Forget Me Not Annie Baxter

Quote

Posted on August 31, 2014 by Annieoakley

Two pages from autograph/souvenir type books from 1886. Artist and publisher unknown. Size: About 4 x 6 and 3/4″ each.

Availability status: SOLD

“Forget me not Miss Annie Baxter….”

“Dear Annie:

May friendship and

Truth be with you in

Youth and catnip and

Sage cheer up your

Old age.

– Harry L. Wiley, Beckville, Tex., May 10th /86″

“I now a secret will unfold

Long has it smothered been

Oh never yet has it been told

Valued by fears with in

Eternal life demand

You must my secret keep

Oh in your bosom let it swell

Unconcious let it sleep.

– Your Little Sister, E. L. B.” (middle initial L?)

A departure from our numerous postcards and photos, here are a couple of antique pages from a souvenir/autograph type book that would have been popular with students, from 1886. (Thank you Harry Wiley for recording the date and place.) Aren’t they beautiful, just look at those details! In the first one, two children, a little boy and an older girl are perched on a garden wall, watching some snails. Note the girl’s fingerless grey gloves, the lovely collars for both of them, and the hats (always hats!) There is writing on the back of this first card which is, “Dear Annie, May your honest endeavors be a ….” The writer did not finish this thought. The back wasn’t scanned – just to save having to fold the paper too much, and the poem recorded here by Annie’s sister was not found online, so is a mystery as far as name and author. Perhaps the sister was the poet? I must admit I don’t quite understand the poem; perhaps the subject of the verse is Love. The first poem is cute, and was one of a number of sayings written down by many a school chum, maybe at the end of the school year. The second card shows a drawing of pretty young mother, from inside the house, handing her daughter a rose through the open window. The little girl is out in the yard with the flowers and a rather large butterfly.

Harry Wiley is on the 1880 Federal Census for “Beat No. 2”, Panola County, Texas. He was born in Louisiana, about 1868. The census is: Sarah Baxter, widowed head of household; her daughter Ella, son Harry, stepson John Baxter, nephew Thomas Davis, and niece Ellen Riband[?] It would appear that Wiley would have possibly been Sarah Baxter’s first married name (but evidence was not found). Ancestry has a family tree that shows Annie Baxter born in Texas 1871, showing John Baxter as brother.

Sources: Year: Year: 1870; Census Place: Beat 2, Panola, Texas; Roll: M593_1601; Page: 265B; Image: 76; Family History Library Film: 553100. (Ancestry.com)

1880; Census Place: Precinct 2, Panola, Texas; Roll: 1322; Family History Film: 1255322; Page: 216C; Enumeration District: 061. (Ancestry.com)

Year: 1900; Census Place: Cleburne, Johnson, Texas; Roll: 1649; Page: 21B; Enumeration District: 0057; FHL microfilm: 1241649. (Ancestry.com)

A Handsome Guy

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Annieoakley

Real Photo Postcard. AZO stamp box. Circa early 1910s.

Price: $10.00

Real Photo Postcard from sepia-toned studio photo of a beautiful blonde little boy who looks to be about four or five. He wears the ever-popular white sailor suit, in short pants, with knee socks and two-toned high button shoes. He is seated on a small ornately carved wooden table. The stamp box on the back is an AZO with two triangles up and two down. That dates this postcard in a broad range from about 1910 – 1930, but if the photo was taken within these dates, and not prior to 1910, then more likely it is from the early 1910s due to the shoe style. (I consulted various online sources.) An excellent article on the high button shoe explains that one aspect of the change away from the high button would have been due to the leather rationing during WWI.

Source: “Button, button.” Who Were They, February 24, 2012. Web accessed 30 Aug 2014. [http://whowerethey.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/button-button/]

Surf Scene, Peaks Island, Maine

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Annieoakley

The third post in a surf scene theme (no surfers, though, sorry): This one was designed to appear as if the viewer is looking at a framed ocean view of the surf crashing upon the rocks….Peaks Island is located in the Casco Bay, about three miles from downtown Portland, and is actually part of the city of Portland. In the late 19th century it was a popular tourist destination and known as the Coney Island of Maine. Today it is still a popular vacation spot as well as being home to artists, retirees, and commuters. It has among it’s points of interest, the one of a kind Umbrella Cover Museum, WWI and WWII bunkers, the Fifth Maine Regiment House where Civil War Vets and their families spent their summers, and prior ties to Hollywood.

