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Listening Post: 1942
Rochester, New York. "Mr. Babcock tuning in for war news." Howard B. in the ... the parent club of the local minor league (AAA) team the Rochester Red Wings. Today the Red Wings are affiliated with the Minnesota ... and coal. -tterrace] (The Gallery, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester, WW2) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/16/2013 - 11:43am -

Rochester, New York. "Mr. Babcock tuning in for war news." Howard B. in the latest installment of the Babcock saga; the photos, with a publication date of March 1943, seem to be from September 1942 if the newspaper is indeed new. Photo by Ralph Amdursky for the Office of War Information. View full size. Furniture placementDoesn't he know that having the chair so close to the radio will damage his ears? How I RememberI remember how fascinated I was by those little string covered pulls on the blinds when I was a small kid. I think I pulled a few off in my day. Does anyone know what they are called? They are way too fancy NOT to have a name. The man's socks and shoes are over the top! He would have been considered quite stylish at the time. [Those are windowshade pulls. - Dave] Those shoes!They're either very ugly, or very stylish. But they're definitely very something. There's a two-out-of-three chance that Mr. Babcock was committing a white-after-Labor Day faux pas. He'd be okay if the date is Sunday, September 6, but not if it's the 13th or the 20th. The date cannot be Sunday, September 27 as that was the last day of the regular baseball season when the Cardinals won the NL title by defeating the Cubs, and the newspaper refers to the Cards and the Dodgers as being even. Western AutoTruetone was the store brand of Western Auto stores. The radios they sold were not actually made by Western Auto, rather they were made for them by other radio manufacturers--usually ones with names lesser known than Truetone, such as Belmont or Wells Gardner. This man bought his enormous radio just in time: it is a 1942 model, the D1144, and wouldn't have been available for long after civilian radio production ceased for the duration of WW2. As usual, the devil reposes in the detailsNow, the first nit one might pick is that the Democrat & Chronicle was the morning Gannett paper, and the Times-Union the afternoon, and it looks to be late afternoon when the photo was taken, but the paper indicates that it is Sunday, so the T-U would not have been published that day. Evidently, the possible staleness of the news is what prompts Mr. Babcock to seek out H.V. Kaltenborn or Gabriel Heater via the ether. I cannot make out the date, but as it's September, we may have Mr. Babcock on a "white after Labor Day" offense with respect to those snazzy shoes. September 13I can't make out the date, but the headline about the Cardinals and Dodgers being tied in the standings means this must have been Sunday, September 13. The Cardinals and Dodgers finished a two-game series on Saturday and were tied for first in the National League for the only time that season (the Cardinals went on to win the National League and the 1942 World Series). The Saturday game featured 6 future Hall of Famers (Enos Slaughter, Stan Musial, Billy Herman, Joe Medwick, Pee Wee Reese, and Arky Vaughan). It was a critical turning point because up until that series the Dodgers had led the National League since the first week of the season. Assuming this was taken that Sunday, the Dodgers would have likely just finished getting swept in a double header against the Reds, capping a five-game losing streak (significant since they finished the season 2.0 games behind the Cardinals). Cool shoes!Literally speaking. They must have been very comfortable on hot days with all those holes in the uppers. I think they were house shoes because people didn't get rid of their street shoes and wear out their expensive socks around the house. Dress socks like those are still around the same price as a dinner out. Shade PullTahoemike, I was fascinated with looking out the window too! The Christmas wreaths we had for those windows were no bigger around than one of today's dinner plates. The chair! The blind pulls!We had a chair exactly like that when I was young! And I haven't seen pulls like those in ages! Ah! The Doily Headrest!My mom put those on every chair and sofa in the house. I remember asking her once what purpose they served. "To protect the furniture from oily hair", she replied. "But we shower ever every day", I replied. "No matter", she replied (somewhat indignantly) - and that was THE END of that conversation. [Your mom was right. That's why that "doily" is actually called an antimacassar. -tterrace] Upsidedown umbrellasTwo on top of the radio. What did they hold? Flowers? Toothpicks? Cigarettes? There's always eBay...for old-fashioned shade pulls. Timely stockingsI think those arrows on his socks are called clocks. They were very popular on women's stockings in the 20's and earlier. [And men's, too. -tterrace] Why the CardinalsThe reason the D&C is featuring the St. Louis Cardinals is they were the parent club of the local minor league (AAA) team the Rochester Red Wings. Today the Red Wings are affiliated with the Minnesota Twins and the D&C is still being published (although it's a ghost of its former self). Re: Timely StockingsAre those stockings also known as "spats"? [No; spats fit over the shoe. -tterrace] Comfortable homefrontPlush setting belies the fact there is a war. I wonder if electrical power was rationed? [The furnishings here are typical for a middle-class family home of the time. Wartime restrictions on certain commodities did not extend to confiscation of people's existing possessions. Electricity as such was not rationed, though conservation was encouraged to help conserve electrical-generating materials such as oil and coal. -tterrace] (The Gallery, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester, WW2)
Roll Your Own: 1904
Despatch (East Rochester), New York, circa 1904. "Shops and transfer yards, Merchants Despatch ... youse call brake shoes! (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/06/2012 - 6:27pm -

Despatch (East Rochester), New York, circa 1904. "Shops and transfer yards, Merchants Despatch Transportation Co." Behind the scenes at MDT. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Hey Boss!Where do you wants dese ingotz? Turntable spiderNotice the tiny turntable with its disabled twin upside down for repairs or as a parts donor. Brobdingnagian!The wheel trucks that the men are working on must weigh at least a ton apiece. And who did you call when the boss says "bring me one of the couplers from the corner stack"? Potential A good subject for any large HO layout somewhere; neat little details and unusual bits and pieces. Truckin' Right Along.In the foreground are the parts for another one of those little turntables used for rotating freight car trucks. The deck, steel faced, is beneath the "spider," with seven of its eight wheels which would go in a pit beneath the table. The wheels would revolve between a circular track in the pit and a circular rail on the underside of the table itself. To the left of the man with the wheelbarrow are pressed-steel "Fox" freight car truck side frames. The side frame closest to the man is upside-down. The jaws where the journal boxes would slide up and down are in the up position with a crosspiece keeper at the mouth, on the first side frame nearest man with barrow. The rest of the side frames behind are in the correct position as they would be in service. In service, the mouth and keeper would be at the bottom, then the journal box with wedge, journal bearing and axle inside, topped by a coil spring on top of the box. On truck weight.A standard four-wheel freight truck weighs about five tons; each wheelset can be 2000-2300 pounds. A modern Roadrailer truck weighs six tons, and the old six-wheel heavyweight passenger trucks were around seven tons, if I remember correctly. Current design roller bearing side frames for 286K cars weigh about 900 pounds each and 286K bolsters are about 1500 each. Complete truck assemblies with 36-inch one wear wheelsets, class K bearings, springs, friction shoes, and brake beams are just about 10,000 pounds per truck. Oddly enough they are not that hard to move by hand. (It's not the safest shop practice, but then sometimes needs must). Strongest man in the worldPaul Anderson used a pair of train wheels to build his enormous strength. One of the records he held was a one armed press of 300 pounds. He was also the first man to press over 400 pounds. He also back lifted over 6200 pounds one time and may still hold the record for that lift. Having a good day at workMost of the workers are smiling, unlike the grim looking people in most turn of the century pictures. Trucks and couplersWhile they will probably weigh slightly less, to further the comment below on weight. 33-inch steel wheels weigh about 500 pounds each, with the axle running in the neighborhood of 1,000 pounds. As for ease of movement, my father, who used to work at Conrail's Samuel Rea shops, said they commonly would move freight cars in the 40-50 ton range (empty) by hand with nothing more than a crowbar wedged under a wheel to get them rolling. Once rolling, as long as the track was level, they could be pushed by hand. Granted those were roller bearing trucks, but you could move solid bearing trucks that way, and the best way to stop one would have been to put a piece of wood on top of the rail in front of the wheel. Ivy leagueDid someone really plant those vines? I guess when the building was completed, someone just had to bring some seeds and finish off the building. TrucksThe trucks that the men are working on are arch bar trucks constructed of heavy strap steel. They were more common that the Fox trucks mentioned earlier. They were, however, banned from interchange in the 1930's. Freight car wheelsI worked in the GM&O RR wheel shop for about a year back in 1955. We had both wrought steel "one wear" wheels as well as cast iron ones like all those in the photo. The cast iron wheels had hardened "chilled" tires and could not be resurfaced. The so called "one wear" wheels were not supposed to have their tires refinished, but apparently the rules were changed in WWII to allow machining of the tires. I refinished many of them in a big wheel lathe and bored many more to fit axles. If the cast iron wheels did not have "shelled" "flaked out" places in the tire surface, I could rebore them to fit on another axle. The men who ran the wheel press could roll the individual wheels about the shop floor just as easily as a child could roll an auto tire down the sidewalk. The cast iron wheels weighed 750 pounds each or so it was claimed. Don't ask me, I sure never tried to weigh one. I had a handy dandy sort of jib crane to handle the wheels onto the boring mill. Fire!Check out the sand barrels on the roof. Each with a bucket for flinging. Heavy LiftingI'll bet the local drug store did a brisk business in trusses. Ingotz?Ah, phooey. Them ain't ingotz. Them's what youse call brake shoes! (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, Rochester)
Dr. Bliss: 1920
... Bliss, Former Chiropractor Here, Tries to Die in Cell at Rochester, N.Y. HELD ON BIGAMY CHARGE Taken to Hospital, Where Doctors ... to the Washington Post.         Rochester, N.Y., Nov. 1 -- An hour after being locked up at police headquarters ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 11:30pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Dr. Bliss, interior, 13th and G streets." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. If it walks like a duckFine collection of quack machines and gizmos. They all fit into the category of "cash extractors." The MachineI don't know what it does and I wouldn't want to find out the hard way. George Costanza"I think it moved!" TiltI think that pinkie ring is throwing off his posture. Dr. BlissWashington, D.C., DC ? Dr. Bliss and Dr. FeelgoodHaving a name like Bliss really enhances his advertising campaign because of peoples' word association. I'm not one to be a doubting Thomas, but just for the record every single chiropractic patient I have known has been told that they have one leg shorter than the other, even though many of them swear they are miraculously healed by them. There is tremendous power in psychosomatic emotions, hence the placebo successes. My son spent thousands of dollars (uninsured) and long hours with spinal manipulations for years for his back, neck and shoulder pain before he gave up on chiropractors and now, twenty years later he still has the severe chronic pain. On the other hand, I had a hunch-backed boss in my first job in high school who swore that only chiropractors were able to relieve his constant pain. So there are two sides to every coin. Still, I'm trying to see if this patient in the picture has one leg shorter than the other. Please don't sue me or you will be hearing from my lawyers (as soon as they get a telephone) from the law firm of Dewey, Cheatem and Howe. Sorry for the groaners, I couldn't resist. Carry on. OsteopathyThis is a wonderful photo: A office space shared by a Chiropractor and an Osteopath. The osteopathic profession has changed a lot over the century. For starters, it doesn't exist anymore in the United States. We are "osteopathic physicians," which is now just a type of medical school, and we have full license to practice as medical doctors who go into all specialties from family practice to cardiology to anesthesiology, etc. Each one of us still had to learn the manual medicine, though, even if we'll never use it. Not so in 1920, which was only three years after the passing of our founder, Andrew Taylor Still. At this point in history, we were only equivalent to MD's in California. How far we've come! In the UK or elsewhere, osteopaths are still very much like Chiropractors. Practicing I'd be a bit wary of a guy who has to hang the directions on the wall. Roll them bones!Here we see either Dr. Bliis (a chiropractor) or Dr. Willard (an osteopath) doing an adjustment. This photo is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, it's never been usual for the two professions to even share space, let alone run a practice together. Also, given the guide lines on the door, I'm guessing that Dr. Willard is the newcomer. Also, since chiropractic is a profession limited to manipulative treatments (no prescribing, no surgery or obstetrics, etc) while osteopathic medicine is unlimited--DO practitioners even in 1920 did all of the same things that MD practitioners did--surgery, delivered babies, and did manipulative treatments too. The various instruments in the cabinet seem to speak of a wide variety of procedures, so I'm guessing that this is Dr. Willard. Fascinating piece of medical history. Thanks, Dave! It was horrible Doc!It was 4 in the morning, as I tried to sneak into the house through the back window, she caught me with the frying pan. Electrical StimulationThat device on the left looks to be some sort of electrical treatment apparatus. There appears to be a power cord running up to the ceiling from it. The set of metal disks in a circle is a rheostat for adjusting voltage. What it was supposed to treat and how I have no idea though. Diathermy UnitWho can ID the model? Makes my neck hurt to look at it!Lying face down on that couch would be very uncomfortable! Does anyone know what the machine was for? Perhaps some kind of electro-stimulation for the muscles? They did lots of interesting pain treatments around this time. Calling Doctor Quack!All of the equipment in the office appears to be of the "Violet Ray" and "Electro Stimulator" type - early 20th century quack medicine! The Double Life of Dr. BlissWashington Post, November 2, 1921. FACED BY 2 WOMEN, MAN TAKES POISON Lewis Bliss, Former Chiropractor Here, Tries to Die in Cell at Rochester, N.Y. HELD ON BIGAMY CHARGE Taken to Hospital, Where Doctors Doubt His Recovery -- Had Closed His Washington Office. Special to the Washington Post.         Rochester, N.Y., Nov. 1 -- An hour after being locked up at police headquarters today Lewis Bliss, 25, a former Washington chiropractor, dissolved eight bichloride of mercury tablets in a glass of water, obtained from a turnkey, and swallowed the poison. Later, his groans called attention to his condition and he was sent to St. Mary's hospital, where his recovery is in doubt.         Bliss was arrested last night after Esther Bliss, of New York, came to Rochester, claimed he was her husband and had deserted her in New York. He was found at 2 Gibbs street, where he has been acting as a chiropractor for three months. With him was a young woman, whose maiden name was Dworkin, who also said she was his wife. They were married in Stamford, Conn., three months ago, she said. Tells of Washington Office         The other woman said her husband's right name was Max Appel, and they were married by a rabbi in Newark, N.J., seven years ago. She brought her son with her. She said bliss had an office at 1750 M street northwest, in Washington.         She said he told her he had discontinued his office in Washington and took her and her child to her sister's home in New York, where he left her. She recently learned that he was here. Accuses the Other Woman         When the women confronted each other at headquarters, Mrs. Bliss accused the other of luring her husband away from her. The district attorney will investigate and ascertain if Bliss has committed bigamy. The family businessMy grandfather was an osteopath in Chicago in the 'teens (supposedly, Gloria Swanson was one of his patients), but later got into some shady business in the '20s (my uncle told me he was friends with Hymie Weiss) before moving to Montreal after his friends started getting bumped off. I wonder how much his office looked like this? Electro therapy apparatusI believe the cabinet on the picture is a "Thompson Plaster Model E Floor Model High Frequency Physician's Cabinet I'd like to buy or trade one sometime. The cabinet that I own is a DYNELECTRON MODEL 'F' DIATHERAPY MACHINE from The Liebel-Flarsheim Co., Cincinnati, Ohio I like the plate that says "Atomic force for physicians use" (The Gallery, D.C., Medicine, Natl Photo)
The Storeroom: 1904
East Rochester, New York, circa 1904. "Storeroom at Merchants Despatch ... and granite everywhere! (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 11:37am -

