May I have your autograph? by Jean Butterworth Did you have an autograph book when you were a young? My teenage grandchildren would say, “What is that?” All their experience with autographs is the how to get the signature of some famous ball player scribbled on a picture, program, baseball, or football. Famous person’s autographs […]
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Turpentine, it’s hard and dangerous work as the photographs reveal
Can you believe that turpentine was once a booming industry all over the world? Turpentine is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin from live trees, mainly pines. The many uses for turpentine expanded through accident and experiment until it practically dominated the burgeoning industry of America. In the great pine forests of the South – […]
This 1910 census advance report reveals humor of the time
This humorous tongue-in-cheek report about the up-coming census report that year was printed in The New York Press in 1910. ADVANCE CENSUS REPORTS Number of families owning phonographs 2,264,721 Number of men holding worthless checks and invalid promissory notes. 72,986,279 Number of cities where taxes are reasonable 6 Number of ministers – 232,689 Number of […]
Hampton Place -[old photographs] where General Winfield Scott retired when there were no more worlds to conquer
*Note: The language below may be a little antiquated because they are excerpts and exact transcriptions from the book –Transcription from Historic Houses of New Jersey By Weymer Jay Mills .J. B. Lippincott Company – written in 1902 Best loved house The house best loved by the old residents of Elizabethtown, New Jersey is the Scott House, […]
Extraordinary 1885 [portraits] of Native Americans includes Sitting Bull with Buffalo Bill
Portraits of Native Americans This photograph is of Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill, 1885 taken by David Francis Barry photographer (1854-1934) Photograph originally taken by William Notman studios, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, during Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, August 1885. Later copyrighted by D.F. Barry in June 1897 Two photos (front and side) of Amos Little, […]
Persimmon – pucker up
PERSIMMONS BY INEZ MCCOLLUM My Grandmother had a wild persimmon tree. I learned at an early age to wait until the fruit was soft before attempting to eat it. If I ate them too soon, my mouth would pucker. I delighted in collecting the calyx and stringing them to make a necklace. My husband was pastoring […]
Fifty Years – Where has the time gone? – Remember what the life was like?
Fifty Years by Inez McCollum Several months ago, I went for my high school reunion – 50 years! Now, THAT event has joined my list of antiquity! E-mails that have made the rounds the past 2-3 years remind us of what didn’t exist fifty years ago. There were some very memorable things that did exist. […]
Did you know the English Sparrow was imported to NY to eat caterpillars in Central Park?
“The English Sparrow was imported to North America to protect trees from a caterpillar which is the larva of the Geometrid Moth. About six inches long. Grayish brown, the back streaked with black. Brown wings with white bars. Buff white underside. Narrow white stripe over the eyes. White and chestnut cheek patches. White sides and […]
The way to a man’s heart – good pie-making? This author from 1886 thinks so..
This amusing story is from an 1886 newspaper and reveals much about how women were viewed in the day….. Treat the pie with respect The pie has sometimes been treated with disrespect. Its antiquity and high position on the bill of fare of this nation make the insult most atrocious. This sacriligious (sic) state of […]
Christmas Boxes were originally earthenware boxes
The 26th of December, also called St. Stephen’s Day. Boxing Day is a public holiday that forms part of the Christmas festivities in most of the countries that were once part of the British Empire. It was originally the first working day after Christmas Day, but is now always celebrated on December 26th, regardless of […]