Halloween

From Bowne & Co., South Street Seaport, New York City.

Irish Molly of the Gay Nineties by Helen Page

Carol Carey had Helen Page's Romance paper doll book. And she discovered several years ago, that Helen didn't have it. Carol gave it to her as a gift because she felt Helen should have a copy of her own work. And what do you know: Helen surprised Carol with this beautiful original artwork of Irish Molly. Pretty nice, all around.

Q 112 Bus

This card brings back the time I was in my 20s living in New York and discovering--without blogs, Twitter, Facebook or the internet--artists and troublemakers. Stumbling on the avant garde, or just the eccentric. Exhibits like this. Elevating the mundane, celebrating the ordinary. Cities, the people, their stories.

Thanks to Sepia Saturday for prompting this time travel, and be sure to visit the site for links to many other wonderful photos and memories.

La Statue Colossale de la Liberte, Paris 1883

Three years after this photo, construction of the Lady was completed. Today is the 125th anniversary of the official dedication of the Statute of Liberty. It is hard to imagine New York Harbor without her.
You can read more about the history of Lady Liberty here.

Liberty's arm and torch were on display in Madison Square Park from 1876 to 1882 to raise funds for construction and a pedestal. Click here for a great photo of the display. I believe Jack Finney references the event in Time and Again, a book I should like to re-read soon.

German paper doll, c. 1920s

From the remarkable collection of Carol Carey.

Elegant Ann Sothern

The third and last Ann Sothern doll from the 1943 Saalfield book. Click here and here to see the other two.  The face on all three dolls appears to be a tinted photograph. Unlike a lot of paper I've seen from this era, this paper is not brittle or brown.

More Ann Sothern

Another doll from the book published in 1943 by Saalfield. There's a third doll in the set, coming soon. I posted the first doll here.

Train, Saint Germain-en-Laye, 1944

Saint Germain-en-Laye is located in the western suburbs of Paris, according to Wikipedia. 

Saint-Germain-en-Laye is served by Saint-Germain-en-Laye station on Paris RER line A.
It is also served by two stations on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line: Saint-Germain – Bel-Air – Fourqueux and Saint-Germain – Grande Ceinture.
Finally, Saint-Germain-en-Laye is also served by Achères – Grand Cormier station on Paris RER line A and on the Transilien Paris – Saint-Lazare suburban rail line. This station is located in the middle of the Forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, far away from the urbanized part of the commune.

But this tidbit stopped me in my tracks: The town was the headquarters of the German army during the Occupation, 1940-44. If I'm reading the faded rectangle in the lower right correctly, it says "Passed
44630 Army Examiner." Should it be read as June 30, 1944, and the stamp as belonging to the U.S. Army Examiner? Liberation began on June 6 that year, but was not complete until December. I hope someone can enlighten me.

P.S. 1, Fort Lee, NJ 1930-1931

I've been lurking at Sepia Saturday for awhile, and once I saw this week's theme, I knew I had to jump in. This treasure was found at Unshredded Nostalgia in Barnegat, NJ last month. My husband spotted it first in an album and was thoroughly enchanted. And so was I.

This is grade 2A, 1930-1931 at Fort Lee's Public School No. 1 (that's in New Jersey). The students look serious for second graders, but it's not hard to imagine they picked up money worries from parents and other adults, as the Depression took hold. Fort Lee, one of many bluff towns on the Hudson River overlooking Manhattan, was still more country than urban back then. The town had been a movie making center, but that was over by 1920, as you can read here.  There is a street named Theda Bara Way, that makes me smile when I drive by. It's near the Main St., not far from the ramp to the George Washington Bridge that takes you into Manhattan.

The names on the back tell a tale, of an earlier generation of immigrants: Larsen, Ulrich, Flemming, DiVincenzo, McKee. Fort Lee today is home to a bustling Asian community: Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese, and a lively business district of excellent restaurants and small shops.

Be sure to visit Sepia Saturday for more interesting photographs.

Mystery doll, c. 1909

Likely from the Lettie Lane or Betty Bonnet family of paper dolls, drawn by Sheila Young. There's no writing on the back of the doll, so it is not from the Ladies Home Journal. Could be one of the  paper dolls ordered by mail in a large folder. Fairly sturdy cardstock.

Paper Doll Studio Issue #100

  

Another wonderful and wondrous issue from Jenny Taliadoros and her crew. Be sure to click on each image to see Darlene Jones' beautiful cover art up close, and to read about all the goodies inside this issue. Ordering information: www.opdag.com.

Farm Journal paper dolls, c. 1924

An aging page brown with foxing, cleans up nice on a Mac.

Eagle Brand Condensed Milk, 1887

 

  

Borden's is an old name in U.S. manufacturing, but in 1887 the logo was not a cow but an eagle, for Eagle Brand.  Mr. Gail Borden invented condensed milk. The Wikipedia entry for Borden's tells a sad but familiar tale of rapid expansion in the 20th century, over-extension, leveraged buy-out, and divestiture. Borden's now exists only as spin-off products and a brand name, owned by a Swiss company.

Bowne & Co., Stationers

Bowne & Co. was a favorite stop of mine when I worked downtown 25 years ago.  Part of the South Street Seaport Museum, it's on a cobblestone street that retains some character from by-gone days. The Museum of the City of New York now operates the shop. I was there Saturday night, and it was great talking with the master printer and collage artist Robert Warner. Here's a profile of Warner from last year.

Very happy to see the New York Times noting the return of this historic printing shop. Read more about it here. Above, a Bowne printed card. The reproduction here doesn't do it justice. If you're in New York City, I urge you to head down to the seaport and spend some money at Bowne & Co.

Streetcar rubber stamp c. 1930s

Found several rubber stamps from the 1930s at a shop long ago. This was one of them. I colored the top one in colors that I thought might have been used for a streetcar long ago. But I could be thinking of the color of vintage toys and cartoon illustrations...

Check out Streetcar Serenity at The Atlantic Cities blog to find out about the benefits of modern-day streetcars.

Paper dolls c. 1911

These were not sold as paper dolls, of course, but cut from a magazine illustrating the fashions of the day. Found on the convention freebie table.

Ann Sothern

1943, Saalfield Pub.

Victorian lady

Zappos Ad paper doll

O Magazine, Sept. 2011, and other magazines.

A Jane Austen Education paper doll cover, 2011

A new book receiving good reviews. And a sweet cover, too. You can buy it here.

Gloria paper doll by Charlotte Ware c. 1937

Eclectible on eBay

Sheryl Jaeger has a fascinating inventory of paper dolls and other ephemera. The items you see above are now for sale on eBay. Click here to see more.