East Rochester, New York, circa 1904. "Storeroom at Merchants Despatch Transportation Co." Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size. Apparently amongst the firstin the fight for smoke-free workplaces! Going DownThere was a worker pulling that wagon until he stepped on that trapdoor. Poor guy! Crate & BarrelAn interesting photo from the B.C. era (Before Cardboard) of packaging. Wooden barrels and crates, and excelsior instead of bubble wrap or styro peanuts. When I was a tot in the 1950s, I loved it when a new family would move into the neighborhood because that meant there would lots of excelsior-stuffed barrels out by the curb, back when they were used for packing dishes and glassware. With two or three you could make a nifty barrel-fort. WeightyThat isn't a trapdoor. It's a scale used for weighing the cart loads. Dream LoftI can see HGTV going crazy with this space in today's world, turning it into a "living space" for trendy yuppies. There would be stainless steel appliances and granite everywhere! (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, Rochester)
The Blacksmiths: 1904
... of the refrigerated rail freight line in what is now East Rochester. Panorama of two 8x10 glass negatives. View full size. ... I'm trying to replicate.) (Panoramas, DPC, Factories, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/19/2012 - 10:21pm -

Despatch, New York, circa 1904. "Blacksmith shop, Merchants' Despatch Transportation Co." Operations of the refrigerated rail freight line in what is now East Rochester. Panorama of two 8x10 glass negatives. View full size. MachineryAnyone know what that machine on the left does? Since the two gents are handling that piece of an arch-bar truck with tongs, I'm guessing it's been heated which would make this some sort of forging hammer. Maybe it's a riveting machine of some sort? There's a steam hammer in the middle distance on the right and a forge for heating the rivets on the far right. The cart in the center is piled with more rivets. And there's this one guy in foreground staring intently at some contraption with a handle and a couple of rollers on it, whose purpose also escapes me. But lots of belts and pulleys. With the hammering and riveting, this must have been a very noisy place Back In The Day. Clang, clang, clangClang, clang, clang went those sledge hammers. Must have made a terrible racket on iron and steel and with no hearing protection. That's the way real men did it! "Eh - what's that ya say"?! Press HereThe machine on the left is a press. If you look. closely, you can see the die that have formed the piece that the two men are removing. There are more dies, to the right, that are used to form other parts. Staring intently.He is weighing something on a scale. The machine on the left is a forming press rather than a hammer. There are other forming dies piled to the right of it. The BulldozerThe machine in the left foreground is a "Bulldozer", a very handy machine for repetitive tasks. The big crank arms on each side are connected to the "ram", which slowly advances & retracts. It is a sort of horizontal press. The dies for the machine are to the right in a pile on the floor. Slightly to the right of the "Bulldozer" and in the background is a double-ended Whitney press. These were used as punching machines, bar cutters, etc, depending on the dies installed. The hammer in the middle distance is not a steam hammer. It is a "Bradley" trip hammer, operating off the shafting. It has a wooden arm with a hammer shoe on the end, and the crew is making (or repairing) a bottom rod for brakes. This is a common layout for a RR blacksmith shop. They would have made mostly things like grab irons, uncoupling levers, sill steps, handholds, light truck and brake parts, etc. I worked in a shop that included all of the machinery shown here (and lots more of the same or earlier vintage) in the 1970's. Horizontal Forging Press Henley's Encyclopedia of Practical Engineering and Allied Trades, 1906. Horizontal Presses. 29. Bulldozers.— The bulldozer is a horizontal press for performing bending, forging, and welding operations. In the illustration, a pair of dies a, b is shown in position for bending the piece of work f. The movable die b is attached to the ram d which is driven by the connecting-rods c,c. These machines are made to be driven by a belt, engine, or electric motor, and are used for a very large variety of work, especially for such work as the forgings for car trucks, for agricultural implements, etc. An almost endless variety of work can be done on them, including forging and welding. The stock is generally put in the dies hot … This model appears to be manufactured by Williams, White and Co., of Moline, Illinois. Manual die set upsIn looking at the belt driven bulldozer, I was wondering how the would check the draw on the dies for proper fit to avoid damage before belting up the machine. Then I saw the holes placed in the pinion gears and long rods in the can to the left. That's my guess anyhow. Forge QuestionsSo what is that horizontal handle extending forward from the press? I'm guessing some sort of clutch to disengage the power but the man obscures the details of the machinery. Also, would a piece be formed with one press of the forge or would multiple cycles of the gear be needed for the final product? BeltsThis picture clearly illustrates how factories used to power their machines: thick belts are attached to a rotating shaft near the ceiling, the shaft most likely being powered by a steam engine. Multiple PassesMachines like that have a ratchet mechanism. Push the handle; the machine does one stroke, then stops, even though the power input is still turning. The one on our big shear needs cleaning, oiling, and adjustment, because it does multiple strokes. If we used it a lot we'd fix it. When it's unbelted and there's nothing in the dies, it's pretty easy to turn. Die fit is checked and adjusted by unbelting, tripping the actuator, and turning the input wheel by hand. Multiple strokes are a matter of terminology. If it's meant to do the full job in one stroke it's a "press". If it's set to do multiple strokes to get to the final shape, it's a "hammer". That isn't exact, and there are exceptions both ways. TwinsA two photo panorama like this make me imagine - Wouldn't it have been fun to tell all the guys on the left to move to positions on the right before the second shot was taken? Ok yeah - it would have disrupted the documentary nature of the picture. I guess that is why I couldn't be a documentary photographer. Questions AnsweredThe handles extending forward from the press control the clutch. This particular model has a bar with handles on each side, to allow operation from either side. The bulldozers we had in the shop where I worked were notorious for being difficult to disengage, and were generally run continuously engaged. The cycle speed was very slow, about 15 seconds for a complete cycle, so you had plenty of time to remove the finished piece and place a new blank during the cycle without disengaging the clutch. The dies determined how many "hits" were required for each piece. The simple dies shown were likely all designed for one cycle to complete the operation. The machines in our shop were used mostly with "puzzle" dies, where multiple bending and forming operations were possible, depending where in the die the piece was placed. I made a great many uncoupling levers (pin lifters) in a machine just like this. Starting with a round bar that had already been sheared to length, one end was put into one section of the die where the "U" bend was started. Next cycle, the partially bent "U" was placed in another part of the die where the "U" was finished. Then the rod with the "U" on the end was laid in yet another part of the die, where both offsets were formed, then turned and put into yet another area of the die where the 90 degree bend for the handle was made, and finally stood upright into the last portion of the die where the handle was formed. 2 minutes were allowed for each finished part, 30 per hour. The danger was letting your mind wander and putting your hand in the wrong place at he wrong time. Thanks for the help!Thanks to everyone for the information on the machines shown here. (I'm working on a model of a turn-of-the-last-century machine shop and this really helps me understand what I'm trying to replicate.) (Panoramas, DPC, Factories, Rochester)
Texanna Loomis: 1921
... State of her birth –- she later moved with her family to Rochester, N.Y., and there she received her early education. Not until the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/11/2011 - 8:06pm -

