Since I became interested in vintage postcards, I have begun frequenting antique shops and flea markets when I have opportunity to steal an hour from my hectic schedule of business travel.
I find that travel is more easily endured if I can satisfy some of my personal interests while "on the road".
It is exciting to have occasion to rifle through bins of old paper in different parts of the country.
Many dealers in old paper have large collections of vintage photographs representing each phase in the development of portrait photography. Many of the photos are haunting, but the ones I treasure are those that have been annotated by a family historian.
Several months ago, I found one such photo in an unusual photo folder. The photo features a young man wearing a hat.
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The embossed message on the front of the folder reads, " I'm waiting for a (embossed icon of a letter)".
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The vintage photo bears an inscription, which I believe was made by two people.
"Uncle John Miller
Husband of Cora Briggs"
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I believe that the photo portrait was made near the time that John Miller and Cora Briggs were married, in 1905.
Because some one took the time to inscribe the family photos, this young man could be identified more than a century after the photo was taken.
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Here is the report from the amazing genealogist, Kate C.
1930 Census, Woodsfield, Monroe, OH
John E Miller 46, OH, driller, oil wells
Cora L Miller 46, OH
Dale A Miller 21, OH, truck driver, road construction
Ruby W Miller 11, OH
Cora Lee Briggs, b. 8 NOV 1882, daughter of Joseph Briggs and Sarah Estella Earley.
Married John E. Miller about 1905.
Briggs family:
1900 Census, Perry, Monroe, OH
Sarah H Briggs 42, widow, farmer
Elizabeth A Briggs 19
Corea L Briggs 17
Alford E Briggs 14
Mary E Briggs 11
John W Briggs 2
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Comments: 14
Before she died, my mother-in-law made me happy with a gift of old family photographs... a box of pictures, each painstakingly annotated in the back with the identity of the people in the photos. I don't think my husband or his other relatives would know some of those people in the pictures, were it not for those inscriptions!
Glad to hear it, Mariana.
I would love to learn about some of your "finds"!
What a delightful and thoughtful gift, Duckie.
It breaks my heart to see winsome and lovely images of people in all sorts of places and conditions without any identification. It is like seeing them die again.
Peter, do you have a complex filing system for all these old images? Are they kept separate from the postcards? Do you sort by year?
Aniko
"It's true: in the past, we could come back every so-often to see what new information Kate had unearthed on the folks in the photos..."
Dannielle
I miss very much the "conversations" on the comment threads. It became part of an enjoyable routine each week-end.
A "complicated" assortment of odd-sized boxes, sundry envelopes, diverse heaps, and sticky notes with incomprehensible scratches.
I want to cross index each card for location, date, correspondent. I'm thinking that this will be a good project for my retirement years.
There are many postcards from the forties and fifties that are prized by collectors because they show a landscape or a building that is now barely recognizable.
Someday, Dannielle, I would love to see the book that describes the history of Hamilton through postcards.
How nice that Kate was able to locate him!
Mr. Miller may be handsome, Mary Louise, but I don't like the fact that he is wearing a hat.
I regret that I missed your comment in May.