Category Archives: Snow

Bounteous Gifts For Sadie Barbettini

Posted on by
Reply

Divided back, artist-signed, embossed, unused postcard. Painting copyright by Frances Brundage. Printed in Germany. Publisher unknown. Series or number 219. Circa 1907 – 1914.

Price:  $10.00

A Merry Christmas.

Bounteous gifts from heaven’s choicest store

May you find Christmas morning,

showered at your door.”

Addressed to:  “Miss Sadie Barbettini, Guadalupe.”  The sender wrote:

“Accept my little present and my wish for a merry Christmas and happy new year, you[r] loving cousin Rose d’ “

Sadie Barbettini (spelled Barbetini) shows up in the 1900 Federal Census for Township 9, Santa Barbara County, California with her mother Mary P. Barbettini and older sisters Emma and Minnie. Sadie was born September 1895 according to this census. A number of earlier pages on this census show the name crossed off township name of Guadalupe, so this census should be the correct record for Sadie.

The 1910 census appears also for the family, still in Township 9. The girls’ mother is now Mary Jenkins, widowed, and she has two additional children, John and Mary Ann Jenkins.

Sources:  Frances Brundage. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Brundage (accessed December 20, 2017).

Year: 1900; Census Place: Township 9, Santa Barbara, California; Roll: 110; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 0254; FHL microfilm: 1240110. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: Township 9, Santa Barbara, California; Roll: T624_105; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0185; FHL microfilm: 1374118. (Ancestry.com).

Federal Pure Food Company Of Chicago

Posted on by
2

Federal Pure Food Company Holiday Card. Circa 1919 – 1920s.

Availability Status:  SOLD             Size:  6 and 1/4 x 4 and 7/8″

‘Tis the season….for shopping! Here’s a beautiful Christmas/New Year’s card, probably from the 1920s, showing a nostalgic 19th-century scene of busy holiday shoppers on a snow-covered street.

“We extend to our friends and customers our hearty good wishes for the Holiday Season and may the New Year bring an abundance of Happiness and Prosperity.

Federal Pure Food Company. Chicago, Illinois.”

Does anyone remember any Federal Pure Food Co. labels on maybe vanilla extract or other extracts used in baking? Could be a wacked-out 😉 memory on my part, but I seem to recall old extract bottles in the back of our spice cupboard as a child with this company name. If so, the extracts were already old as the last advertisement found for the company was in 1935. And according to another news clipping, they established in 1895, though no references were found prior to 1919 when their sales ads begin showing up in newspapers across the country and in magazines like Popular Mechanics. Federal’s last known given address for correspondence was 2946 Lake St., Chicago, though for most of their advertised existence they were located on Archer Avenue.

Below, a clip from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 4, 1921 which listed the company as:  “The Federal Pure Food Company, 2301 – 2319 Archer Ave., Chicago, ILL. Largest packers of pure food specialties in the world.”

A Honolulu, Hawaii agent ad from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 23, 1921:

The ad from August 13, 1922  for “Agents” appearing in The Tampa Tribune, states the Federal Pure Food Company had been established “since 1895.”

Sources:  “When you have tried everything else.” The Pittsburgh Press, February 17, 1935. Sunday, p. 42. (Newspapers.com).

“No Dull Times In The Food Business.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, September 4, 1921. Sunday, p. 26. (Newspapers.com).

” ‘Federal’ Concentrated Ready-To-Cook Preparations.” Honolulu Star-Bulletin, September 23, 1921. Friday, p. 5. (Newspapers.com).

The Tampa Tribune, August 13, 1922. Sunday, p. 27. (Newspapers.com).

Reward Of Merit For Arthur Berryman

Posted on by
Reply

Reward of Merit. Circa 1880s – 1890s.

Price:  $3.00         Size:  About 4 and 1/2 x 6 and 1/2″

Here’s another card from teacher to student, as a token of recognition for something well-done. No teacher’s name, but the student’s name is written on the back:  “Arthur Berryman.”  And it’s another winter scene, no action this time, well, other than the setting or rising sun, but lovely, of a large rambling home with snow laden roofs, icicles on trees, and a stream that’s not frozen, I guess, hmmm.