December 31, 1921. "Miss Texanna Loomis." Mary Texanna Loomis, founder and proprietor of the Loomis Radio School in Washington, D.C. National Photo Company Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. View full size. Love her boots!Talk about narrow feet! TexannaShe's clearly a confident gal who is passionate about her work. But, oh my golly, those shoes. Before the popularity of tennis shoes as everyday wear, we certainly were a nation of sore feet. Extant Woman "Boss"Washington Post, March 15, 1931 Mary Loomis "Bosses" Air Students to High Success Cousin of Dr. Loomis Has Varied Arts; Master of Etheric Science Among the folks in history count Miss Mary Texanna Loomis, the only extant woman "boss" of a radio college for men. Miss Loomis, who is a regular octopus when it comes to having embraced different lines of activity, is the proprietor and founder of a well-known radio school. She is a cousin of Dr. Mahon Loomis, who is said to have obtained a patent on a device for sending messages without wires in 1872, some years before Marconi first announced his discoveries. Many men successful in the varied fields of the radio industry got their first tutelage at the hands of Miss Loomis and she has high hopes for members of recent classes that graduated from her school. A textbook, "Radio Theory and Operating," now in its fifth edition, is one of Miss Loomis' proudest accomplishments. The work is in use in many schools, both government and private, all over the country. Intense in all her pursuits, Miss Loomis had sports as her first interests in youth –- strenuous ones such as swimming, skating, horseback riding. Later she took a course in voice culture and became a talented soprano. Succeeding this she went to an art school and became adept at sketching. In swimming, particularly, she gained much note, and though she must be nearing middle age, her figure today has the lithe lines of the expert swimmer. Born in Texas -– her middle name is taken from the State of her birth –- she later moved with her family to Rochester, N.Y., and there she received her early education. Not until the stirring early days of the war, when she was doing Red Cross work, did Miss Loomis get the radio "bug." From then on she devoted herself, body and soul, to learning all she could about this fascinating new wrinkle, and her judgment in selecting that field has been vindicated by the enormous development that method of communication has gone through in the last decade. In 1919 the Department of Commerce issued a commercial radio operator's license to Miss Loomis, and this marked her first triumph in her chosen field. A year later she opened her school. Since then, she has turned out hundreds of men of all ages who have helped to meet the industry's demand for men trained in all its varied branches. As a child she demonstrated a precocious skill with tools and quite often today she is seen with wrench and pliers working over the intricate machinery of Station WYRA, which is the official station of the school which bears Miss Loomis' name. Although much of her time is taken up with the executive matters of her school, she is frequently to be found in the laboratory making experiments with the elusive spark. Administrative matters have usurped much of the time of the dynamic tutor of recent years, and this factor has forced her to abandon lecture work at her school. This fact she regrets very much, for she took a keen interest in vocally expounding her knowledge of the radio art. Sensible shoesWell, in all fairness to Ms. Loomis, this is long before "sensible shoes" became a euphemism, and decades before the word "lifestyle" entered the OED. At least she didn't fuss with shoe buttons. Nonetheless, she seems like a woman who was quite comfortable with the life she led. Perhaps her school was "men only" because she didn't need the distractions. Spark gap? or?Is that some sort of spark gap transmitter for morse to her left? or? The two electric motors imply rotation -- perhaps it is a higher frequency "anderson alternator" than the one shown in wikipedia? 73 de KG6HAF VanityThat is a powder compact, isn't it? If so, I love that she's touching up her face while wearing stained overalls. Attention to beauty rituals mixed with mechanical competence -- my kind of gal! Fuente de alimentación.No exactamente. Se trata de un convertidor AC-DC. Una fuente de alimentación de voltaje variable para utilizar en el banco de pruebas. GreaseWho knew you could get your coveralls so greasy working on radios? [Those splotches are mostly the emulsion going bad. - Dave] Thanks for the information. You have to admit though that to someone who doesn't know about the state of the source material they do look like grease stains. [They certainly do. Although if you look really close you can see they don't stop where the overalls do. - Dave] Mary Loomis, 1880-1960It seems she lived to the ripe old age of 80. http://us.share.geocities.com/w8jyz/3ya.pdf The times (and the Post), they are a-changin'I loved this bit of the Washington Post article: ... though she must be nearing middle age, her figure today has the lithe lines of the expert swimmer. I doubt you'd see that in the Post today; the first part because we are no longer sensitive about publicizing a lady's age, and the second because we have become sensitive about describing a woman's figure. Funny how times change. These Boots Were Made for Teachin'Those shoes look to me as if they were 20 years out of style in 1921. Let's face it--Ms Loomis was not a typical lady of the day and old-fashioned shoes might have been as much part of her choosen self-presentation as overalls, heavy sweater, and powder on a face otherwise innocent of makeup. Motor-GeneratorThe unit could also be a AC motor driving a DC generator. The vacuum tubes would require a higher amperage than was available from a transformer circuit for same size. As I look at the unit with the step points, rheostats and meters it looks like a 1920's variable power supply. Filament voltageMotor-generators (a AC motor driving a DC generator) were used to power the filaments of the tubes but the amperage wasn't the issue -- it was the fact that in those days the filament was used as the cathode and if AC current was used to heat them it would induce hum in the signal. This is also why early home radios used batteries despite the availability of electricity (which was usually AC by the 1920s). In the early 1930s they developed indirect heated cathodes where the filament was not a part of the signal circuit and it was then possible to power the filament from alternating current (through a transformer), eliminating the need for direct current from generators or batteries. Transmitters also used motor-generators for the plate voltage supply until mercury vapor rectifiers were developed. [You took the words right out of my mouth! - Dave] Introduction of indirectly-heated cathodesDevelopment of a tube using an indirectly-heated cathode (for AC power) began in September of 1926. Westinghouse submitted working samples of their UX226 two months later. Commercial production began in early 1927, and the tube was announced for sale in November of that year. (Tyne pg. 319) Ref: Tyne, Gerald F. Saga of the Vacuum Tube ISBN 0-672-21471-7 (hard), 0-672-21470-9 (soft) Fark FodderFarked again. Radio Education: $3.50Google has recently collaborated with Popular Science and Popular Mechanics to publish their magazine archives on the global network of tubes. Here's a 1927 ad from Mary Loomis' radio empire. Money Making Opportunities Press and public concede it to be the best ever produced. "Radio Theory and Operating" by Mary Texanna Loomis, member Institute of Radio Engineers, lecturer on radio, Loomis Radio College. Thorough text and reference book. 886 pages, 700 illustrations, price $3.50, postage paid. Used by Radio Schools, Technical Colleges, Universities, Dept. of Commerce, Gov't Schools and Engineers. At bookdealers, or sent on receipt check or money order. Loomis Publishing Company, Dept E, 405 9th St., Washington D.C. Advertisement: Popular Science Monthly, Nov 1927 Great-Aunt MaryShe is my great-aunt. Her sister Helen Loomis Wise was my mother's mother. More on the Loomis FamilyYou can learn about the Loomis family in America at our website www.loomis-family.org and we would like to hear from any of our extended family members who would like to connect with their family heritage. (The Gallery, D.C., Education, Schools, Farked, Natl Photo)
Tub Time: 1942
September 1942. Rochester, New York. "Earl Babcock's mother helping with his bath." Photo by ... bather was 4 years old. He lived at 239 Seyle Terrace in Rochester with his father Howard A. (40), mother Mary E. (37), sister Shirley ... washcloth ... (The Gallery, Kids, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/07/2017 - 9:05pm -

September 1942. Rochester, New York. "Earl Babcock's mother helping with his bath." Photo by Ralph Amdursky, Office of War Information. View full size. Washcloth scrubbingI was scrubbed with a washcloth as a young'un, and was taught to scrub myself with one, and it wasn't a terrible experience at all, but now that I'm all grown up and make my own decisions, I do not use a washcloth at all. Also, it turns out the older you get, the more dried out you get, so there's no need to exfoliate so vigorously. Old is NewWhen I was growing up in the 1980s, the apartment we lived in had the exact same tile in that exact same pattern in the bathroom. I remember a cousin of mine telling me that if you crossed your eyes when looking at it, like it was a Magic Eye picture, you could make the floor seem miles below you, or as though you were standing on a glass floor, with that tile underneath. I thought it was ugly back then, but now, I would love to have antique tile like that in my bathroom. Shallow waterAccording to the 1940 Census, Earl the bather was 4 years old. He lived at 239 Seyle Terrace in Rochester with his father Howard A. (40), mother Mary E. (37), sister Shirley L. (18), brother Howard A. Babcock, Jr. (10), and lodger Alex N. Alexander, a 47-year-old widower born in the Irish Free State. Father Howard worked as a machinist in the gun industry. A little more sleuthing reveals that the father is Howard Adelbert Babcock, born 7 May 1899, served in WWI, and died 29 Dec 1954. 239 Seyle Terrace is still standing, a multi-family dwelling on the corner of Seyle and Dewey. [You will find these facts and more in the comments accompanying our previous Babcock photos. - Dave] Not much has changedOther than the mothers clothing and hair style, this photo could almost be taken today. An exact or close approximation of everything else could be bought new off the shelf at Target and Lowes right now. Tile, tub, knobs, curtain, bathtub mat, bath rug, towel, washcloth ... (The Gallery, Kids, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester)
Street Smarty: 1908
Rochester, New York, circa 1908. "Masonic Temple, North Clinton Avenue and ... until they ran out of bricks. (The Gallery, DPC, Kids, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/28/2020 - 8:39am -

Rochester, New York, circa 1908. "Masonic Temple, North Clinton Avenue and Mortimer Street." Our second visit to this august edifice affords a view of two lads whom we strongly suspect of being Up to Something. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size. Or was it just me?My best guess is the fine, intelligent, young man with his hand to his face is replicating the sound made when air escapes an orifice. When the man looks back at the lad, the innocent lad exclaims, "Sir! Excuse yourself!" At a certain age boys love that kind of joke. Based on other Masonic temples I've seen: I think there was a ballroom on the third floor. The extreme height of the ballroom ceiling is why there is a row of blank window frames. I think the small windows with Roman grilles was the floor level of at least two auditoriums that were above the cornice - that's why what should be the parapet is so large. Crime SeenThe charge: High Jinks and Low Japes. Must be a story and a half.One has to wonder what is going on in the top floor of the building with that windowless level. Also, what gives with the "half-stories" at the 4th and 6th floor level? Must be extremely high ceilings on the 3rd and 5th floors. This being for Masons, I'm sure there is a multi-story temple in there somewhere, but not the whole building. [It's Dr. Lester's office in the Mertin-Flemmer building! -Dave] ... and a lassWho seems to be getting the word not to pay attention to the lads! Psssst!Hey, Mister, your shoe's unbuttoned! A tough two yearsCompared to the previous view, ol' Nusbaum's Linings seems to have gone straight to hell. The bicycle fad has passedIf this was a "T" intersection as it is now, then the temple was on the northwest corner and the shadows indicate a morning scene. The rapscallions are starting the day with a little mischief as they walk to school. Wunder has not completely uncovered the nifty little display window expander that has just been wheeled out the door. Nusbaum's awning has indeed seen better days, but the door is open to customers. The business across the temple entrance from the Lining Shop has failed; perhaps an opportunity for a Buttonry. The building still looks awkwardly top-heavy. Still there... sort of: https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/local/2014/01/07/remarka... Commercial VacanciesI can understand the failure of the Egbert store, but Underwood Typewriters? Here’s proofMasons support masons. No stopping themIt looks like the masons kept going until they ran out of bricks. (The Gallery, DPC, Kids, Rochester)
PGH: 1905
... the right of the bridge you can see a sign for "Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad" I think that may be the old B&O ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 4:15pm -

1905. "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from Mount Washington." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Mon Incline, Smithfield St Bridge, P&LE to either sideWe're probably on the Monongahela Incline, looking at the Smithfield St Bridge with the P&LE Station to the immediate left. Some of the buildings on the far river bank, to the left of the bridge, are still standing, and we've seen them in other Shorpy photos. On the right of the bridge you can see a sign for "Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railroad" I think that may be the old B&O station. On the right on the near bank, those are 'team tracks' for the P&LE, where local freight would be loaded onto wagons by teamsters (hence the name 'team track'). There's a flat car with what looks like marble or granite spotted by the stiff leg derrick on the far right, and closer to the river there's a wagon being loaded from what I'm pretty sure is a 'beer car', an insulated car like a reefer that does not have ice hatches. The barrels in the wagon would reinforce that view :-) To the left of that car, note the C&O car on the adjoining track with a noticeable dip. That car needs to have its truss rods tightened. Fill 'er Up!Looks like water being pumped into the open-top structure in the rail yard. I guess it got some natural fill from Mother Nature whenever it rained. Hellwith its hat off. PGH 2011Here is a very recent night view from a different location on Mount Washington. This one is for Train Lovers.The four-lane road to the left, crossing the Monongahela River, is Smithfield Street. The lovely masonry arches are still there by Google Earth Streetview (the lower tier anyway). Also still there is the 12 story building on the far side of the river, to the right of Smithfield. It looks like there were two railway passenger stations, one on either side of the river. The building in the lower left, with the two-level roadway access is still there too. The sign out front calls it "The Landmark Building" with address "One Station Square". The station across the river is gone, as are the tracks on that side. There are still two tracks parallel the river on the near side which probably belong to the CSX Railway (At least there are current pictures of CSX trains on these tracks.) CSX predecessor roads include Chesapeake & Ohio and Baltimore & Ohio, so perhaps the still-extant station building belonged to one of those. I really get a kick out of pictures of old towns, and old railway infrastructure. There seems to be many more pictures of locomotives, some trains, but few views of yards, stations, etc. Asthmatics BewareClicking on the "view full size" button might cause you to need your inhaler! Also still standing.. The courthouse!Also still standing is the magnificent Allegheny County Courthouse, designed in 1883 by Henry Hobson Richardson, built between 1884-1888. It's the humungous stone building near the top of the image, just to the right of the center. I've never seen it standing so proud; the march of progress has surrounded it with taller buildings that make its presence less profound. I'm sure there's significance to the fact that it has no smokestack billowing puffy steam/smoke. Off-site heating? Government holiday? Thermal inertia? StunningSo many landmarks to pick out. This is one I'll come back to over and over. I can almost see my office building from there, but it's just a tad too far away. ContrastThe railway cars and those tracks look like a very elaborate train set and across the river, the smog and smoke in the air serves to hide most of the visible city. Based on the plumes of smoke the wind during the shot seems to have been from this side of the river. Maybe the photographer waited for just the right moment. Steam.Quite a few buildings have a plume of white steam coming from a funnel-shaped exhaust, often located on the chimney stack, where the coal-fired smoke would exit. Is this an early form of pollution control? If it is, the air quality is still pretty grim. Or maybe it would have been even worse without the steam treatment. Since steam heat was common at this time the vents could just be excess steam escaping from the heating system. But it seems unusual to have such a vent arrangement like that. Did Pittsburgh have a central steam plant that delivered steam to buildings downtown? That might be the answer. [What is the coal heating? Boilers. Which are the source of the vapor. - Dave] Pittsburgh TodayIt's such a clean, beautiful city. What a change. Los Angeles, 2019 A.D.Heads down when those flying police cars buzz just overhead. Ahead of its timeIn the foreground and to the right of the flatcar load of stone is a rarity for 1905. The P&LE coal car is steel, rather than wood. Steel cars of any type were just starting to appear on the nation's railroads at this time. The extra deep bottom side sill on that car was totally unnecessary, however the earliest steel cars were built that way because some railroads initially didn't trust the steel and so overbuilt. The small freight yard in the foreground is an excellent example of a "team track." Customers were notified by the railroad their load had arrived (or empty car spotted for loading) and the customer would send a crew with wagon down to work the car, as seen being done here. Team tracks allowed businesses without their own rail siding to use a railroad's service, and allowed firms with limited capacity rail sidings or desire to use other carriers to move their freight. Most towns, even small ones, had at least a team track. Big cities had a number of team yards like this one. Pittsburgh Steam ExplainedThe boilers placed in these buildings usually served a variety of applications at once. Each application may have required different steam pressures and/or temperatures. So a boiler would be configured to generate steam for the biggest load. To serve a smaller thermal demand, steam would be branched off the main distribution line and the throughput would be “stepped down” by simply venting the excess steam, which is what you see here. Thermally wasteful? Sure. But fuel was cheap then. [On a more basic level: The large buildings here would have used boilers (mostly coal-fired) for steam heat and hot water. Hence the many vapor clouds in skyline photos from the era. - Dave] Sentimental JourneyThe night before Amtrak took over rail passenger service I took the last westbound B&O Capitol Limited to Pittsburgh, repeating a trip I'd taken more than a dozen times as a kid. As they had for decades, the B&O used this station which the P&LE kept in immaculate condition. I remember walking up the grand staircase with the shining brass handrails, and out that door to the bridge. It looked the same, with streetcars still running on the right side. There was even a steamboat -- a dinner boat -- tied up where the two are in this photo. As I walked over the bridge to get a better look, they cast off and chugged up the river. I truly felt I'd stepped into a time warp. PGH railroad cars Once again the old axiom is true: Every old railroad train picture has to have at least one Northern Pacific freight car in it! Wagon GaugeThe wagons traveling across the bridge are yet another rarely seen example of wagons having the same wheel gauge or width as railroads, or in this case, streetcars, 56½ inches or Standard Gauge. In close quarters like these, one set of wheels would eventually fall into the inside wheel flange groove while the other set of wheels rode just outside the rail. Certainly easy enough to pull to the side to get out, but usually one just "rode the rail". In cobble stone streets wagons commonly "rode the rails" as it was a smoother ride, while not literally on the rails, but just to one side. This width or gauge began with the Roman chariots fitting behind two horses and became standard down through the years. The beginning of railroads used horse drawn wagons or carts on wooden plank with the same gauge as the wagons previously. Early automobiles such as the model T also used the same width to run in the wagon ruts made before it. The wheel width is still in use as standard gauge. Sharpies!The radius curves there in the lower right in the yard are pretty tight. A few even has guard rails to aid the cars and locos around them. I wonder why kind of engine serviced this facility? 0-6-0? Probably nothing with a pilot wheel set unless they were very nimble. Green spaceA neatly manicured green space can be seen by the heating plant on the right side of the bridge; flower beds included. No doubt that was mowed with a "push" mower powered by muscle. Look at the golf green pattern; nice job. This was a common site on railway properties large and small. These were probably sacrificed due to cost cutting: pity. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Pittsburgh, Railroads)
Main Street: 1907
Circa 1907. "Main Street, Rochester, N.Y." At left, the renowned Hotel Eggleston. 8x10 inch glass ... most desirable articles From The Catholic Journal (Rochester, NY), Friday, May 28, 1915. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Rochester, Stores & Markets, Streetcars) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/07/2013 - 8:53am -

