School Photos, Québec Boys, 1950s

Price:  $4.00 each or $12.00 for all.

Size each on larger, about 1 and 3/4 x 2 and 3/4″

These individual school photos ended up in a bin at the Vintage Paper Fair in San Francisco this year near some other photos taken in Québec. French-Canadian stuff always catches my eye due to my own heritage and then, you never know if you might come across a relation’s photo (it’s happened before, alas not to me yet, but still, ever hopeful….)

Anyway, these cool guys are, from left to right, top to bottom:  Robert Lamette[?], age 7 and 3 months. From the school Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire, Pierre Cloutier, age 6, 1950; Denis [?], Léo Gingras; Jacques Larose; Jules Gravel; Raymond Bélair; Jean-Guy Brisebois.

Lorraine Bossé

Photo, circa 1940s.

Price:  $10.00       Size:  About 2 and 3/8 x 3 and 1/2″

Another stunning beauty……Lorraine Bossé, in an unmistakably 1940s hairstyle, long, in waves and parted on the side, wearing embroidered blouse lapels and a cross pendant over a dark sweater. This may have been a high school graduation photo or taken not long afterward. A potential match in records shows a Marie Marguerite Lorraine Bossé baptized in 1928 in Québec City.

Possible source:  Institut Généalogique Drouin; Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Drouin Collection; Author: Gabriel Drouin, comp. (Ancestry.com).

Marguerite

Photo, circa 1920 – 1930s.

Price:  $5.00        Size:  About 3 and 1/4 x 4 and 5/8″

Continuing on with a French-Canadian theme (after a brief Thanksgiving/autumn interlude), here’s another that was found loose in a bin at the Vintage Paper Fair in San Francisco…..a portrait of a young woman in a waved bob hairstyle, pearl necklace and wide-lapel coat with braid appliqué on the darker collar. We’re unsure what the fabric for the coat was made from, but it was something elegant, note the shimmer where the light is reflecting on our right. And there’s no writing or other identifying information on the back, she is simply, the beautiful………Marguerite.

Gloria LoVasco, Detroit 1940s

Vintage photo, early 1940s.

Price:  $7.00         Size:  About 1 and 1/2 x 2 and 5/8″

One last summery photo before we start moving into autumn…..beautiful Miss Gloria LoVasco (also seen as Lo Vasco and Lovasco) of 3839 French Rd in Detroit. This small photo was probably given to a friend back in the day, estimating early 1940s, but almost seventy years later had been waiting to be rediscovered in a bin at an antique store. The 3839 French Road address, now a vacant residential lot, lies just north, less than two miles, from the Detroit River and Belle Isle, so, that might be the River in the background. (Note the picnic basket on the bottom left. Looks like it was a fun day!)

As for the surname, the 1940 Federal Census for Gloria and her family shows the LoVascos were of Italian descent and then a quick search for the name origin of Vasco indicates a name used for someone from the Basque region (in Northern Spain). It would be interesting to see if the family had a Basque connection going further back.

Sources:  Year: 1940; Census Place: Detroit, Wayne, Michigan; Roll: m-t0627-01849; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 84-286. (Ancestry.com).

Vasco name meaning. https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=vasco. (accessed 09/29/19).

Boyd Roland Gibbs, 4th Field Artillery, Battery B

Real Photo Postcard, unused. Circa 1916 – 1919. Arax Photo Studios. AZO stamp box.

Price:  $15.00

“Mr. Boyd Roland Gibbs. 4th Field Artillery. Battery B. Atlanta, Georgia.”

Hey, well I fibbed 😉 evidently in the last post. Thought I had no military, but found this one. And a great one it is. Full name, artillery and location on the back for this handsome guy in WWI army uniform. Someone’s current great or great-great uncle today. Boyd Gibbs was born in South Carolina in 1898, son of James Patrick Gibbs and Leila Ida (Prince) Gibbs. U.S. Army transport records 1918 – 1919 list Boyd’s rank as wagoner.

Sources:  Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 27 May 2019), memorial page for Boyd Roland Gibbs (May 1898–13 Nov 1940), Find A Grave Memorial no. 143151272, citing First Baptist Church of North Spartanburg Cemetery, Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, USA ; Maintained by Margaret (contributor 46516145).

The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 440. (Ancestry.com).

“The Duties of the U.S. Army Wagoner.” (http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~gregkrenzelok/genealogy/veterinary%20corp%20in%20ww1/wagonerduties.html) Accessed May 27, 2019.

Mrs. Alvidsen At 11,660 Feet

Real Photo Postcard, circa 1907 – 1915

Price:  $15.00         Size:  3 and 3/16 x 5 and 3/8″

“Mrs. Avildsen at Corona 11660 feet El.”

The location for this one was a mystery, until we (thankfully) received the comment from one of our readers. So, this has to be Rollins Pass which was sometimes called Corona Pass, and is located in the Southern Rocky Mountains.

Postcard publisher unknown, so far

The postcard publisher or printer is another mystery. I’m not seeing this particular style of Real Photo Postcard back on any other site or in Walter Corson’s Publisher’s Trademarks Identified. Also, the size is a little smaller that the average RPPC (and the bottom doesn’t seem to have been cropped). If the card was produced in the U.S. the postal regulations didn’t allow for the divided back until December 1907.

Source:  Rollins Pass. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollins_Pass#Summer_and_early_autumn (accessed February 15, 2021).