Reward Of Merit For Charles Schindler

Posted on by
Reply

Reward of Merit. Circa 1880s – 1890s.

Price:  $10.00         Size:  About 3 and 7/8 x 5 and 1/4″

What fun! That must have been the perfect sledding hill. 😉 This really is a nice Reward of Merit card, still in decent condition. The artist and printer are unknown, but it’s lovely, with all those “snow colors” contrasting with the burnt orange jacket (and hat) and the blue trim and the brighter blue on the sled rope. And there’s a great example of gaiters, the tan leggings that button up the side. It’s tempting to try to locate which Charles Schindler received this card from which teacher N. Mulcahy, but there’s about thirty possibilities in the 1900 Federal Census records for Charles with an estimated year of birth from 1870 to 1890, so that would take way too long.

Braunlage, Germany, January 1928

Posted on by
1

Old photo taken in Braunlage, Germany, January 1928.

Price:  $8.00         Size:  About 3 and 5/8 x 2″

The back of this photo is written in German. Thank you to our informed reader (see comment) for figuring out the name of the woman in the photo!

Lotte und ich in Braunlage, Januar 1928….Hans.” [?]  That appears to be the man’s name “Hans” at the bottom right, so translating as:   “Me and Lotte in Braunlage, January 1928.”

And, it’s a beautiful moment captured in time:  a smiling young man whose gaze has met the camera, in beret, plaid scarf and open overcoat and an equally stylish young woman, her smile and gaze caught looking downward, in cloche hat and fur trimmed coat. They’re walking down a snow-lined street in the town of Braunlage.

Devil’s Canyon From Saddle #2

Posted on by
Reply

Photo, white border, circa 1920s – 1930s. Photo developer:  Hirsch & Kaye, San Francisco, California. Velox photo paper.

Price:  $12.00

The location of this beautiful winter mountain scene is a bit of a mystery. There is, not surprisingly, more than one Devil’s Canyon, or Cañon as it was meant to be spelled in the description on the front. The Spanish spelling was common until more recent decades, just as the word “today” was formerly seen as “to-day” and “puerto” was formerly written as “porto.” But what a breathtaking scene….just imagine yourself in the picture, taking big gulps of the crisp, clean air!

Definitions for the geographic term “saddle” vary somewhat, for details see Wiki’s Saddle (landform).

For guesses for the location of the photo, our best is the San Gabriel Mountains in Angeles National Forest.

The back is stamped:   “PlaTone Print. Hirsch & Kaye. 239 Grant Avenue, San Francisco.”  A city directory ad for the firm of Hirsch & Kaye was found as early as 1922, at this address. Directories and newspaper ads show that they were in the optometry, photo supply and photo and film developing business.

Below, the obituary of Alphonse Hirsch, pioneer optometrist, that appeared in the Santa Cruz Evening News, September 1923. Per the obit, son, Alphonse, Jr., was associated with the firm, Hirsch & Kaye:

Below, a Hirsch & Kaye ad, from the San Francisco Chronicle, September 24, 1923:

A 1938 ad from Santa Clarita’s The Signal:

Sources:  Saddle (landform). n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_(landform) (accessed December 15, 2017).

San Gabriel Mountains. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Gabriel_Mountains (accessed December 15, 2017).

H. S. Crocker Co., Inc.’s Crocker – Langley San Francisco City Directory, 1922. p. 1956. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.   photo supplies

R. L. Polk & Co.’s Crocker – Langley San Francisco City Directory, 1941. p. 1687. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.  optometrists

“Death Claims Alphonse Hirsch.” Santa Cruz Evening News (Santa Cruz, CA) September 7, 1923. Friday, p. 8. (Newspapers.com).

“Better Vision.” San Francisco Chronicle, September 24, 1923. Monday, p. 2. (Newspapers.com).