Circa 1907. "Main Street, Rochester, N.Y." At left, the renowned Hotel Eggleston. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Noticeably AbsentI'm not seeing any dentists on the upper floors or "chop suey" signs as we usually do in these street scenes, but I do see two people balancing themselves on the roof of the Burke Fitzsimmons building. As for the variety of dime stores all in a row, that is how they used to be lined up in cities when I was a kid, so that would be the location I'd do most of my shopping. Toys were not packaged but were loose and touchable in compartments on the counter tops and cookies and candy were sold by the lb. from glass windowed cases where a lady would weigh them out on a scale and bag them for you. Good times. Long gone from the corner of Stone St. and West Main, the Hotel Eggleston has been supplanted by the modern Hyatt Regency just down the block. The two 5 story buildings on the near right side of the picture were newly constructed at the time this photo was taken, their predecessors having been destroyed in the disastrous Sibley's Fire of 1904. The tall building at right center is the Granite Building, which survived the great fire and all the intervening years up to the present. Most of the other structures visible in this scene are gone now except for the Powers Building tower in the distant background. It's always amazing to see the level of pedestrian and commercial activity in these old photos. Nowadays these same downtown streets are fairly barren of midday activity except around the bus shelters. Advertising OpportunityBare wall, approximately 70 feet high, rising above it's building on one corner of Breaker Street across from Burke Fitzsimons. Perfect billboard for Uneeda Biscuit, Fletcher's Castoria, Coca Cola, Kodak or Starbucks. The View TodayFurther to Robo's description, here's what it looks like today. The most desirable articlesFrom The Catholic Journal (Rochester, NY), Friday, May 28, 1915. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Rochester, Stores & Markets, Streetcars)
Daddy's Boy: 1942
September 1942. "Rochester, New York. Mrs. Babcock, Shirley and Earl greeting Mr. Babcock in ... (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kids, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/28/2017 - 11:54pm -

September 1942. "Rochester, New York. Mrs. Babcock, Shirley and Earl greeting Mr. Babcock in front of the house." The nucleus of this nuclear family, orbited by his little electron. Large format negative by Ralph Amdursky. View full size. A Little Known ModelWhat a strange car in the Babcock's driveway. Look at the Shorpy logo on its right front fender. [The poor abused apostrophe. Which of these nice people would be "the Babcock"? - Dave] I think that the word "the" preceding the family's name makes it the collective Babcock family and that that renders my apostrophe unharmed. Not too sure though. [These people are the Babcocks, and this is the Babcocks' driveway. - Dave] Too Young & Too OldMr. Babcock falls into that odd category my paternal grandfather also shared. Too young for WWI, yet too old (and supporting a family) for WWII. Great jobIt really makes you wonder how the photographer was able to shoot the Babcock family in so many situations (listening to the radio, Mom doing the laundry, the boys making a model plane and sleeping at night) and still manage to elicit such genuine emotion as with the dad hoisting Earl in the air upon his return home. It's a credit to his skill at what he does. As for the look on the mom's face, she's obviously a bit more reserved than the others, and it may very well be that she's bursting with pride and happiness at her husband and little boy. RationingThe "A" sticker entitles him to 3 gallons of gas a week, the lowest civilian grade. You get that if you certify that you own five tires or fewer. The rest had to be turned in. Daddy's carA 1939 Plymouth. Defroster/Air ConditionerGotta love the old plug in fan on the dash. Insufficient DataI've been trying to pin down these Babcocks in the 1940 Federal census. [Somebody has. - tterrace] WipersHi, new here as far as a poster but always have looked at the pics daily . Just wondering has anyone here had any experience driving this car in the rain . Doesn't look like the wipers cover enough area to see out of. [Typical for cars of the period. - tterrace] (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kids, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester)
Welcome Interstate Managers: 1908
Circa 1908. "Convention Hall, Rochester, N.Y." A Goreyesque tableau awaiting its ill-fated merrymakers. 8x10 ... same view from September of 2019. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/04/2014 - 8:40am -

Circa 1908. "Convention Hall, Rochester, N.Y." A Goreyesque tableau awaiting its ill-fated merrymakers. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. It's been renovatedAnd the surroundings have changed. View Larger Map A Grand ConcertThat poster is advertising a poster for a concert conducted by Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony Orchestra. Why?Glad this building is still there, but why do they always remove the most beautiful features? +111Below is the same view from September of 2019. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester)
The Wolverine: 1922
... Elmo Lincoln is the only movie star from my hometown of Rochester, Indiana! That's all I've got to say. Some 4-digit population towns ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/18/2012 - 5:52pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1922. "Leader Theater, front." Sidney Lust's movie house on Ninth Street N.W. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size. Into the MixWow. Interesting mix of dancehall cafe, Greek restaurant, vaudeville/burlesque house and cinema. Even in black-and-white, certainly more colorful than the mall multiplex. Breathtaking ArchitecturePlease tell me this magnificent building is still standing. Built in 1910, it could be . . .please! The gigantic statuary flanking the marquee---dwarfed by the HUGE roofline finial statues---is simply stunning. All the buildings along this block have unique architecture with intricate detail. Was this an "entertainment block"? I see a cafe/dance hall, burlesque house, the Leader theater, and a Greek restaurant. I wager to say even the "Washington Shoe Shine and Hat Cleaning Parlor" was probably an entertaining place to visit! The Tarzan die cut advertising tucked around the marquee would be worth a small fortune on today's antique market! The Port ArthurStarting from the left... Washington Post, Oct 20, 1914 Fight in Chinese Cafe Three Men Arrested Following Row in Port Arthur Restaurant The moving-picture district on Ninth, between E and F streets northwest, was thrown into a state of excitement last night just as the shows were discharging their crowds by a fight in the Port Arthur Chinese restaurant, in which three young men are alleged to have attempted to smash everything in the shape of furnishings and the head of every Chinese employee in the place. The trouble attracted a crowd that blockaded the street from curb to curb. Cries and curses and the breaking of glass and tableware added to the situation. Policeman Miller alone grappled with the fighters and emerged from the place brining three of the principles with him. They were taken to the first precinct. Morris Sing, proprieteor of the restaurant, told the police that the party came into his place and ordered food. Then for some reason unknown one of the men picked up the dishes, smashed them, and then started a general assault principally against the Chinese employes of the place. Several of the Chinese waiters were injured, but refused hospital treatment. A one-sex audienceAll boys, I notice. Apparently girls stayed home on Saturday afternoons. All in knickers, scratchy woolen stockings and high leather shoes. And every single one of them wearing a cap except the half-dozen or so who are holding them in their hands. Helen Gibson in "The Wolverine." Not much information, I'm afraid. Elmo Lincoln in "The Adventures of Tarzan." (Lots.) The WolverineI had no idea Hugh Jackman was so old! "The Wolverine"Plot Synopsis by Hans J. Wollstein Based on a novel by the prolific B.M. Bower (pseudonym for novelist Bertha "Muzzy" Sinclair), The Wolverine starred former serial queen and stunt-woman Helen Gibson as a rancher who stands up for an employee (Jack Connolly) unjustly accused of cattle rustling. Ward Warren (Connolly) had come West after serving a prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit. History repeats itself for Ward when a couple of bandits he had chased off the land, accuses him of being a rustler himself. The former common-law wife of Hoot Gibson, Gibson (née Rose Wenger) had gained stardom replacing Helen Holmes in the long-running The Hazards of Helen. By no means a traditional screen beauty -- but spirited -- Gibson's starring career was brief, and she returned to stunt-doubling in talkies. http://www.allmovie.com/work/wolverine-117381 Around the World in a BlockThe architectural walking tour here is pretty wild. There's the Belle Epoque excesses of the Gayety and Leader theaters, crowned by their zinc copies of sculptures from the Petit Palais at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Then there's the Gothic church facade of the Port Arthur Restaurant. And then there's the Acropolis (Greek) restaurant housed behind a Chinese balcony, left over from the Port Arthur's old location on the other side of the Gayety (the stairwell entrance to the "gothic" Port Arthur at 515-17 has a matching Chinese carved wood awning). But just when I was getting an urge for some nice spanakopita, I noticed that the Acropolis seems to have been replaced by the all-American Rowland's Buffet. Cable cars?Is that a cable slot between the streetcar tracks? [It's access to the underground electrical supply that powered Washington's streetcars. - Dave] "Fastest Northwestern Picture Ever Screened"What the heck does that mean? ["The Wolverine" was a train. Which is shown in the sign. - Dave] Coming AttractionView Larger Map The location today. The J. Edgar Hoover Building is right behind you. The GayetyThis is right around the corner from the original 9:30 Club. I remember parking across the street from the Gayety in the early 80's. Creepy place, they showed "adult" movies. Lots of drug addicts and perverts. Wilbur Mills and the GayetyThe Gayety lasted into the 1970s. That's where House Ways and Means Chairman Wilbur Mills first met "Argentine Firecracker" Fanne Fox, who later jumped from his car into the Tidal Basin and sank Mill's career. Gorgeous photograph!And also a revelation for me. Was The Port Arthur a Chinese food chain? There was also one by that name in downtown Providence. I don't know when it opened there, but I do know that it lasted well into the 1940's and was - according to my Dad - the hottest place to go to on a Saturday night in the late 30's and early 40's. Drinking, dancing to a band and exotic, for its time, Chinese food. My Aunt Mary and another female relative sang there, as well. What an eye-opener! And what a thrill this photo is to drink in! I'd throw down my nickel to see that movie in a second - if only for the pleasure of getting to see what the inside of the theater looked like! This is one of the very best postings this year. [Below: The Port Arthur Chinese restaurant in New York. Click to enlarge. - Dave] Helen GibsonThat picture is awesome. Thanks for sharing it. I have been researching Helen Gibson for many years and have many of her personal ephemera pieces. Including her copy of the Wolverine lobby card with the image enlarged as a poster on the left of the entrance. Thanks for your site, I always see something exciting. Newsboy MatineeGiven all the young boys and the fact that that whatever is going on here it merited a photograph, I am guessing this is another gathering of newsboys for a Saturday matinee. Shorpy viewers have previously seen a similar event in this 1925 photo of the Leader Theater. Alas, no sign of Bo-Bo, "the monkey with the human brain," in the photo. Washington Post, Feb 12, 1922 Carriers' Theater Party Many Post newsboys yesterday had the time of their lives at the showings of the latest installment of the Adventures of Tarzan at Sidney B. Lust's Leader and Truxton theaters as the guests of Mr. Lust and the circulation department of the Post. The boys found the day an even greater event than they had expected, for in the morning at their homes, each had received letters from W.C. Shelton, circulation manager of The Post, thanking them for their efforts delivering The Post on time during the storm and enclosing $1 as a bonus. Mr. Lust, who was host to a number of the carriers yesterday, will entertain as many more today, for tickets good for either day were sent out. As a special inducement to efficient service, the boys who rank among the best carriers in the city will receive free movie tickets for the next 15 weeks. The boys had been particularly interested in the Tarzan film, which features Elmo Lincoln. Bo-Bo, the monkey with the human brain, was on hand to meet the boys when they reached the Theater, and on leaving every boy was given a bag of peanuts. Bo-Bo plays an important part in the Tarzan serial, and his antics created much amusement. Elmo!Where else but in America could a guy named Elmo with a 52-inch chest become a movie star? In addition to his rightful claim to fame as the first film Tarzan (in 1918), Elmo Lincoln was also in the silent classics "Birth of a Nation," "Intolerance" and "That Fatal Glass of Beer." He came back in the late 1930s in bit roles in talkies, including "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." "The Adventures of Tarzan" was Lincoln's third and final foray in the role of the vine-swinger, which was probably just as well, as he was afraid of heights. Released as a 15-part serial, it was one of the smash hits of the year, taking in more than Valentino's "The Sheik." Sugar Plums at the GayetyWhen this photo was taken, burlesque had not yet begun its long slide from musical comedies and revues into adults-only sleaze. The Washington Gayety was one in a large chain of theaters, with shows rotating among them on a circuit, as in vaudeville. Gayety shows featured such stars as Al Jolson, Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker and Will Rogers. Harry Coleman, starring in the Washington Gayety's "Sugar Plums," was a comedian who began receiving favorable reviews around 1915, and appeared in a few silent films as early as 1910 (his last film credit is as a bit player in the dance hall scenes in Chaplin's "The Gold Rush"). On Nov. 8, 1918, the Toronto World ran a notice for the Toronto Gayety's new show "The Roseland Girls," beginning with this lead: "The Roseland Girls" is a show that may always be relied upon to furnish the sort of entertainment that the patrons of the Gayety Theatre will like and will be enjoyed by all classes of theatregoers. The company is headed by Harry Coleman, Bert Lahr, Kitty Mitchell" [and others]. Absolutely wonderful. What a civilization we once had! The adult on the far right appears to be halting traffic with his blurry arms so as to give the photog a clear view of the newsboys. Elmo of the ApesElmo Lincoln was in the first Tarzan feature, "Tarzan of the Apes," which was filmed in Morgan City, La. (I suppose if you took the Southern Pacific east out of LA that would be the first quasi-jungle swamp you would come to.) Morgan City is a real pit, an oilfield blue collar town with not much going for it. In 1986 I was staying overnight there and read in some chamber of commerce brochure an invitation to come back in 1988, for the 70th anniversary of the release of the film and Morgan City's Tarzan fest. Two years later the Wall St. Journal had an article in its humorous-story corner about how in the midst of all the planning the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate prevented Morgan City from going forward with the festival. The poor town was stuck with all of the preliminary costs of their big event in the city's history. What a shame. Good thing there was a captionI couldn't see the name of the theatre anywhere on it. I suppose it could be covered by a banner for the movie. You'd never see a business today allowing its identity to be obscured. Elmo Is My HomeboyElmo Lincoln is the only movie star from my hometown of Rochester, Indiana! That's all I've got to say. Some 4-digit population towns can't claim ANY movie stars. What is next door?Does anyone read Greek? I wonder what the upstairs of the building on the theater's left houses? [The name is there in both Greek and English: Acropolis Cafe. - Dave] Dressed to the NinesI can't imagine a group of that many boys wearing ties to a movie today. (The Gallery, D.C., Movies, Natl Photo)
Crackerbox: 1940
... you had to go across the Beaver River on the bridge to Rochester to buy a beer or see a movie. Pillow Talk I remember those ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/11/2009 - 11:00pm -