I wondered how the island got it’s name though; so went searching and came up with a published account in 1897 by author Nathan Goold, who wrote that there were evidently several names before the present one:

“The first known name of the island was Pond, but that name was changed by George Cleeve to Michael’s Island in 1637. Probably about 1661 it was called Munjoy’s Island, for George Munjoy, and then about 1670 it became known as Palmer’s Island, for John Palmer, which name it seems to have borne up to the re-settlement of the town in 1716, although it was then sometimes called Munjoy’s Island. Perhaps soon after the town was re-settled the island became to be known as Peaks Island, although there is no known reason why that name was taken. Joseph Peake was a soldier in Capt. Dominicus Jordan’s Company in 1744; he may be the man for whom it was named, as he must have lived at Cape Elizabeth or perhaps on the island. There appears no record of any person of that name ever owning the island before 1741, when it was called Peaks Island.”

Goold’s “author’s note” at the beginning of the book is a great one. He states his intent as to give the early story of Peaks and House Islands, and their families, and goes on to say, “It has been truly said that it is human to err, and if the reader finds that errors have crept into the narrative, it must be expected, as a perfect history has yet to be written.” So true!

Divided back, unused postcard. Publisher: G. W. Morris, Portland, Maine. Printed in Germany. Circa 1907 – 1914.

Price: $6.00

Sources: Peaks Island, Maine. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peaks_Island,_Maine (accessed 29 Aug 2014).

Morrill, Allison C. Peaks Island Maine. 2002- 2014. Web accessed 29 Aug 2014 [http://peaksislandmaine.net/Peaks.shtml]

Goold, Nathan. A History of Peaks Island And Its People. Also A Short History of House Island, Portland, Maine. Portland, ME: The Lakeside Press, 1897. p. 8. Web accessed 29 Aug 2014. Internet Archive. [https://archive.org/stream/historyofpeaksis00gool#page/n5/mode/2up]

By The Sad Sea Waves

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Annieoakley

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked June 2, 1908, Idaho (city unknown.) Publisher unknown.

Price: $20.00

A wonderfully unusual postcard showing a drawing of a man in an old-fashioned bathing suit (the card is postmarked 1908) who is bald on top with a fringe of hair around the side. He has a large belly, has his dog with him, and they are standing at the seashore, crying. The waves are sad and are crying and the clouds are also crying. A sailboat appears off in the distance. Much of the drawing is in blue, like a pen and ink type drawing, but it has a beautiful bright yellow color for most of the sand and waves. (The poor dog looks so sad.)

The surprising thing (for most of us) is that the caption for this one has been around a while. And it is just so fascinating to make these types of discoveries; looking back over a week’s worth of research, and getting that sense of the postcard turning into kind of an invisible, then visible doorway. The doorway materializes (a shimmery effect I’d say) at the point of realization that there’s so much more to this one than meets the eye. The phrase in the spotlight for this post had lasted for at least 77 years. Who knows for sure who coined the original? By The Sad Sea Waves also came up referenced on a great website for slang of the Old West, which got me imagining the reverse of us looking back: those in the past looking forward at us (why not? It’s a physics thing) and finding our sayings today just as perplexing, interesting and delightful as we find theirs. This postcard takes us back through the years and touches different media, from film in 1917, which was going forward from the postcard date – back to a newspaper cartoon in 1905, back to a music hall song in 1895, back to several paintings, one of which is circa 1878, and prior to that a ballad in an opera written in about 1844. Starting with the most recent and traveling backward we have:

Comedian Harold Lloyd in one of the scenes from the silent movie By The Sad Sea Waves, which debuted in 1917. (By permission from Harold Lloyd Entertainment.)

Political cartoonist Clifford K. Berryman’s By the Sad Sea Waves, which appeared in the Washington Post, August 31, 1905. The gentleman in the postcard has similar characteristics to one of the characters below. (And the captions are a scream.)

