? - Dave]

Rubber stamp shops

They handle everything from rubber stamps to corporate seals to trophies to engraving. Rubber stamps are extensively used in law offices, and especially in the corporate and real estate departments.

They're far from obsolete: there are four rubber stamp shops within walking distance of my house.

Rubber Stamp Shops

There are still rubber stamp shops. I'm sure almost everywhere you live if you look in the yellow pages you'll find a shop that makes stamps. I create logos for a living, and often e-mail artwork to places that make custom stamps. Where do you think the stamps come from that they stamp on your hand when you go to an event/concert?

Little Jimmy

The average male "grown-up" height was probably around 5 feet 5 inches at the time. Take a look at the rolls for those joining the services for the First World War. It's amazing how many men were 5-foot-2 at that time. Yes, that kid is tiny.

Wilmington

Thanks for posting this, Dave. Wilmington is where I was born. Sadly, though, I am fairly certain I am related to no one in this picture. Until the 1990s, when I was in high school, there was a historic Woolworth's that might have been this building. I don't know what they've done with it in the past decade, though.

Rubber Stamps

dgorton: "But what really interests me is that this store had a special sign advertising "rubber stamps". Now, that's something that some folks find useful!"

Well, yes, rubber stamp shops and shops selling them were useful.

There was still one in downtown DC when I lived there in the early '90s. Perhaps it's Amity Rubber Stamp (1430 H St NW), that seems to still be around and it's in the vicinity I recall. Quite a niche market, I suppose.

This place was very vintage...dark, dusty, quiet...but they make nice custom stamps by hand (Ray was the guy who seemed to run it).

And they're not particularly cheap...compared to those quickie, cheapie self-inking ones at the chain office supply places.

Hmmm...next time I'm in DC, I should stop by and take some pix.

James

I know average height is taller now, and poor kids with bad nutrition might be small, but that boy does not look 12 yrs old, even on the short side. Compared to the 'average" of the grownups in the pic, he looks more like 7. And small for that, even then.

Big shop windows

Does it surprise anyone else that they were able to make such large plate-glass shop windows a century ago?

Rubber stamps

It may be that the round objects in the windows are Waldorf Tobacco. At any rate there was a Waldorf Tobacco Company in Germany in the late 19th Century and on into the 20th. Oddly, the Waldorf system of childhood education that was practiced by its employees is still taught today. But what really interests me is that this store had a special sign advertising "rubber stamps". Now, that's something that some folks find useful!

[Seems to be TP. - Dave]

The answer is ...

PERIODICALS & NOVELTIES

_ _ _ _ OD _ _ _ LS

Goodwills?

[A store selling "goodwills"? We can see the start of the letter after the D. It begins with a vertical that doesn't go across (i.e. not E, L, etc.). That leaves F, H, I, K, M, N, or R. - Dave]

_ _ _ _ OD _ _ _ LS & NOVELTIES

Wheel of Fortune, anyone? Vanna!

Loose leaf systems, and then some

I'd love to shop in that store behind him. I can see ledger books, file folders, picture postcards, drafting triangles and an ad for Koh-i-Noor pencils in that window display. It's funny how they've put all that Waldorf toilet paper up in the top windows, too.

[Let's hope the TP isn't loose-leaf. - Dave]

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