January 1940. "Family living in a 'crackerbox' slum tenement in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania." Medium-format nitrate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. Geeze...I'm now thoroughly depressed. Can we please get back to those nice scantily clad swimsuit models now? Why be depressed?Hey - at least this was the exception, in the US. "By 1965, 38% of houses in Glasgow had no fixed toilet or shower. "By 1985, 5% of households still did not have a bath or shower." - Glasgow People's Palace (museum) TightAnd I thought those camping trailers were small. ReflectionsThe people reflected in the mirror don't seem like they are very close to being down and out, although looks can be deceiving. At least they seem to have retained their dignity. And what the heck is a "crackerbox slum tenement" anyway? I lived not far from Beaver Falls, at the little river town of Beaver on the north bank of the Ohio, back in the summer of 1956. It was one of the nicest little towns I've ever lived in, although you had to go across the Beaver River on the bridge to Rochester to buy a beer or see a movie. Pillow TalkI remember those embroidered pillowcases. I bet Dad usually woke up with the word "Dad" imprinted on his forehead. A poignant pictureDespite the family's desperate situation there are clues of a happy life framed in this shot. They are safe and warm from the snow storm seen through the window. Their child's dolls are nearby. On the dresser is a treasured portrait of a smiling young couple who are obviously in love. Despite the conditions they find themselves, the mirror reveals them smiling as they look over toward their child in the crib. This is a loving family that will survive their circumstances. [Revised clue: The kid's on the bed, not in the crib. - Dave] Door to where?I'm curious about the door behind the bed. It's latched and nailed shut. The BabyI didn't realize that was a baby until I looked at the photo full sized. The guardian angel on the crib made me choke up. The DoorThis might have been a room for rent. Luz artificial.Por la traza de las sombras se aprecia que la luz procede de un punto interior de la habitación. Probablemente de un foco eléctrico o un flash, quizás de magnesio. La luz natural disponible en el interior, seguramente, habría reflejado una imagen más sombría y aún más deprimente. The DresserThe finial over the mirror is missing. I bought a similar dresser at a yard sale years ago. The top part kept falling off. The lamp on the dresserThese people owned a very nice "collectible of the future" -- an early 20th century Heintz Art Metal lamp, made by Otto Heintz of Buffalo, of dark bronze with sterling onlays. These are very sought after by collectors of Craftsman style furnishings, and nowadays usually sell for several hundred dollars, unless some eager beaver has polished the bronze. Below is a similar lamp. Famous BeaveriteJoe Willie Namath was born there in 1943! Jim and Della - revisitedSomething of this photo reminds me of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi". Here we have Jim and Della, some years later, though bereft of their treasures, still the hopeful parents of innocent babes, and still rich in the love they share for each other... "And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi." Ansel Adams had the Zone System... I'm working on the points system. First I points it here, and then I points it there... Wake up!That is one limp-looking baby. At first I thought it was a big doll. NeighborsThe door likely led to another apartment. A lot of houses were subdivided later into apartments and rather than removing the old doorway, the landlord simply nailed it shut. I used to live in single family home converted into a duplex and a good many once-useful doors to the other half of the house were latched/nailed/boarded shut. My Aching BackYou know that sleeping on that mattress had to be utter torture. Home Sweet HomeHome is where the Heart is. Buckle alignmentIt appears that the man, reflected in the mirror, has his belt buckle aligned on his side rather than in front above the zipper. What gives. [It means he was a former hipster. - Dave] Belt BuckleMy Gramps wore his that way until he died a few years back. My grandmother says it was cool in the 30's. He couldn't let that fad go; maybe he was waiting for it to come back in style. Belt buckle bass playersI am a professional classical musician and have noticed that string bass players shift their belt buckles to the side, in order to avoid scratching the finish on the wood in proximity to their bodies. They may or may not be doing that to be "hip". But it works. MomI guess she's the one taking the shot. I love her little handbag behind the dresser lamp. And the "Dad" pillowcase. Pennies from heavenThis photo is so sweet. I love the little details like the scissors hanging from the dresser, the photo of the happy couple and the purse on the dresser. The detail on the lamp is pretty wonderful too. The baby seems pretty blissful to me. Oh and the "Dad" embroidered on the pillowcase. (The Gallery, Jack Delano)
Wingman: 1942
September 1942. Rochester, New York. "Earl and Howard Babcock looking over one of the model ... line of thinking. (The Gallery, Kids, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/28/2017 - 11:53pm -

September 1942. Rochester, New York. "Earl and Howard Babcock looking over one of the model airplanes which Howard built." The boys seems to have migrated from the bedroom to the basement. Photo by Ralph Amdursky. View full size. O K Earl.now can we get back to our texting, this is boring. No Little Brothers AllowedDefinitely a staged photo. You DO NOT let your little brother anywhere near your model airplanes! Better Safe Than SorryNotice the handy first aid kit, probably a wise precaution since instruments like Xacto knives were normally associated with the construction of balsa and tissue kits such as these. Be YourselfIt seems the boys may have also enjoyed scribbling and drawing on the basement walls. Looks like 'Yourself' on the left and 'like it's' on the far wall -- next to a stick figure that seems about ready to say 'draw, pardner!'. Deja vu all over againHoward looks as proud and pleased as can be. When I was about his age, every time I came by a buck it meant a speedy trip to Garman’s Hobby Shop (long gone) to buy another “stick model.” I didn’t have the luxury of a Xacto knife set, so used single edged razor blades for cutting. Assembling the airframe, wings, etc. was relatively easy. The challenge was keeping the tissue paper skin stretched tightly while gluing it, especially on a round shaped frame. A generous application of banana oil normally took care of any wrinkles. Then it was a coat or two of “Dope” model paint before hanging the project from my room ceiling with the rest of the fleet. No small taskBuilding these models was no picnic for an amatuer and usually Dad needed to get involved. Then if you crashed it fooling around, you had to start all over again so it may have taught us infinite patience. I also wonder if the medley of fumes from the airplane glue, banana oil and dope (paint) contributed to our eventual senility. Good times. Speedie-BiltThink that's how it was spelled ---wonderful stick kits by Monogram. This picture could have been me, just change it to 1953. KitsI think the 50s monogram kits (I built at least the Spad, Piper Cub and Ercoupe) had solid balsa fuselage sides and wings, which needed added balsa stringers glued in, and a plastic cowl and rubber-band propellor. The solid parts made it kid-possible, in that twisting wasn't so much of a bad development. It still got paper covering on the fuselage top and bottom, and wing bottom. That was shrunk to fit with a little moisture, and then painted with dope (which was actual aircraft nitrate dope, by the way, though it wasn't used for shrinking). The earlier all-stick airplane models would be a challenge for a kid unassisted, or even an adult. They didn't fly worth a damn. I later discovered that you can make fabulously realistic flying models with 4x6 index cards and a stapler. Realistic flying, I mean. Not realistic looking. The other model being builtIt looks like a F4U Corsair may also be in the works. There is a 'bent' wing propped up against the fruit crate and that large prop/cowl in the foreground could easily be the nose to go along with it. The Other PlaneThe one standing on its tail looks to be a Corsair. It definitely has bent wings and given the era is probably not a Stuka. LemonsNote the Exposition Lemons crate on the workbench with a nice if mutilated example of crate label art: Lost artI don't think kids are interested in model building any more. Don't know why this hobby died. As a kid, I was always building models in plastic or wood. I used to get so much enjoyment from it. I wonder why model building is no longer of interest to kids? It seemed to be fundamental pleasure to me. Maybe that is one reason why we produce so few engineers, designers and inventors these days. Instead of inventing "things", we create social media apps. Fly high, boysIs that a tube of that nice oh-so-smelly Duco Cement there on the bench? Re: Lost artI can report instances where kids will drop their handheld crap to see what rare and fascinating thing a grandpa type is doing with the plastic contents of a small cardboard box and a tube of clear glue. And it will be interesting to see if this glue-less generation becomes less demented than we are destined to be, ourselves, to follow OTY's line of thinking. (The Gallery, Kids, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester)
Epiphany: 1905
Rochester, New York, circa 1905. "Fountain in reservoir, Highland Park." 8x10 ... Park reservoir was not a success. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 10:48am -

Rochester, New York, circa 1905. "Fountain in reservoir, Highland Park." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. PolarisA photo that inflamed the imagination of a young Hyman Rickover. Dive, dive!The test of the experimental submarine in the Highland Park reservoir was not a success. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester)
Despatch Depot: 1906
... Co." The New York Central rail hub now known as East Rochester. Panorama made from three 8x10 inch glass negatives. Detroit ... you in my Graphics Dept!! (Panoramas, DPC, Railroads, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/06/2018 - 7:16pm -

Despatch, New York, circa 1906. "Merchants' Despatch Transportation Co." The New York Central rail hub now known as East Rochester. Panorama made from three 8x10 inch glass negatives. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Your Logo Placement.The best yet. That would be a good name for a town. Other names: Shorpyville Shorpytown Long GoneThe Despatch train depot is no longer with us but the sturdy ivy-covered offices across the tracks survive as afterthought to something now called Custom Truck Creations and its shops and warehouse. Brick building survives +112It was little tricky to find, because the modern water towers are on the other side of the tracks from the 1906 water towers. Station seems to be long gone. Really? Anyone?Fine, I'll be that guy. That is excellent work stitching the photos together, I wish I had you in my Graphics Dept!! (Panoramas, DPC, Railroads, Rochester)
Bedtime for Babcock: 1942
September 1942. "Rochester, New York. The two Babcock boys share one room." Howard and Earl ... and patience! (The Gallery, Kids, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/28/2017 - 11:55pm -