Music hall song lyrics for By The Sad Sea Waves written in 1895 by Lester Barret and Lester Thomas:

“In the glorious summer season, everybody takes a trip,

To the seaside; for enjoyment, on the sands they gaily skip;

Married men with wives and children, single Johnnies, on the mash;

Pretty girls who seek for husbands, who have pockets full of cash.

By the sad sea waves, where the ladies are so charming;

By the sad sea waves, in the glorious summer time,

With their fetching smiles and dresses, rosy lips and golden tresses,

Shady nooks and sly caresses, by the sad sea waves.

At the boarding house in Newport, Percy Vere met Gladys Gray;

Soon he showed his fond affection, took her driving every day.

By his tone he seemed a marquis, she had jewels in galore;

So they formed a love engaqement, as they strolled along the shore.

By the sad sea waves, every night he took her strolling;

By the sad sea waves he would swear his heart was gone!

She’s the only girl he sings to, she’s the girl he says nice things to,

Promised lovely diamond rings to, by the sad sea waves!

When their holidays were over and they had to say adieu;

He, to join his yacht at Brighton, she to join her papa too;

They agreed to write each other Billet Doudlets every day,

And when he’d his mansion ready, they’d be married right away.

From the sad sea waves back to business, in the morning’

From the sad sea waves, to his humble ‘five a week!’

In a cafe he goes dashing, who should bring his plate of hash in,

But the girl he had been mashing by the sad sea waves!

British artist Frederick William Hayes’ (1848-1918) oil painting By The Sad Sea Waves. (Photo credit to Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery Trust. Used by permission from the BBC website Your Paintings.)

An engraving appearing in The Art Journal of the painting By The Sad Sea Waves by British-born American artist John George Brown (1831-1913.) The original painting was displayed in an exhibit in 1878 at the National Academy in New York.

Sheet music with cover showing announcement for England-born opera singer Sara Elizabeth Flower’s (1823-1865) performance in 1850 of the ballad By The Sad Sea Waves from the opera The Brides Of Venice. (1844) Music by Sir Julius Benedict, lyrics by J. L. Lambert. The performance took place May 3, 1850 at the Royal Victoria Theatre in Sydney, Australia. (Obtained online from National Library of Australia.)

There is also a poem attributed to I. L. Cosham under the title By The Sad Sea Waves which appears in an 1895 publication of The Fisherman, a monthly publication for The Gloucester Fisherman’s Institute. Not much was found for Cosham other than a reference to “Celtic Poets.” A watercolor painted in 1853 titled By The Sad Sea Waves was found for England-born Australian artist Charles Norton (1826-1872) and as you can guess, a number of other references to or works of art under the same title, show up online (which we won’t get to here, being anxious to move on to the next subject.) But we’re left with that delightful feeling of having explored some hitherto unknown roads.

Almost last but not least, this one is part of the Alice Ellison Collection. The sender writes:

“Hello Cousin, Hope you are well now. Be good and come to see me. Also send me a postal if you please. Lentie.” The card is addressed to: “Miss Bessie Ellison, 26th & Cheyenne Ave., Pueblo, Colo.”

Lastly, the same postcard is showing up for sale online, in a couple of places at the time of this post, for between about one dollar and several dollars. Were this card in very good condition, I would be want to place the value at about $20.00 because of the history attached to it, but it’s certainly not in good shape, what with the missing left corner. If interested in purchasing, just make an offer.

Sources: Scheer, Ron. “Glossary of frontier fiction: B (buck ague – ‘By the Sad Sea Waves’).” Buddies in the saddle, September 28, 2013. Web accessed 27 Jul 2014.

U.S. Senate, Office of Senate Curator, Berryman Political Cartoon Collection. (compiled 1896-1949) National Archives identifier 6010614. Web accessed 27 Jul 2014.

Barret, Lester and Thomas, Lester, song By the Sad Sea Waves (1895). From monologues.co.uk Music Hall Lyrics Collection. Accessed 22 Jul 2014

Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery Trust. Your Paintings.
Copyright British Broadcasting Company. n.d. Web accessed 27 Jul 2014.

Brown, John G., painting By The Sad Sea Waves.
The Art Journal for 1878, Vol. 4. D. Appleton & Co., New York. p. 289. Web accessed 26 Jul 2014. (Google eBooks)

John George Brown. n.d. In Wikipedia. Accessed 25 Jul 2014.

