November 5, 2024
Author: Ray Hahn
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Banks Built in the Dutch Style
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When I was a young lad of twelve, my teacher gave our class an assignment to create a career book.
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Crimes Against the First Amendment
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One day about a decade ago a French postcard became a Napa Valley wine bottle label. The wine was fabulous, but a state agency decided it was unfit for distribution in their state because the content of the label – not the wine, the label was not appropriate in a public setting.
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The Legend of the White Canoe; by William Trumbull (1861-1933)
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Long before the solitudes of western New York were disturbed by the presence of the white man, it was custom of the Indians to assemble occasionally at Niagara, and offer sacrifice to the Spirit of the Falls. The sacrifice consisted of a white birch-bark canoe, being sent over the terrible cliff, filled with ripe fruits…
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The Last Serious Thing!
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(I plagiarized this title from Bruce Schoenfeld*.) Bullfighting. The very word raises the hackles of some people, and you know who they are; I shall be quiet about who – for now! I have opinions about a lot of things but not bullfights. This is a topic that is too complex and inter-disciplined to understand…
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The Perdicaris Kidnapping
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An ancient expression of frustration tells us. “There is nothing new under the Sun.” The story of Ion Perdicaris is proof.
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Oh . . . Olana,
an Awesome SurpriseNo Comments
To work in such beauty is certainly a distraction, but Frederick Church made the best of the Hudson Valley and became America’s highest paid artist. Read about his home than visit it. You will be awed beyond belief.
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S. S. Athenia:
the first victim of warNo Comments
Sadness touched Fredericksburg, Virginia, earlier than most communities at the start of World War II–two years before the USA was officially involved in the war. It was a fact starkly driven home to me when I stumbled upon the memorial stone to Robert Shenton Harris in the City Cemetery. Robert Shenton Harris, whose father Robert…
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Wynken, Blynken, and Nod
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This Wynken, Blynken and Nod bronze statue sits in the center of the village green. It commemorates “The Dutch Lullaby” that was penned by Eugene Field in 1889. The statue was erected in 1938 to honor Elizabeth Cameron Bailey by her husband Fred Bailey. Fred and Elizabeth Bailey were natives of Wellsboro. Wynken, Blynken, and…
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Oscar of the Waldorf
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History is not full of men and women known by only one name but Oscar is one such individual and we have almost forgotten him. Oscar was one of the truly charismatic people of the early 20th century. His given name served to identify him to a world of people who were themselves the crème of…
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Cooks Forest State Park
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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) wrote in his epic poem Evangeline: This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. We don’t know if he was writing…
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A Story from Postcard Genealogy and the Value of Space-Savers in Your Collection
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A postcard from a century ago provokes a story of two unrelated people in towns thousands of miles apart who led lives of much different value.
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Poster Postcards Part II
While still holding Earth in the heavens, here’s Atlas at one of his side-jobs.
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Atlas had quite a long career, he first started in Greek Mythology as the fellow responsible for holding Earth in the Heavens, but some years later he worked in a place called Panama. Read about a poster style postcard that shows Atlas at work.
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Andrew B. Bowering
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At age eighteen, Andrew served, with the rank of private, as a bugler at the first battle of Manassas. He moved up quickly, and by July 1861 was a musician in Virginia’s 30th Regimental Band, and then on June 1, 1862, he was promoted to principal musician. He distinguished himself as a composer of dozens…
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Jewish Welfare Board Ship Postcards
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Nathaniel Sener mailed a Jewish Welfare Board postcard home to his mother in 1919. He was not alone; it could be that as many as 800,000 soldiers and sailors, members of the US Army and Navy, did the same. Nat, as his family called him, lived on a western Maryland farm and most of his…
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Poster Postcards Part III
Fresh Air for the Children
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The British author, Kipling, wrote something to the effect that scents are stronger than sights and sounds to make the heart strings crack. This may be the adage [as paraphrased] which proves why many adults can remember the smell in grandma’s kitchen as she baked apple pies. Or lilac and honeysuckle blooms in Spring. Or…