September 1942. "Rochester, New York. The two Babcock boys share one room." Howard and Earl drifting off to Slumberland, with Ralph Amdursky's floodight showing the way. Photo for the Office of War Information. View full size. So jealousAs a life long insomniac, I can only dream of making a journey to a sweet & peaceful dreamland like these youths are obviously enjoying. *sigh* Something In CommonI've something in common with the Babcock Boys; my mother had poor taste when choosing wallpaper too. Where's all the stuff?Where are the wall pennants, the catchers mitts, the toys, train set and other accoutrements of a Boys room? The head at the footThe photographer has had the one boy on the left to put his pillow down at the foot of the bed so he could get both boys in the photo and make it visually compact. I also wondered if they cleaned up the bedroom for the shot or if always looked so bare. WallpaperI had much cooler wallpaper in the bedroom I shared with my older brother. Airplane Wallpaper!tterrace, I'm glad you posted that link in your comment; I had somehow missed that photo and the one of your dad. I had a friend in New Orleans who had that same wallpaper, or something similar, and he had all his airplane models hanging on fishing line from his bedroom ceiling! It was spectacular. Any model I made looked like a joke; I was unskilled and impatient. I did love the smell of airplane dope; my dad used it when he restored an old Taylor Cub airplane. For those in the Washington, DC, area or planning to visit, the fellows who work at the Paul E. Garber Smithsonian facility in Silver Hill, Maryland, (where they restore aircraft for the Air & Space Museum) have a ton of wonderful model airplanes they've made on display near their break room. Those folks have the skills and patience! (The Gallery, Kids, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester)
Hotel Seneca: 1908
Rochester, New York, circa 1908. "Hotel Seneca." The interior seen earlier ... lower graffiti remediation costs. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/11/2013 - 9:16am -

Rochester, New York, circa 1908. "Hotel Seneca." The interior seen earlier here. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. TO LET sign in windowI'll bet there's a shorpyesque youngster lurking somewhere nearby just waiting for the opportune moment to add an "I". No wonder they switched to FOR RENT or LEASE, lower graffiti remediation costs. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester)
Three Indians: 1915
... New York, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester to: July 20: 12:45 AM, Buffalo, New York to Erie, Cleveland, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/06/2013 - 11:57am -

Washington, D.C., July 1915. "Motorcycle team, relay to Frisco." Frank S. Long, F.L. Leishear (whose Indian store we saw here) and Josiah McL. Seabrook. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. California, screamin'They sure did take a circuitous route (NYC and then way up to Albany). The stretch from Reno down into Sacramento must have kept the lads awake with fear if that lap's bikes had no front brakes either. The first time I drove from Reno to Sacramento - and this was on a road they could not dream of, I-80 - one item that caught my eye was a sign, "Caution. Downgrades next 40 miles." Light fantasticThe one smart enough to put the light on his bike will win it for them. Gold mineThe guys from "Pickers" must be drooling. Maybe they could find out who these men are and see if their families have these bikes behind the barn. Safety first!At least for the fellow with the tossled hair. He has on his protective gloves! Rudimentary brakes.Emergency stops much have been pretty exciting on those old bikes- I don't think they even had front brakes. No stoppies for them! Nice!I've been sitting here soaking up this picture. Just fabulous! Great shot, great clothes, great bikes! Wish I could go for a ride with them. Thanks again Dave. Handsome BravesBeautiful bikes! These have many, many similarities to this amazingly restored model, snapped last spring in Charlotte, North Carolina. They may be a bit newer, with kick starter, no leg-power pedals, skirted fender, hand-grip clutch, an electric headlamp on the rear bike (as opposed to Prest-o-Lite [acetylene]), and "soft-tail" rear suspension. I guess any of this could have been optional equipment. DatingI believe that the date of this photo is probably 1916 and not 1926. The Indians pictured appear to be 1915 models. I believe that 1915 was the last year of the inlet over exhaust engine (which these bikes have)and the first year of the kick starter. [You are close -- the year is 1915. - Dave] World's Fastest IndianWhen you see these bikes it really is incredible that Burt Munro took a similar model, a 1920 Scout, modified it and drove it to several land speed records. In 1967, with his engine punched out to 58 cu.in. (950cc) he set a class record of 183.586 mph. To qualify he made a one-way run of 190.07 mph, the fastest ever officially recorded speed on an Indian. The hogs of their dayLaugh at the funny horn if you like, but those bikes are Indian "standards" with 1,000-cc engines. Too bad they didn't add front brakes until 1928. Murder Inc.Maybe these fellas were part of the traveling team of hit-men for Murder Inc. They sure look like they want to kill something. a-OO-gah!Although the braking wouldn't be the greatest, at least they'd be able to clear a path with a mighty squeeze of the horn. Silent RIt was Shorpy that taught me that these are "Motocycles." 119 Hours to FriscoWashington Post, July 18, 1915. RELAY RACE TOMORROW Motorcyclists to Carry Message From Capital to Pacific. START FROM WHITE HOUSE Three Washington Men Will Cover the First Lap, From This City to Baltimore -- Expect to Make Cross-Continent Run in 119 Hours -- Secretary of War to Start Riders. With all arrangements for the transcontinental motorcycle relay race completed, the riders for the first lap of the long journey await the starter's word. The start will be made from the White House at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. They will carry a message from the President to the officials of the Panama-Pacific exposition at San Francisco. The Washington team, which will cover the first lap, will be composed of Frank S. Long, F.L. Leishear, and J. McL. Seabrook, mounted on Indian motorcycles. These men will carry the message from here to Baltimore, where another team will take it up and carry it over the second lap which ends in Philadelphia. From there the route across county is via New York, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Chicago, Davenport, Des Moines, Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Reno and Sacramento to San Francisco. Fast Time Is Scheduled. On account of the absence of the President, the message will be handed to the riders by Secretary of War Garrison. It is due on the Pacific coast 119 hours after leaving Washington. The riders in the Eastern part of the country will have little difficulty in keeping up with the schedule on account of the good roads, but some of the Western relays are more than 200 miles in length. The longest lap will be between Elko and Fenley, Nev. This stretch is 274 miles long. One of the purposes of this relay is to demonstrate the utility of the motorcycle for military use. The relay is intended to show that the motorcycle is capable of delivering messages under all conditions of road and weather. There will not be one minute from the time the message leaves Washington until it is delivered to the officials of the exposition that it is not moving, day and night, rain or shine. The motorcyclists of this country have been as one volunteering their services as dispatch bearers, and it has been a task for John L. Donovan, chairman of the competition committee of the Federation of American Motorcyclists and manager of the relay, to select the riders. HornyThe furthestmost bike from us has an electric horn, but the others have the bulb variety; I'm guessing it was an optional extra or later add-on. Also interesting to note that heavy cardigans seemed to be the outer garment of choice for moto-cyclists at this time. I wonder when and why the black leather jacket took over. Front SuspensionIt's called a trailing link suspension as the arm pivots ahead of the axel axle. Not too common at all. I believe some early BMWs used this type for awhile as well. In All It's Its GloryHere is a picture of a restored bike that is exactly like the ones in the picture. Note the kick start is on the left side and there is no gear shift to the left of the tank. Apparently slightly later models had the space occupied by the kick start mechanism replaced with a transmission that included a gear shift from it to the left side of the gas tank. Front SuspensionThe Indian front suspension was designed so there was caster to the wheels. According to the old guys I knew 60 years ago, this caster made for very secure handling and less tendency to high speed wobble. You haven't lived until you have experienced a case of high speed wobble!!! UnpunctualThe messages were delivered 36 hours late according to the article below from The Salt Lake Tribune from July 26, 1915. Research indicates that the riders were trying to show that taking a dispatch on a motorcycle across the country would be faster than placing the same message on a train. As originally scheduled, the race would have gone through Sacramento during the national Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) convention in Sacramento, but this did not happen because of the belated arrival of the dispatch rider. The FAM was the organization behind the race. All riders were asked to conduct a rehearsal ride on July 11th. The purpose of riding in teams of three was to ensure that if something happened to the primary rider or his motorcycle another rider would be immediately available to continue the mission to San Francisco. Of the three riders pictured here, Seabrook punctured a tire before reaching Baltimore, and he dropped out; Long ran into a pile of rocks in Baltimore, and he was injured; so Leishear became the only man to make it to the first transfer point. By Bryan, Ohio, near the Indiana border, the racers were five and a half hours late because of rains and bad roads. By the time the riders reached Chicago they were 12 hours behind schedule. Some time was made up on the way to Moline, Illinois as the deficit was reduced to just eight and a half hours upon arriving there, and seven hours at Des Moines, Iowa. In Nebraska the lead rider had an accident, but the other riders were far behind him. Consequently, by Rock Springs, Wyoming the riders were 19 hours behind their scheduled arrival, and at Ogden, Utah 18 hours overdue. I did not find where the other 18 hours were lost, but many sources mention the 36 hour late arrival. The official route, dates, and times as originally scheduled were shown in the Ogden Standard (Ogden, Utah) on July 17, 1915. Note the earlier start time than what actually took place. July 19: 6:00 AM, Washington. D.C. to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester to: July 20: 12:45 AM, Buffalo, New York to Erie, Cleveland, Toledo, Bryan, South Bend, Chicago, Sterling, Davenport to: July 21: 3:15 AM, Victor, Iowa to Walnut, Omaha, Columbus, Kearney, North Platte, Julesburg to: July 22: 3:15 AM, Cheyenne, Wyoming to Pine Ridge Station, Rawlins, Rock Springs, Evanston, Salt Lake City, Ogden to: July 23: 12:45 AM, Kelton, Utah to Cobre, Elko, Rye Patch Station, Battle Mountain, Tenley, Reno, Colfax, Sacramento, Tracy, to San Francisco. (The Gallery, D.C., Motorcycles, Natl Photo, Sports)
Industrial Cataract: 1905
Circa 1905. "Upper Genesee Falls, Rochester, N.Y." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing ... May of 1999. (The Gallery, DPC, Factories, Railroads, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/28/2017 - 1:29pm -

Circa 1905. "Upper Genesee Falls, Rochester, N.Y." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. +94Below is the same view from May of 1999. (The Gallery, DPC, Factories, Railroads, Rochester)
Nusbaum's Lining Store: 1906
Rochester, New York, circa 1906. "Masonic Temple, North Clinton Avenue and ... and the like. (The Gallery, Bicycles, DPC, Rochester, Stores & Markets) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/26/2020 - 10:01am -

Rochester, New York, circa 1906. "Masonic Temple, North Clinton Avenue and Mortimer Street." District headquarters of the Free & Accepted Masons, whose retail tenants include Wunder Tailor, Nusbaum's Lining Store, E.J. Egbert & Co. and Underwood Typewriter. This imposing edifice, completed in 1902, was razed in 1932 to make room for a movie theater parking lot. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Masonic allegoryThe frieze above the column, an allegory for death and mortality, is referred as the "Broken Column". Know when to stopThe brickwork above the cornice seems superfluous at best; the acroteria adorning it even more. Perhaps it conceals the mechanicals for the new-fangled elevators, but a more graceful enclosure could surely have been designed. Can someone explain the Lining Store? Does it possibly supply Wunder, next door? The window display has certainly caught the attention of the only non-smudgeperson in the photo. Buried TreasureThis great little building was razed in 1932 to create a parking lot for the new RKO Palace theater next door. Recently, both lots were converted to a bus terminal and numerous items from the old lodge were found 30 feet below street level. Story below. https://paigedoerner.wordpress.com/2014/01/09/masonic-sculptures-discove... Take your pickThe movie theater parking lot is also gone. Today this location is either a bus station or a parking garage. The loss of this building is a shame. Because of masonic philosophy, their temples are exceptionally well built. There is a recent story of a couple who bought a 90yr+ masonic temple in Huntington, Indiana and are converting it into a private home. The article does not mention any structural problems, plumbing issues, or even a roof leak. Granted, it's challenging to find an alternate purpose for a temple. Lots to joinThe Lodge appears to have a good assembly of dependent orders also. On the façade I see symbols for the Scottish Rite, the Knights Templar, the Eastern Star, and the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. I’m not sure what the cornice allegory is about, although it might have to do with Hiram the Widow’s Son. The branch could be the branch of acacia which was supposed to mark his grave. Lining Store?Like Bob down below, I's be interested to know what the Lining Store provided linings for. A quick dive into Google didn't help. 1906 Drone? How would a photographer get this vantage point? It seems too tall for a ladder, and too close to be from a building across the street. I know they didn't have drones in 1906. Did they? [For an 8x10 view camera. this is not "too close" to be across the street. - Dave] Whose Lining?A lining store sold wool, silk, and other fabrics used to line women's skirts. They also sold petticoats and other unmentionables. Also, today I learned that Li-Ning is a line of badminton gear. Great minds think alikeArchfan, I must have done the same search as you! Badminton, anyone? Unconscious Lovecraftian touches?The antifixes (I think that's the right term. I mean the small sculptural features along the top of the roof) have a real Cthulhu vibe to my eye. [Antefixes. See also: acroteria. - Dave] The whole thing??An entire store devoted to fabric for linings?!? The mind boggles... While we still have specialized fiber stores today ( trimmings, closures, quilting, etc ), I've never heard of a lining store. A testament I suppose to our ancestors' predilections for petticoats, chemises, drawers, combinations and the like. (The Gallery, Bicycles, DPC, Rochester, Stores & Markets)
A Tehama Home Companion: 1940
... I can still remember Dad laughing at Jack Benny and Rochester. Mute I have this exact radio but one of the wires came loose ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/22/2008 - 2:00pm -