Gyger, Alison. “Flower, Sara Elizabeth (1823-1865).” Australian Dictionary of Biography. 2005. Web accessed 24 Jul 2014.

Benedict, Julius and Lambert, J.L., Ballad By the Sad Sea Waves, National Library of Australia, Digital Music Collections, an14181939. Web. Accessed 30 Jul 2014.

Julius Benedict. n.d. In Wikipedia. Accessed 27 Jul 2014.

Cosham, I. L. poem By The Sad Sea Waves. The Fisherman. Vol. 1, No. 6, June 1895. The Gloucester Fisherman’s Institute. p. 96. Web. Accessed 27 Jul 2014. (Google eBooks)

Norton, Charles. Watercolor painting By the Sad Sea Waves. State Library of Victoria. Web.Accessed July 27, 2014.

Asilomar, Monterey County, CA

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Annieoakley

Divided back, used postcard. Postmarked circa 1915, California. Publisher: Cardinell Vincent Co. Mfg. San Francisco, California.

Price: $7.00

Y.W.C.A. Conference Grounds, Asilomar, Monterey Co., Calif.

The most likely year of this postcard is 1915. The last number in the postmarked year is hard to read, but it shows a young woman in a long skirt and a hat, the time period looks to be at the turn of the century, sitting on one of the seaside rocks, gazing out at the Pacific Ocean. The setting is as stated above, the Young Women’s Christian Association conference grounds, in Monterey County (Pacific Grove, CA.) The YWCA played a very important role in providing shelter to women at this time who were moving to the big cities in search of work. The YWCA offered vocational classes in subjects such as money management, sewing, cooking, and typing, and held meetings attended by students, staff and supporters, providing what must have been much needed moral support and practical advise for women trying to break through to the male-dominated work force.

The name Asilomar was the winning entry chosen from a YWCA sponsored contest. It was submitted by Helen Salisbury, a Stanford University student, and stands for “refuge-by-the-sea” from the Spanish asilo for retreat or refuge, and mar which means sea.

The location of the postmark is also hard to read. We see the letters ASTL? (Castle?). Card addressed to “Miss Ella Ellison, 1314 – F street, Sacramento, California.”

The sender wrote, “Dear Ella: ‘You don’t say.’ Of course I do. Having ever so good a time and the kiddies , I wish you could see them. The sun is sinking in the west (looks like it is drowning in the ocean. B.C.”

Source: “The Complete Story, Asilomar is Born.” Aramark. Web accessed 28 Aug 2014 [http://www.visitasilomar.com/history/asilomar-the-complete-story.aspx]

Helma Greiner

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Annieoakley

Here’s an old Real Photo Postcard of a beautiful German woman that was found at a recent San Francisco Vintage Paper Fair. (You can barely see the dotted lines on the back of the card, noting the stamp box which seems to confirm that this is an RPPC.) I bought this one for two reasons: I love the composition of this photo, the woman’s lovely profile, the gorgeous bit of ironwork just to her left, and secondly because she immediately reminded me of my grandmother – of course also beautiful – who was Felicitas Emma Maria (Voss) Oliver. My grandmother was of full German descent, from Cincinnati; both sets of her grandparents were born in Germany, so I was tickled but not really surprised to learn that Helma was German. Thanks so much to Sharon, who sold the photo to me, who kindly looked up all the information she had on Helma, which I’ve included below in her email to me:

“This woman was named Helma Greiner. I don’t know her parents’ names (possibly the mother was named Mathilde or Hilda) but Helma was one of 6 children from a well-to-do German family that for a short-time lived in Bologna, Italy (around 1880). Helma had a twin named Tilla who died at the age of 5. They were both born in Germany approximately 1878. Helma had another sister, Adelheid (Ada) and 3 brothers, Otto, Ernst and Adolf. Leaving Italy, the family went to live in Moscow for a while – perhaps 10 years, and lived there until the very early 1900s and then the family moved to Dresden, then Jena, Germany. This photo was taken, I think, sometime between 1905 and 1915. I can’t say for certain WHERE this photo was taken (Dresden or Jena). Ernst was killed in Belgium 1914 during WWI. Otto was also a WWI soldier but faked being goofy to avoid being sent into conflict.