“Cameras.” The Signal (Santa Clarita, CA) July 21, 1938. Thursday, p. 6. (Newspapers.com).

A Break From The Summer Heat

Posted on by
Reply

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked July 5, 1911[?] from East Jordan, Michigan. Publisher:  E. C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Price:  $6.00

Old River in Winter, Charlevoix, the Beautiful:  A break for the senses from a Michigan summer’s sweltering heat, and a July 4th reference below….

Happy 4th!

“Hello old boy:  How does this look to you in this kind of weather? 104° yesterday & 90°  to-day, no trouble to keep warm I assure you. Have any fire crackers on the 4th ha ha. I amused my self with a toy pistol and some match heads. Yours, Scotty.”

Addressed to:   “Mr. E. C. Bowman, 33 Kingwood St., Morgantown, W. Va.”

The recipient of this card was likely Eugene C. Bowman, found on the 1910 Federal Census for Morgantown, with wife Madge (Smith). Both are W. Virginia natives: Eugene is about age twenty-seven on this census, and an engineer at a power plant.

Sources:  Year: 1910; Census Place: Morgantown Ward 1, Monongalia, West Virginia; Roll: T624_1691; Page: 7B; Enumeration District: 0077; FHL microfilm: 1375704. (Ancestry.com)

“West Virginia Marriages, 1853–1970.” Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2008, 2009. (Ancestry.com)

In Our Front Yard

Posted on by
Reply

Old photo, circa early 1900s.

Price:  $3.00       Size:  About 4 and 1/8 x 2 and 1/2″

Gibson Girl hairstyles, sailor dresses, little brother and dog. Front yard posing in wintertime. There are no notes or i.d. written on the back, but imagine remembering the good time had by all. (Mabel, you were falling….That was your fault Eth, you were pulling me down!….) We can only see the back half of the dog, the boy is smiling looking straight into the camera, and what is he holding – could that be a folding pocket camera? The girls are clowning, and have tucked their long dresses into their boots, hanging on to each other in their best attempt to turn themselves into a 3-legged being. Behind them, their home, we presume. And in looking at the prior post (the two photos were found in the same pile) we wondered at first, if they could be some of the same girls, but likely not, this snapshot was probably taken earlier than the other….And what a heavenly front porch this must have been in summertime! Why was the wooden bench on the right turned over on it’s side? That’s another story!

Snow Maidens

Posted on by
Reply

Old photo, circa 1910s – 1920s.

Price:  $1.00       Size:  About 3 and 1/4 x 2 and 1/4″

Snow and laughter… here’s a great old photo for wintertime, no names (darn!) but wonderful just the same, of four young ladies, sisters or friends or a combination of both. They’re posed leaning on a snowbank with a house directly behind them. Note the nice porch supports. And are any of these girls the same as in the next upcoming snapshot? You be the judge!

Fortune Bright, Friendship True

Posted on by
Reply

Divided back, artist-signed, embossed, used postcard. Postmarked December 22, 1916 from Sacramento, California. Artist:  Ellen H. Clapsaddle. Publisher:  International Art Publishing Co. Series 104-3.

Price:  $12.00

Best Christmas Wishes…

“Fortune bright and friendship true,

Bless this Christmas-time for you.”

A Clapsaddle Christmas postcard:  This one’s a bit of a departure from the artist’s more recognizable work of adorable children. It shows a hazy winter scene of evergreens, with one in white standing out in embossed relief, and three small biblical-looking figures (I think it’s the staff that gives that impression) appearing near the bottom of the stand of trees, and then a rustic wooden fence leading to the foreground.

Sent to:   “Miss Bessie Ellison, 1415 G St, Sacramento, Calif.”

The sender wrote:   “A Merry Xmas and a happy New Year. F. J. Reynolds.”

The postcard cancellation was advertising the  “Panama California International Exposition at San Diego – 1916.”

Sources:  Ellen Clapsaddle. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Clapsaddle. (accessed December 23, 2016).

Panama-California Exposition. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama%E2%80%93California_Exposition. (accessed December 23, 2016).