Category Archives: People

Pornic – Coiffure de l’ancien Temps

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Divided back, unused postcard. Series or number 81. Photographer or printer/publisher:  L.L. Circa 1920.

Price:  $7.00

Addressed to:   “Mrs. Alex. Martin. Paris.”

“Dear Mrs. Martin, Many thanks for the lovely card and those you gave to Maman. The old women here are like this one. I will look for some others costumes for in Bretagne there are numerous. Best love from your very affectionate Jeannette.”

By coincidence, the prior post was also signed with “Best love.”  Notable also is the unusual way that Jeannette writes the capital letters M and P. And this card had apparently come from another collection, before making its way to ours, as evidenced by the handwriting “638.  Headdress of older time.”  There’s another postcard site that also has a card of this same design right now, and that one has a particular date in 1920, hence the circa date for ours.

Last, but certainly not least, and without going into great detail, the beautiful woman from Pornic, Brittany, France, featured on this card is decidedly someone you would want to have a conversation with – kind and with a great sense of humor. Which brings up the question – who were the individuals that came to be featured as “types” from a certain area on the numerous cards that had circulated at one time? How did they come to have their photographs taken, and were they always paid for their time by the photographer? Looking into these questions might involve heavy research so we’ll not jump at this bait (tempting, though), but it would be nice to happen across the info at some time or another.

Source:  Pornic. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornic (accessed November 14, 2020).

Café de Flore, Paris

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Divided back, unused postcard. Circa 1920s. Publisher/printer:  Patras, 9 av. Marguerite, A Boulogne-Sèine, France.

Price:  $7.00

….un chocolat chaud et un croissant, s’il vous plaît.

We’re taking a mini-virtual vacation to the Café Flore (Flora Café), 172 boulevard St-Germain, for some relaxation and conversation – back to what appears to be the 1920s. After much clicking on videos recently, I’m taken with the idea that we could push the play button and have this scene come to life (!) But enlarge to get your imagination going on the stories evolving…..There’s the group of men on our left, one in uniform; the couple; the two girlfriends deep conversation; the two separate gentlemen in hats and overcoats; the woman with her young daughter, waiting for traffic to clear; the group of three who appear to have been caught in a delighted chance encounter; the man with hands in pockets at the curb; the man with the briefcase looking as if he’s hailing a cab; the others in blur, caught in motion, and those in the background or partial shadow; and last but not least, the contented-looking young woman at the second story window, arms folded, surveying the scene below.

Young Woman In Hanover, Pennsylvania

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Photograph by John G. Feeser, Hanover, PA. Circa 1880s.

Size of photo:  About 4 x 6″       Size including cardboard frame:  About 5 x 7″

These are digital images, front and back, graciously donated by one of our readers. The family name that might belong to this beautiful young lady may be from among the following:

-Smith
-Myers
-Beitzel
-Underwood
-Wilt

Here’s to hoping someone will recognize this woman. But in any case, this is a lovely portrait showing wonderful details:  We wonder if this was taken for a special event, evidenced by the corsage of roses she wears on the left lapel of her coat, with its two large buttons perched on the other lapel. In peering at an enlargement, the writing on the top button, one feels, is almost readable. Beneath the coat, which is heavily gathered at the shoulders, is a bodice in velvet, gathered at the neck and likely waist, creating soft folds. The bodice is set off by a wide flowery ribbon at the neck, which is tied into a bow in back. Her wavy brown hair is parted down the middle, and is probably long but gathered up from behind. She gazes slightly up to her right, from clear blue or green eyes, underneath straight brows.

To Peter From Elizabeth

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Postcard, unused, undivided back. May 25, 1907.

Price:  $7.00

A twin of the beauty in the prior post, it seems. 😉 The sender wrote:

“May-25-07.   Hello Pet. bet you cant take my picture and make it look like this. Elizabeth”

This woman is Elizabeth, right? Well, maybe from another lifetime. (Who could not relate to our sender’s wish to be a knock-out beauty from a different era?) The artist’s rendition reminds me of the French Aristocracy, maybe Marie-Antoinette, that particular blue of her gown, the powdered hair and complexion, the hat full of ostrich feathers…..

Addressed to:   “Mr. Peter. Meutnech – Jr., Ulster Hieghts, Ulster Co., N. Y.” 

Surprisingly, we didn’t find either Peter Jr. or Sr. in Ulster Heights or Ulster County, though there may well be a different spelling of the name in city directories and census records that we hadn’t thought of.

To Max Lutzner in NYC 1903

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Postcard, undivided back. Postmarked from Goppingen, Germany, February 5, 1903. Printed in Germany.