They were a very lovely and attractive family (and all were blonde). Their descendant is an 80+ year old German lady with whom I met several times about buying the family photo albums – and she had many nice stories. A lovely lady. I think all the good photos of the family are already sold, but believe there are still a few of Helma during the “wandervogel” in Germany. Should I come across them in my “credenza”, I’ll let you know!”

Check out Sharon Karam’s website at www.darosieplanet.com with a link to her eBay store that has tons of way cool antique and vintage ephemera for sale.

Just on a last note, at least for now, I did do a quick search for Helma Greiner and family (nothing time-consuming, you understand.) Nothing jumped out at me in online records or family trees, but wouldn’t it be something if there was a relation to Helma and my grandmother, Felicitas. Maybe I’ll get around to searching later (for now – so much other stuff to put up – waiting in acid-free containers, of course.)

Real Photo Postcard in shades of brown and white, circa 1905 – 1915. Publisher unknown. Series or number: C44. Size: About 4 and 1/4 x 3 and 1/2.”

Price: $15.00

Amager Woman

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Annieoakley

Collectable card, circa 1880s to 1890s. Size: 5 and 1/2 x 3″

Price: $7.00

This was an unusual find that was tucked in a large group of old postcards for sale. It’s a cutout of a figure of a woman, (a cute little lady) wearing what was probably the typical dress of the day, and carrying a basket of fresh vegetables. Maybe she has just come from the market. The cutout was pasted onto the cardboard card, and the back shows that the same was done with the word “Amager,” so I think maybe this was part of a series available for collecting, showing different styles or traditional costumes from around the world, or perhaps just from many of the European countries. Amager is a Danish island in the Øresund, in which part of the Danish capital of Copenhagen is situated. The Øresund or Öresund, is a region spanning parts of Denmark and Sweden, centering on their two respective cities of Copenhagen and Malmö.

Sources: Amager. n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed 24 Aug 2014 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amager]

Øresund Region. n.d. Wikipedia. Accessed 24 Aug 2014 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%98resund_Region]

Artist John Paul Burnham

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Annieoakley

John Paul Burnham (1882 or 1883 – 1956)

See Agua Caliente Villa for our postcard by the artist.

According to the very helpful website AskArt, which we’ve accessed before for research, “John Paul Burnham was born in Illinois on August 14, 1883. John Paul was the son of architect Franklin Burnham, and a resident of Los Angeles by 1900. By 1910 he had a home in South Pasadena and was a magazine illustrator. He worked there as an artist until his death on Feb. 8, 1956.

Census records show that John Paul’s mother’s first name was Adelia. From this we find the marriage record showing that Franklin P. Burnham married Adelia S. Milliken on January 29, 1877 in Cook County, Illinois. Franklin was about age 23, and Adelia about age 20.

The 1880 Federal Census taken in Chicago shows the young family, including one year-old daughter, Jenni, living with head of household Paul, (John Paul’s grandfather) and Paul’s daughter Mary Orcutt, (Franklin’s sister) her husband, William Orcutt, and their daughter, May. John’s father, Franklin Pierce Burnham, became a well-known architect, and is listed on this census record under that occupation.

The 1900 Federal Census, taken in Los Angeles, shows Franklin, Adelia, Jennie and John Paul, age 17, dealer in bicycles.

By 1908, at about age 25, John was listed as having joined the staff of The Art Students League of Los Angeles, teaching illustration and composition.

The following clip from the Los Angeles Evening Express, October 14, 1909, indicates Burnham had a studio in New York City. He and fellow artist, Joseph D. Gleason, along with the crew and the rest of the passengers, had a close call in the Bermudas when their steamer, Antilles, went aground. “Angeleno” means being from Los Angeles:

The 1910 Federal Census for Pasadena, California shows he is living with his mother (widowed) and his unmarried aunt, Grace Milliken. At this time, he is working as an artist for a magazine.

By 1918, Burnham had gone back to the East Coast. His WWI Draft Registration card shows he was living in New York City and working as an art manager and artist at the ad agency Ruthrauff & Ryan. (On this record he gives his year of birth as 1882, rather than the 1883 stated above which shows up officially under the California Death Index.)