Aileen Johnston, Liverpool, 1945

Photo, white border. Liverpool, England, 1945. Velox (Kodak) photographic paper.

Price:  $4.00          Size:  About 3 and 1/8 x 2 and 1/8″

Beauty in the wheat fields….

Aileen Johnston, a stunner with a beautiful smile, posing somewhere outside of Liverpool, England.This photo was taken in 1945, right at the end of WWII, maybe in August or September, according to the wheat harvest. It’s always so nice (unusual!) to have a name, date and a location on the back of an old snapshot.

Roy Morrow And Family, Circa 1910s

Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, circa 1907 – 1910s. CYKO stamp box.

Price:  $8.00

“With respect from Roy Morrow.  To James Gilmore, South Heights Pa.”

A nice family photo, we assume, of the Morrow Family, location unknown, maybe Pennsylvania or the neighboring Ohio.

House style I.D.

This wood structure home is in the Folk style called National, specifically known as an I-house, which was two rooms wide and one room deep. In this case a front porch was added on directly in the center. Note the detailing on the porch brackets. Also of note, the hand-hewn planks for the fence portion on our left. And, on the roof, there is what might be one long, horizontal snow break, unless maybe it was designed for footing, if someone was up on the roof making repairs.

Source:  McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. 1984. New York:  Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. Print.

Lizzie And Mizpah

Divided back, unused, Real Photo Postcard. Circa 1902 – 1910.

Price:  $12.00

“With Love & affection to add to your collection.   Mizpah.   Lizzie.”

Addressed to:   “Miss Dora Dixon, 10 Glenfield St. Glasgow.”

Which young lady in the postcard photo is which is unknown, but Dora Dixon, was found on the 1901 Scotland Census, listed at the above address, born in England, about 1882, living with her parents, William and Margaret Dixon, and siblings Mary, Elizabeth, John, William, Henry and Robert. Dora in 1901 was age 19 and working as a waitress.

An emotional bond

The given name Mizpah, sometimes spelled Mizpeh, is one we’d never hear before. The word means “watchtower” in Hebrew and denotes an emotional bond between two people who are apart. The ancient settlement of Mizpah is thought to have been in one of two locations, both just north of Jerusalem, though several other possibilities exist. There is also a Mizpah, Montana, New Jersey and Minnesota, as well as a whole category of jewelry which began in the early Victorian Era, and enjoyed a resurgence during WWI. See Michelle Graff’s article on the history of Mizpah jewelry. In the screen shot below you’ll see one or two pieces of Scottish origin, with the thistle, but many more can be found online.

Sources:  Parish: Glasgow St Mungo; ED: 64; Page: 20; Line: 4; Roll: CSSCT1901_276. (Ancestry.com).

Mizpah. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizpah_(emotional_bond). (accessed July 15, 2018.)

Mizpah in Benjamin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizpah_in_Benjamin. (accessed July 22, 2018).

Graff, Michelle. “The History Behind … Mizpah jewelry.” (https://www.nationaljeweler.com/independents/2059-the-history-behind-mizpah-jewelry). Accessed July 29, 2018.

“images of mizpah jewelry” Google.com search, July 22, 2018.

Down In The Holler

Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, postmarked February 23, 1917, Dundee, New York.

Price:  $12.00

“Dear Brother, Wish you a happy Washing tub day also a happy birthday. I am down in the holler and am doomed to stay, by the looks at present. I suppose you have lots of snow there we have not. I am teaching today or rather am going to and as it is about time to go I will quit my scribling . Excuse pencil. Your little sister as shown on the other side. L.”

Addressed to:   “Mr. Stanley B. Todd, 127 Middlesex Roads, Rochester N. Y.”

Washing tub day, February 23rd (just kidding)

We could not find any reference to an official “washing tub day” therefor, just evidence of the sender’s sense of humor. She is Lucy J. Todd, the young woman on our right in the photo, and I’m thinking she’d be laughing if she saw me searching for this “official day” online. (Hope she is getting a chuckle out of it, wherever she is.)

Lucy J. Todd

Lucy was born in New York, about 1895. The 1920 Federal Census for Barrington, Yates County, NY, shows her occupation as teacher. She’s staying with her parents, Charles H. and Lucinda A. (Sheppard) Todd, along with Lucy’s brother, the recipient of the postcard, Stanley B. Todd. He’s about five years older than she; Stanley was born in New York, February 23, 1890.

Heirloom day

The girl in the photo, on our left, is unknown, maybe a student? The location the card was sent from, had been a mystery, until finding the following newspaper article, mentioning Lucy Todd, a teacher in Dundee (Yates County, NY). Ahhhh, it’s Dundee! Lucy is mentioned below as the owner of an old trunk that was covered in buffalo hide which was held on by over 500 brass tacks….

Sources:  Year: 1920; Census Place: Barrington, Yates, New York; Roll: T625_1281; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 189. (Ancestry.com).

“Many Rare Heirlooms Brought To Notice.” Star-Gazette (Elmira, NY). March 24, 1917. Saturday, p. 14. (Newspapers.com).

Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 14 July 2018), memorial page for Stanley Benajah Todd (23 Feb 1890–6 Mar 1972), Find A Grave Memorial no. 121615568, citing Lakeview Cemetery, Penn Yan, Yates County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Kathleen Oster (contributor 47973435).