Price:  $7.00

Another one in German. It was sent to:

“Mister Max Lützner. 334 Est. 41 Street. New York, Amerika”

Max Lutzner was found in the city directories at 334 E. 41st in 1899.

UPDATE:  See the comment from J. Hassel for translation of the message!

Source:  Trow’s General Directory of the Boroughs of Manhattan and Bronx, City of New York. Vol. CXIL, for 1899. p. 806. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Rev. Anthony C. Stuhlmann and Friends, 1918

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Divided back, Real Photo Postcard. Postmarked May 21, 1918 from Arkansaw, Wisconsin. AZO stamp box.

Price:  $6.00

Addressed to:   “Rev. Father A. C. Stuhlmann, Catasauqua (Pa.) St. Mary’s Rectory”

The handwriting is hard to decipher without knowing German, but it starts off,  “Arkansaw May 12 1918….” 

We’re presuming the gentleman in the priest’s raiment (dark suit, white collar, to our right of the tree) to be the addressee. The card may have been sent by William (nearest relative, maybe a brother) from the record below. (Wilhelm from the sender’s signature?) And we’re presuming this photo was taken in either Catasaqua, PA or Arkansaw, WI, when one had gone to visit the other. In either case, it’s a pretty happy group, and the Reverend has raised his glass (are those beer mugs in the shot?) so, it seems like they were all celebrating something, or maybe just the happy event of getting together. But what was the ladder for?

Anthony Christian Stuhlmann, from the WWI draft registration, was born September 17,  1879 in Germany. His occupation was Catholic priest, and home address 122 Union St., Catasaugua, Pennsylvania. Nearest relative, William Stuhlmann of Arkansaw, Pepin County, Wisconsin.

Sources:  Roth & Weaber’s Directory of the City of Allentown, Comprising Allentown, Rittersville, South Allentown. Also Directory of Catasauqua and Lehigh County, 1916. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Registration State: Pennsylvania; Registration County: Lehigh; Roll: 1893745; Draft Board: 1. September 12, 1918. Ancestry.com. U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918.

The Leichtweißhöhle Cave

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Divided back, unused postcard. Publisher or printer:  Carl v. d Boogaart, Wiesbaden, 1906.

Price:  $7.00

Two trees (wonder if they could still be there?) form a passageway…..to a certain location in a German forest, circa 1906. Behind a rustic wooden fence, three people pose on a front porch…..There’s a small pointed roof over a doorway…..and a jungle-gym-like mass of wooden branches attached….

We know this is a destination of some sort from the signs that are posted. But click on the image to enlarge (check out the graffiti on the tree trunks)…..That conglomeration of tree limbs is actually a railing for a walkway leading up a hill. Then with a quick internet search…..ahhhh, that doorway is a cave entrance.

Google translation to English from Wikipedia entry with photos:

“The Leichtweißhöhle is a cave in the Wiesbaden Nerotal . Its name can be traced back to the poacher Heinrich Anton Leichtweiß , who used the cave as a shelter from 1778 to 1791. Forest workers discovered the cave and light white due to rising smoke.

Access to the Leichtweißhöhle

Source at the Leichtweißhöhle

The Leichtweißhöhle is originally a small natural cave and not much more than a large rock overhang, a so-called abri . The local shale is not suitable for karstification . There are no other caves.

The cave was forgotten until Wiesbaden gained international renown as a spa and the cave developed into a popular excursion destination. It represented one of the new attractions that were to be offered to visitors to Wiesbaden. The Wiesbaden Beautification Association expanded the cave in 1856. A second entrance was created, a room on the side and a niche padded with moss, which was declared as a place to sleep. The cave was also decorated accordingly, including old weapons and pictures. A romanticization followed . The Schwarzbach coming from the Rabengrund and passing the cave received an artificial waterfall and a wooden bridge was built to cross the stream. A viewing pavilion was built above the cave, and the access paths to the cave were equipped with railings and the cave entrance with a wooden porch. These changes were so extensive that the original state can hardly be recognized today.

In 1905 Kaiser Wilhelm II visited the cave with his wife.

In 1934 the Gestapo used the Leichtweißhöhle as a torture cellar .

With the decline of the Wiesbaden cure, especially after the end of the Second World War , the cave lost its importance and was closed. The outdoor facilities were badly affected by vandalism and lack of maintenance. The cave was often used as a shelter. In 1983 the entrance was completely renewed. Since then, the cave has been regularly opened to visitors every six months.”

Sources:  Leichtweißhöhle. n.d.  https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leichtwei%C3%9Fh%C3%B6hle. (accessed August 30, 2020).