The Dartnell Advertising Agency Guide, compiled in 1924, shows J. P. Burnham with the above-mentioned, Ruthrauff & Ryan, now working as head of the art department.

Presumably, Burnham would have moved from NYC back to California sometime from 1924 through 1930 when he shows up listed as John Burnham on the 1930 Federal Census for Pasadena; occupation artist, and listed as a “guest” at the grand and exclusive Hotel Huntington. (Estimated date of birth on this record is 1887 but we know this is John because the AskArt website shows a Burnham painting of the Huntington.)

Below, a 1930 airplane passenger list showing John Paul traveling from Agua Caliente, Mexico to California. By chance, there are two other Burnhams on this record, husband and wife Frederic and Adda, but as far as we know, there was no relation:

The Smoketree School

Continuing on with our research, it seems that John Paul may have been best known for being a member of the “Smoketree School” of artists. According to a magazine article by author, Ann Japenga, John Paul Burnham was one of 27 artists who lived and painted in the Coachella Valley, California area. Burnham’s address was 147 S. Tahquitz Dr., Palm Springs, circa late 1920s.

When Japenga started writing about the desert artists of the early 1900s, she coined the phrase for their genre as being of the “Smoketree School” in the way that the Hudson River, New York area artists became known under that geographical heading, or that art critics refer to the “Eucalyptus School” because of the Eucalyptus tree being a popular subject for the California coast artists. (The smoke tree or bush is part of the native California desert vegetation, and has various shades of “smoky” pink flowers that bloom from June through August, with the leaves changing color to shades of orange, red and purple in autumn.) John Paul Burnham, according to one of two Japenga articles, was better known as a patron to the local artists. Among others in the desert art community were Agnes Pelton, R. Brownell McGrew, John Hilton, Axel Linus. See the prior post on our Laurel Cottage site for a beautiful example (albeit from a postcard) of Burnham’s work that he did in Tijuana, Mexico.

The 1940 Federal Census shows him living in Los Angeles, occupation artist and painting teacher.

_____________________________________________________________________

Sources: “John Paul Burnham.” AskArt. Web accessed 21 Aug 2014 [http://www.askart.com/AskART/B/john_paul_burnham/john_paul_burnham.aspx]

“Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871-1920,” index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N7XC-G4S : accessed 23 Aug 2014), Franklin P. Burnham and Adelia S. Milliken, 29 Jan 1877; citing Cook, Illinois, , Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm 1030100.

Franklin Pierce Burnham. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_Pierce_Burnham. (accessed August 23, 2014)..

Year: 1900; Census Place: Los Angeles Ward 5, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 89; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 0050; FHL microfilm: 1240089. (Ancestry.com)

“A Seed of Moderism: The Art Students League of Los Angeles, 1906 – 1953.” Traditional Fine Arts Organization. Feb. 29, 2008. Web accessed 22 Aug 2014 [http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/8aa/8aa6.htm]

“Angeleno Boys Saved From Steamer Wreck.” Los Angeles Evening Express, October 14, 1909. Thursday, p. 18. (Newspapers.com).

Year: 1910; Census Place: South Pasadena, Los Angeles, California; Roll: T624_87; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 0347; FHL microfilm: 1374100. (Ancestry.com)

Registration State: New York; Registration County: New York; Roll: 1765791; Draft Board: 105. (Ancestry.com).

Ruthrauff & Ryan. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthrauff_%26_Ryan (accessed February 2, 2024).

The Dartnell Advertising Agency Guide, 1925 Edition. (1924) New York: The Dartnell Corporation. (Google.com book search).

Passenger Lists, 1929-1954, and Crew Lists, 1941-1954, of Airplanes Arriving at San Diego, California. Microfilm Publication A3472, 10 rolls. NAID: 3950379. Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85. The National Archives in Washington, D.C.

Japenga, Ann. “Where Artists Thrived” Palm Springs Life. Web accessed 22 Aug 2014. [http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/Art-Culture/Winter-Spring-2013/Where-Artists-Thrived/]

Ann Japenga. PBS SoCal. https://www.pbssocal.org/people/ann-japenga (accessed February 2, 2024).