November 1940. Tehama County, California. John Frost and his daughter listening to the radio in their home. View full size. Medium format safety negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. CostI wonder how much this radio cost? It looks like a pretty high end piece of equipment for someone who quite frankly doesn't look like he can really afford it. The again I sometimes wonder how a lot of people who are buying HDTVs can afford it. tuning dialInteresting to see that the medium-wave am-broadcast band is "split" (550 kHz-1300 kHz and 1400 kHz- well up to what back then were common police dispatch/car frequencies). The top segment may be short-wave (c. 7-MHz to ?) with the cities/countries listed on it. Of course kHz=kc/s and MHz=Mc/s in that era as well. Wedding present or bought on installment by a news junkiePerhaps it was a wedding gift, or it was bought on installment, no credit in those days. It's possible the hubby was a news junkie; remember the year, and the war clouds gathering--shortwave radio would be like the CNN of the 40's. It'd be expensive, but as a commenter said about HDTV it would be the thing to get. Note also the big bound books in the background: dictionaries or encyclopedia volumes? RadioMy grandparents had one like this, maybe even bigger. I didn't understand all the applications but there was an image of the world and a switch that let you light up different parts of the globe--maybe short wave? Maybehe wanted a greeeat big set so he could hear it out in the yard. Radio It might be that the radio and the books are all he has left from better times. I am glad to see that he was getting his child involved in the world. So sad that some respondents try to compare it to today's world and are ready to criticize on such meager information. Fred AllenI'm reminded of what Fred Allen said: ''I don't hold with furniture that talks.'' Denny Gill Chugiak, Alaska RadioMy radio buddy says its an RCA 19K. So yeah, a big console by a name brand. They must have made sacrifices to get that one. I hope they enjoyed it! The RadioI stand corrected. Thank you, Dave. Radio techie detailsNow that the unit has been identified, here are some more techie details about it for those interested in such. http://oldtech.net/RCA/19K-sch.gif http://oldtech.net/RCA/19K-p1.gif http://oldtech.net/RCA/19K-p2.gif http://oldtech.net/RCA/19K-p4.gif The pushbutton preset tuning is explained. The tuning dial shows that it did cover a goodly chunk of the shortwave bands (1.4-4 and 6-18 MHz). The same tube types were being used in some equipment still produced into the early 1960's. Re: RadioIn Dave's close-up detail of the dial bezel, the brand name looks like Zenith to me, not RCA. [It says RCA Victor. - Dave] John FrostRe Brent's comment, you can read a lot into a photo that may or may not be there. In the 1940's my college educated, former Naval officer grandfather bought a run down farm with no indoor plumbing. In fact, they didn't have indoor plumbing until the 50's. He had some money and more dreams. He valued education and followed world events but he lived much like this guy lived....with mud & manure on his boots and his child on his lap! I can imagine him in this very pose listening intently to the world news. He died a millionaire many years later. A picture may speak a thousand words but it still doesn't tell you the whole story! [More on John Frost: "Mr. Frost is part owner of 135 acres of semi-marginal land in Tehama County, California. He has a family of seven. His crops are turkeys, hogs and dairy cattle. He is a Farm Security Administration client." He also had a piano. - Dave] Radio DaysI was born in 1933, and some people we knew would spend a lot for a big radio. You could buy them on an installment plan. Often, this was the nicest thing in their house. It was the only thing bringing the world to us, since we lived out in the country. We didn't get a newspaper. My dad thought they were wildly extravagant and ours was a tabletop Truetone from Western Auto, also bought on installments. We had a windmill charger for the batteries. Even though it was little, we could hear it all over the house and outside, too. It was next to a window, with the wires for the antenna and charger going outside. I still have that radio and it still works after I fixed it. I can still remember Dad laughing at Jack Benny and Rochester. MuteI have this exact radio but one of the wires came loose from the back of the speaker. I can't begin to see where it was connected in order to reconnect it. Can anyone help or does anyone know of a speaker I can buy? The number on the back of the speaker is RL70J1 and the number on the coil is 89610-504. Fond memories of the Good Old Days listening to the RADIO My great grandmother owned a radio similar to this one. I remember gathering around the radio listening to "The Squeaking Door" as the light from the kerosene lamp flickered around the room. The year was 1942 and I was seven years old. My great grandmother raised a Victory garden - her part in the War effort. She also raised chickens, cows, and pigs. She wasn't a wealthy woman but we ate well. It occured to me that she may have sold a hog to pay for the radio. The radio sat near a window. I'm wondering if maybe the antenna wires were run outside the window. And the battery - I am also wondering if the battery had to be charged and how that was done. Can anyone help? Beautiful old radioI have an RCA 111K, which is very, very, similar to the one pictures. It is a great sounding radio. (The Gallery, Kids, Russell Lee)
No Heavy Teaming: 1908
1908. "Arnold Park -- Rochester, N.Y." Our title comes from the traffic sign on the median. 8x10 ... same view from September of 2019. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/08/2017 - 12:21pm -

1908. "Arnold Park -- Rochester, N.Y." Our title comes from the traffic sign on the median. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Searching The Heavens On A Quiet StreetThe Warner Observatory (dome at right of photograph), financed by Hulbert Harrington Warner, was completed 1882 and the building was demolished 1931. The History And Work Of The Warner Observatory: “The Warner Observatory is distinctively a private institution built for the purpose of original discovery rather than the ordinary routine work of most other observatories. The desire of its founder was that the great telescope (then the third largest in the United States) be used in such work; so, selecting as my principal field of labor, the discovery of new nebula, which, since the death of the Herschels and of D’Arrest, had been much neglected, and to which work the quest for faint comets had well trained my eye (an important factor), and also because of its congeniality to my taste (another influential consideration), on July 9, 1883, a thorough and systematic search was inaugurated for this class of objects, which were popularly supposed to have been exhausted, a verdict which the fair measure of success, up to this writing, quite disproves. In this work occasional assistance has been received from my son Edward, now a lad of fifteen years, who has discovered twenty-one.” Full text, with description and interior photographs. Hold Your HorsesNO HEAVY TEAMING OR FAST DRIVING ALLOWED. Heavy Teaming is my new rock-band name.It used to be Peristalsis. Arnold Park TodayFrom East Ave on 6/8/2017. No Heavy TeamingI wonder why "No Heavy Teaming"? Was it to reduce vibrations in the observatory telescope or were they afraid of damage to the road surface? [Today's equivalent would be "No Trucks Over X Tons" signs on residential streets. -tterrace] +111Below is the same view from September of 2019. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester)
Patriotic Gesture: 1942
September 1942. Rochester, New York. "Earl Babcock's school day begins with the salute to the ... pass. (The Gallery, Kids, Patriotic, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/28/2017 - 11:51pm -

September 1942. Rochester, New York. "Earl Babcock's school day begins with the salute to the flag." A few interpretations verging on Jazz Hands. 4x5 inch nitrate negative by Ralph Amdursky for the Office of War Information. View full size. Bellamy saluteBy the time this photo was taken, the classrooms had only 3 months to go before they'd be putting their hands over their hearts instead. Is this the first in a series of A Day in the Life of Earl Babcock? Bellamy variationsIt's interesting to see this more supinated version of the Bellamy salute than I've seen in the past. In other photos I've seen from the period, the kids seem to be using something closer to the fully pronated version adopted by the fascists of the time. Alien saluteAs a Canadian, I was always delighted that I didn't have to hold my hand over my heart and recite a pledge of allegiance. (We did, however, sing God Save the Queen: "...send her victorious, happy and glorious, long to reign over us...") Now here are these mesmerized children, many of them with their eyes closed, all with their outstretched arms terminating in a strange hand gesture. I realize your country is under unusual stresses at the moment, but what am I to make of this disturbing scene? Hmmm...I think I prefer the "hand over heart" method we used when I was in school. WWII finally did that inand the hand over the heart became the way to pledge allegiance. As an immigrant over 50 years ago, my mother made me fall into the trap the writer of the pledge set in the 19th century, and said I shouldn't pledge allegiance to a flag of a country I wasn't a citizen of. We'll see if this type of salute comes back! Chalk Holders?Looks to me like the classic slate blackboard that could produce incredible reactions when someone's fingernails were scraped on it. So what are those wire things along the left hand ledge of the blackboard? They appear to have pieces of chalk of different sizes in them. Perhaps that made it easier for the kids to write on the board with when the pieces of chalk became too small. Fifty years ago my grade 12 math teacher in Vancouver, B.C., had a special metal large pen-type holder for the chalk so that her hands would not get chalk dust on them. She was very fussy about the appearance of the slate blackboard, and used a chamois to remove any dust before use. I count about thirty kids in this class - by the time I started grade 1 in 1952 the baby boom was in full swing, and there were 44 kids in our combined grades 1 and 2 class. I agree with davidk about the differences in Canada. In 1965 we also sang our national anthem, Oh Canada, and at a regular high school there was a short passage read from the bible, and the saying of the Lord's Prayer. The flag was the old Red Ensign, and in that year the new Maple Leaf flag was adopted. We never saluted the flag or recited a pledge, but were quite aware of the American procedures. You put your right hand outI was in second grade in 1942. The pledge began with the hand over the heart and was then extended to the flag. The correct hand position was palm up. You put your right hand inI was taught this type of pledging. The outstretched hand is only one part. As I learned it, you placed your hand over your heart while you started "I pledge allegiance", then you out stretched it towards the flag while continuing "to the Flag of the United States" then sweeping it out to the side while saying "of America. And to the Republic", now aiming back at the flag "for which it stands" then placing it back over your heart while continuing the rest, "one nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." There were regional variations. The "Under God" part was added later. Patriotic?Completely new to me. I had no idea gestures were ever part of this. It was always hand-over-heart for us, 1953 onward. I'd say that I prefer that. A lot. Wire chalk holdersChalk holders were used to make the perfectly spaced lines on the blackboard. We had something similar in my music classes in the 1960s, to make the five precise lines of a musical staff. I've never seen one as large as this. Looks like it covered the whole board in one pass. (The Gallery, Kids, Patriotic, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester)
Despatch Depot (Detail)
... of the New York Central rail hub now known as East Rochester. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. Time Traveler ... Minnie over in Elmira. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/07/2018 - 3:18pm -

Despatch, New York, circa 1906. "Merchants' Despatch Transportation Co." The right-hand section of a larger panorama of the New York Central rail hub now known as East Rochester. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. Time TravelerPretty sure with this zoomed view that the guy lounging on the luggage cart is catching up on his Facebook and about to text Aunt Minnie over in Elmira. (The Gallery, DPC, Railroads, Rochester)
Hamburgs 10 Cents: 1940
... Regionalisms I recall that in the area around Rochester, New York, in the mid-'50s, what most of the world calls the ... I can also recall from several road trips from Rochester to Ohio that in the little stretch of littoral Pennsylvania in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/27/2019 - 7:29am -