Google translate (accessed August 30, 2020).

G. W. Jenks, Boots and Shoes, Shelburne Falls, Mass

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Trade card, circa 1870 – 1900. Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.

Price:  $10.00        Size:  5 and 7/8 x 2 and 3/4″

Was looking thru boxes this morning for anything 4th of July related, and nothing. So, taking a break from the offerings from Germany, here’s a trade card from the U. S., Shelburne Falls, Mass., to be precise. No American flags or anything in there (imagine some red-white-and blue bunting draped along the porch rail, if you like) but it’s a beauty with an old-timey feel, in rural America:  an artist’s scene of a mill or home with a waterwheel, a woman shepherding a little girl across the wooden footbridge and another lady on the porch (if you enlarge, you can see her). Stamped on the card is:

“G. W. Jenks, Boots and Shoes, Shelburne Falls, Mass”  and  “Buy the light running ‘domestic’ “

G. W. was George W. Jenks, boot and shoe dealer who, according to the card, also sold sewing machines. A Massachusetts native, he was born about 1840. He appears on the 1880 Federal Census along with his wife, Abbie L., and their two children, Charles E. and Mabel L. Jenks. Also in the household is Maggie Chandler, a domestic servant. George must have had a successful business as he appears under this occupation as early as 1870 and as late as 1910 on census records.

He and Abbie (Northup) married on September 12, 1865 in Cheshire, Mass. After Abbie died in 1886, he married Mary Ellen Blanchard October 18, 1888 in Shelburne Falls.

Sources:  Year: 1880; Census Place: Shelburne, Franklin, Massachusetts; Roll: 533; Page: 221D; Enumeration District: 259. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1870; Census Place: Shelburne, Franklin, Massachusetts; Roll: M593_615; Page: 382B; Family History Library Film: 552114. (Ancestry.com).

New England Historic Genealogical Society; Boston, Massachusetts; Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911–1915. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: Shelburne, Franklin, Massachusetts; Roll: T624_589; Page: 3A; Enumeration District: 0517; FHL microfilm: 1374602. (Ancestry.com).

Year: 1850; Census Place: Cheshire, Berkshire, Massachusetts; Roll: 305; Page: 101B. (Ancestry.com).

Treehouse In The Black Forest

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Photo, deckled edge. Circa 1950s. Photo printing paper company:  Leonar.

$7.00

“In the Black Forest. Near Wildbad.”

Baumhaus is the German word for treehouse. And this one is a narrow wooden structure setting atop numerous tall poles which are criss-crossed in the center for stability. Wonder if it could have been a ranger station (reminded now of Ranger Gord on The Red Green Show 😉 ) But, for sure, it must have been great fun to climb up the ladder, enter the rather narrow “house” and wave down below to your family, like the boy in the photo is doing. We presume the shot to be from the 1950s; a detailed look at the family car might narrow the time-frame, maybe we’ll get to that in the near future.

The printing out paper used for the photo appears on the back as Leonar – a German company with lots of history. Here’s a great blog article for them:  Leonar-Leigrano photographic paper, R. I. P.?

Source:  Collins, D. “Leonar-Leigrano photographic paper, R. I. P.?” D. nonfigurativephoto, August 20, 2014. http://nonfigurativephoto.blogspot.com/2014/08/leonar-leigrano-photographic-paper-rip.html (accessed June 28, 2020).

To Fräulein Hedel Mandel, Halle, Germany

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Divided back postcard. Postmarked December 9, [1901-1909] from Striegau (Strzegom, Poland). Publisher unknown.  Number and/or series:  1117/18.

Price:  $10.00

Addressed to:   “Fräulein Hedel Mandel, Halle a/Saale, Leipziger St. 73 [?]”

A colored (hand-colored?) card of a beautiful young fräulein holding a bucket, smiling, head tilted. We might automatically think “milkmaid” but note the potatoes? at her feet.

It’s a good guess that the publisher is German, but we didn’t find a match online for the logo below. I’m sure someone knows; I just did not want to spend too much time searching. We’ll update in future, hopefully, but here’s the view:

The postmark indicates Striegau which is the German spelling for Strzegom, Poland. And was addressed to Halle, a.k.a Saale, Germany. Here’s a map link for the postcard’s journey, as the crow flies, though it must not have been that straight-forward!

And if anyone can read the note that was sent to Hedel, please send us a comment.

UPDATE:  See the comment from a kind reader for the translation of the message from the postcard’s sender.

Source:  Distance from Halle (Saale) to Strzegom. distancefromto.net.