Brown, Renee, “History: Early artists captured beauty of valley desert.” The Desert Sun. July 17, 2014. Web accessed 21 Aug 2014. [http://www.desertsun.com/story/life/entertainment/arts/2014/07/17/palm-springs-history-desert-artists/12819525/]

Japenga, Ann. “The Smoketree School: Painters Respond to the Call of the Desert.” Palm Springs Life. Web accessed 24 Aug 2014 [http://www.palmspringslife.com/Palm-Springs-Life/Art-Culture/Winter-Spring-2011/The-Smoketree-School/]

Year: 1930; Census Place: Pasadena, Los Angeles, California; Roll: 169; Page: 16B; Enumeration District: 1250; Image: 396.0; FHL microfilm: 2339904. (Ancestry.com).

Coachella Valley. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coachella_Valley (accessed February 2, 2024).

“United States Census, 1940,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K9CV-8JN : accessed 24 Aug 2014), John P Burnham, Councilmanic District 5, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Township, Los Angeles, California, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 60-326, sheet 61B, family 557, NARA digital publication of T627, roll 402.

Agua Caliente Villa By John Paul Burnham

Posted on August 23, 2014 by Annieoakley

Price: $12.00

See the following post for more on the artist.

“Agua Caliente villa as seen from across the miniature laguna, under the cooling shade of ancient trees from which fern-filled ollas hang.”

1929 artist-signed Mexican postcard of a painting by John Paul Burnham, showing a view of the bungalows at Hotel Agua Caliente. The hotel bungalows were part of a grand Tijuana, Mexico resort, casino, race track and hot springs complex that was built in 1928, and was a major West Coast attraction for the rich and famous. (Movie star Rita Hayworth is said to have been discovered there while dancing in a show.) The resort was particularly popular since at that time Prohibition was in effect in the U.S. and gambling was also illegal in the States. With the change in gambling laws in Mexico the casino was closed down in about 1935 (another source indicates 1938) although the racetrack continued to operate for many years. Sadly, as so often happens, most of the buildings fell into disrepair and were destroyed. (Among others the notable minaret remains.) The hotel buildings were used as a school, but most of those were demolished and rebuilt years later. If you have the time, check out the websites below (and/or any others) as well as related images galore online. This short paragraph here is just by way of identifying the location of this postcard. See the post on this Laurel Cottage site for more about the artist.

Sources: “Agua Cliente & ‘the Boulevard.’ ” Tijuana Gringo, n.d. Web accessed 21 Aug 2014. [http://tijuanagringo.com/turinfo/tjmptx05.html]

Yannek. “Rita Cansino at Fox.” Hollywood Filmograph, Aug. 3, 2014. Web accessed 22 Aug 2014 [http://hollywoodfilmograph.com/]

Agua Caliente Casino and Hotel. n.d. Web accessed 22 Aug 2014 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agua_Caliente_Casino_and_Hotel]

Ain’t It Hot

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Annieoakley

This was a new one for me – the publisher logo on the back header of Zeus/Jupiter, but the card is nice, too, showing a couple of dogs commiserating on the fact that it’s hot, especially when one has a fur coat. A timely one to put up in August re the “dog days of summer.”

According to a wonderful genealogy site for Hertfordshire, U.K., this publisher, Langsdorrf & Co., who referred to themselves as “Fine Art Publishers,” started selling postcards in as early as 1901. Reference is made to a postcard found from this date with the same address that appears on our postcard here of 19 City Road, London. However, according to this same Hertfordshire genealogy source, Langsdorff & Co. didn’t apply for their trademark logo until May of 1906, and then appears to have stopped trading in 1914 with the outbreak of WWI. The “E.C.” after London in the address, stands for Eastern Central, and refers to a group of postcode districts in central London.

Divided back, unused postcard. Printed in Saxony (Germany.) Publisher: Langsdorff & Co., 19 City Road, London E.C. Copyright number 678. Circa 1906 – 1914.

Price: $5.00

Source: “The Langsdorff & Co. Art Postcards of Hertfordshire” Genealogy in Hertfordshire. June 2006 article with update November 2012. Web. Accessed 20 Aug 2014.

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Monthly Archives: August 2014