June 1940. "Diner along U.S. Highway No. 1 near Berwyn, Maryland." Acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Get off my lawnI'd have to be mightily hungry for a hamburg -- and there be nowhere else to get one for miles around -- before I'd ask anything of the haughty missy behind the counter. Just saying. Kewpie dollI’ll leave the beer and soda bottles to someone else. What caught my attention was the gal behind the counter. Purity Body FlavorThat's a billboard for Ballantine Ale there on the right. Looks like a swell place to grab a quick lunch! Times changeHard to believe there once was a time you could stop at a burger stand and get a beer with your hamburg - in full public view, no less. The bottlesThe bottles on the counter as best as I can make out are L-R Pepsi-Cola, American Beer (Baltimore), Free State Supreme Beer, Ballantine Ale, Gunther's Beer, Arrow Beer (from Baltimore), Budweiser, National Bohemian pale beer, American Nut Brown Ale, ?, Pepsi again That's all I got (completed with Dave's help). She's nice, but --That's a honey behind the counter, but what really caught my eye was the old trolley being recycled as a diner. Look over the doll's shoulder, and you can see the clerestory ceiling of the former streetcar. Dames are swell, but a fellow's got to have his priorities in order. Booster seatsI like the wooden blocks under the stools to bring the seats up to the counter height! Stealth slotThere's a Mills 'Vest Pocket' slot machine front and center on the counter. These were tiny machines with a flap over the payout chute and another flap to cover the tiny reels on top. With just a coin slide in front it was just a metal cube that looked very innocuous, yet it was a fully automatic 3-reel gambling device. I'm surprised to see that in 1940 Maryland. U-Needa Cigarette VendorThe cigarette machine is a 1930s U-Needa Vendor. http://vintage-restorations.net/index.php/component/virtuemart/uneeda-ci... Curious when we stopped calling them "hamburgs". Mustard and pickles only please.I think I'll take one of those hamburgs with a bottle of Pepsi. My dad the beer snob would like to know if you have any IPAs. He'll take a hot dog, no ketchup. (We're from Chicago. Order a hot dog with ketchup there, and you'll get the hairy eyeball from everybody.) And all those signsare lettered by hand, amazing. June in MarylandIt looks hot. You wouldn't catch me sitting out in the midday sun. Even with a bottle of old school beer. Hamburgs Still ExistThere is a drive-in locally that has been around since the 1930s. Their sign is a bit newer, I believe, but not by a whole lot. Mystery MealI suppose we'll never learn what's included in the 25¢ Platter. The Whole SignPurity Body Flavor. Drink Ballantine Ale and Beer. "Hamburg Steaks" Have a Storied PastGoing back to Marco Polo and Genghis Khan's grandson. You can read all about it on Wikipedia. RegionalismsI recall that in the area around Rochester, New York, in the mid-'50s, what most of the world calls the hamburger was known as a hamburg, though my brief residence in Maryland earlier in that decade brings no similar memory, this photo's evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. I can also recall from several road trips from Rochester to Ohio that in the little stretch of littoral Pennsylvania in between, signs for a typical stainless steel eatery would spell it "dinor." Hungry or haughty?I'm smitten by the delightful waitress with the bee-stung lips. How Ms. Pennifer can declare her to be haughty when compared to the snarls and pointed disinterest of many waitstaff today is a mystery. Can I have a Hamburg and whatever brew is the coldest, sweetheart? Impossibly CheapAccording to the Interwebs, 5 cents in 1940 is worth 91 cents now. I don't know anywhere I can get a hot dog for that much. Even Costco's cost $1.50. I can however, buy a hamburger at McDonalds for $1 so.. go figure. Looks like she's waiting for someoneWho could it be, the mailman or John Garfield? (The Gallery, Eateries & Bars, Jack Delano)
The Kodak Girl: 1909
... Premo Camera, made by "Eastman Kodak Co. successor to Rochester Optical Co.", with the original box and operating instructions. The ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/21/2011 - 7:53pm -

February 17, 1909. "No. 28 -- The Kodak Girl." View full size. High TechIf no one else is going to say it I will: That is one sexy camera -- everything is manual and analog. Darn itDon't you just hate those days when you can't seem to do anything with your hair and it ends up as "flat as a pancake." Another early meme SoWhat's with the flapjack on her head? Wow!Tina Fey was Buster Brown's girlfriend. Will she?I'm gonna ask her to go out on the Tashmoo for a date. Looks just like my cameraEven though this was taken about a decade and a half before it was made, that looks just like my Kodak 6-10 camera, which was handed down to me from its original owner (my grandfather) when I turned 13. It's just this beautiful little gadget; there are even little "cutouts" in the viewfinder to show what the little corners will cover when you put it in your photo albums. She's not holding it even particularly close to how she would need to hold it to take a picture, though, as you need to hold it in the center of your chest so that you can look down into the viewfinder (the window is on top) and push the lever down to activate the shutter. You could still get film for it well into the 1980s. ClothingSailor suits were the fashion of the day. She is wearing an exaggerated sailor "flat hat" and a white sailor's jumper. Kodak KoutureShe is STUNNING. Too bad about the goofy sack she's wearing. Maxfield ParrishWould have loved to use her for a model. The softness of the focus makes this look a bit like a painting, too. Hey, sailor!I believe she has her sailor's suit and hat on so that she can go down to Riverside Park and photograph the fleet. A Kodak MomentSo where does the Micro SD card go? One of the reasons I love old photos so much is because we can see what they saw 100 years ago and imagine the technological leaps that will be made in the next 100. This girl would have been blown away by what we see as normal today. Normal things a few years from now, we cannot even guess at because the concepts don't yet exist. Clicking the KodakLooks like a cable or bulb release is in place here, and her right hand and fingers are positioned in a way that would be consistent with using one. The cable sort of disappears before it reaches her hand, though. A variant of the Kodak 4AThat there is a Kodak 4A Folding camera, the uncle of my somewhat newer Kodak 610, which had a fabric bellows and was manufactured in the late 1920s (though the design had been in manufacture from the late teens, and would continue into the mid 1930s). Film for this camera stopped being manufactured in 1949, from what I've seen. Film for mine could still be bought into the late 1980s (Kodak 616). Oh, those eyesWhere was I? Oh, right there's this: "The Kodak Girl" - 1902 sheet music, March and Two-Step composed by William T. Cramer dedicated to the Eastman Kodak Company. Illustration shows an early version of the "Kodak Girl," who was an important part of Kodak advertising for over a hundred years. Gramps' Premo CameraThis is Gramps' Premo Camera, made by "Eastman Kodak Co. successor to Rochester Optical Co.", with the original box and operating instructions. The booklet is dated September, 1913. The camera used 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 film. My grandparents met in 1916 and were married in 1919. I have plenty of snapshots made with this camera, but it hasn't seen any action in about 70 years. The bellows is toast, but the variable speed shutter and the "diaphragm" or aperture still work well. Not bad for two generations of inactivity, eh? This camera is fairly close to the one held by our lovely lady; the biggest difference I see is the bulb trip is on one side only on mine. Somebody help me!Where's this camera everybody keeps talking about? Wow, what a babe. Since time travel is an impossibility, Shorpy is the next best thing! (The Gallery, Pretty Girls)
Luxe Lodge: 1908
... 1908. "Elks Temple (Eureka Club), Clinton Avenue North, Rochester, N.Y." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing ... roman work and perfectly apropos. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/14/2015 - 12:10pm -

Circa 1908. "Elks Temple (Eureka Club), Clinton Avenue North, Rochester, N.Y." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Hoping/wishingHoping/wishing someone can describe the phenomenal brickwork details by their proper names. History of Elks Lodge #24From this article: In 1908/1909 the lodge purchased the handsome Eureka Club Building at 113 Clinton Ave. North. Even this building became inadequate and it became necessary to build an addition. Two pieces of property adjoining the original club-house site on the north were purchased during the year of 1922. In May 1923 the plans for the addition to the club were practically approved and October, 1923 the contract for the excavation was let. The addition to the building on Clinton Avenue was made starting in 1924 and dedicated in 1927. This became our home until March 1959. The Clinton Avenue location was sold due to excessive cost for maintenance and necessary repairs. Venue of Cherished MemoryI seem to recall playing in several music recitals held in this building during the period 1953-57. No doubt the lodge augmented its treasury by renting the hall out from time to time. To my recollection, well before 1959 the building and its appointments had transcended "shabby genteel," on the downward path to desuetude and redundancy. DetailsFrom bottom to top: Rusticated stone base, rusticated brick with semi-circular arches; the rustication simulates voussoirs, denticulated belt cornice, quoins at corners and around windows with alternating carved gadrooning & greek frets; detail also included on voussoirs and keystones in the jack arches, fret belt course, engaged columns as mullions, full Corinthian entablature with festoon & wreaths in the frieze, cornice with dentils & console brackets, balustrade. I would go over the Palladian window but I'm already exhausted; also I can't remember the name of that decorative motif of the bound asparagus birch rods in use around the date plate. Born In MDCCCXCIIOliver Hardy Francisco Franco Eddie Cantor Josip Tito "asparagus banding"The architect took great liberty in assembling this beautiful wedding cake of a facade, loosely quoting many roman and renaissance motifs. The banding in the elaborate lower entablature around the date numerals I think is a heavily stylized rendering of the fasces, the bundled rods of imperial rome symbolizing power and authority often seen in work of this type. I am sure it was considered an august interpretation of old roman work and perfectly apropos. (The Gallery, DPC, Rochester)
Student Nurses: 1942
Sept. 1942. Rochester, N.Y. "Shirley Babcock at right in the front listening to a lecture ... work as well! (The Gallery, Medicine, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/28/2013 - 9:08am -

Sept. 1942. Rochester, N.Y. "Shirley Babcock at right in the front listening to a lecture with other student nurses." Latest installment in the Babcock saga from the camera of Ralph Amdursky for the Office of War Information. View full size. Little White Hats Were the Best PartAhhh, the extinct nurses uniform. I'm lucky enough to remember when nurses actually dressed like this. Now you would have a hard time telling the difference between nurses, doctors, orderlies and janitors in a major hospital. They all wear the same thing, scrubs (pretty much pajamas) and those hideous plastic Crocs shoes. Wicked shoesThose nurse shoes remind me of the shoes (in black) that my maternal grandmother (1897-1983) used to wear when I was a kid in the sixties. Even then, they struck me as old fashioned and belonging to a certain character type. My grandmother didn't have it easy (widow with three kids in the Depression), and she could be tough and mean when the situation called for it. The solid heels on those shoes had a crisp and distinctive sound, and they meant business. Much as I respect her and what she stood for, the footwear always seemed to me to be distinctly witchy. The blandnessOf rimless glasses! White caps and duty shoesAlthough today the entire hospital staff seems to wear whatever they choose in the area of multicolored and printed "scrubs" with no headgear I'm guessing it was easier in '47 to tell the R.N.'s from the gift shop volunteers. I once inadvertently insulted an M.D. by requesting she bring me a cup of water. I thought she was a high school 'candy striper'. And as for the phrase "everybody is on the same page" this is not true in this study group. It looks as though some are in the front of the book, some in the back and some in the middle. Still I'm so thankful for the dedication and healing abilities of all those in the medical profession. I would not be here today if it weren't for their caregiving. In the back, pay attention!Yeah, you, the cute one looking into the camera! My grandmother went through RN training in the '20s and had a lot of funny stories about it. They ran nurses training pretty much like a military school, with room inspections and bed checks. Since I went to a military school (Norwich U in Vermont), I could really associate with all the things they did as a result (like greasing door knobs when the inspecting head nurse came around, etc.) Nurse's Caps Minutia Since every one is texting about those caps, they actually ment something. Each nursing school had its own individual cap design. So if you we're in the know, you could tell which school your nurse had attended. The one that I remember the most was from Mount Sinai (in NYC). It was a small puffed pill box made out of transparent liaise, very different from the normal designs. Nursing uniforms vs. ScrubsI believe scrubs were brought into style for nurses (and surgeons) because they are easy for hospitals to launder and are cheap to replace if irreparably stained. I can only imagine how difficult it was to keep these white uniforms clean when you're a nurse coming into contact with all types of bodily fluids. That said, they are quite classy. PosedI get a kick out of some of the more obvious posed shots. The student nurses appear to have their books open to different pages, one is looking at the camera and another is trying very hard not to laugh out loud. I love these! Shirley has some mends on her stockings, I bet in 1942 they were fairly expensive to buy. As for the shoes, I had to wear them (with the white uniform) back in 1970 in beauty school too. Talk about going through a LOT of white shoe polish! Re: Nursing Uniforms vs ScrubsSavannah - There is a bit of truth in what you say, but only a bit. Scrubs for some doctors (mostly surgeons and anesthesiologists) and everyone else working in Surgery, such as OR nurses, Surgical Technologists, SPD (Sterile Processing Department) Staff, plus NICU Nurses (in some but not all facilities) and L&D (Labor and Delivery) staff are indeed laundered by the hospital, Those staff members are required by Infection Control to NOT wear anything that could be construed as "street clothing" while on the job, including "store bought" scrubs worn from home and out and about as some people insist on doing before and after their shifts. The hospital laundry has the industrial machinery and laundry processes in place to get out "biological contamination" that nobody would wish to carry home to their own family laundry, or try to remove with inadequate processes at home. But, this is not true for all staff. Staff Nurses, Nurse Aids (known to some as PCTs or Patient Care Techs), Unit Secretaries and most other staff on the units where patients are cared for daily, are required to purchase and maintain their own personal uniforms, including laundering and pressing. Hospitals play no part in that, other than establishing the rules by which staff are governed. Back when Student Nurses attended Hospital-based three year nursing schools, and lived primarily in the Student Nurses Dorms, the hospital provided not only the uniforms (although not always free) they were provided either by a large sewing department within the hospital itself, or through a separate Uniform Company. But, given the enormous amount of work required to launder, dry, starch and iron all the individual parts of the uniform worn in the 30's through the early to mid 60's, it would have been a logistical nightmare for the students to do all this up at the time for themselves. So, it was part of the benefit of their hospital training that uniform maintenance was handled by the hospital laundry. They had the proper equipment and laundry chemicals on hand to remove stains, starch heavily, and the big "mangles" on which to steam press everything quickly and efficiently. So much of the student's time was devoted to study, classes and work on the wards and in other clinical acreas, there simply were not enough hours in the day, or even space, to manage all that other work as well! (The Gallery, Medicine, Ralph Amdursky, Rochester)
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