Exploring Western Massachusetts: Ephemera

Showing posts with label Ephemera. Show all posts

Friday, July 30, 2010

The War for the Union Pictorial Envelope - Great Barrington, Mass.

The War for the Union - Pictorial Envelope - Great Barrington, Mass

Each community in Western Massachusetts was expected to send its quota of men to fight in the war between the States.

Early on, when patriotism and war fever were high, volunteers and money were easily found and the war effort flourished. But, as the Civil War waged on and the true cost of union began to be felt, volunteers became fewer and far-between and towns struggled to keep up with their quotas.

Bounties grew higher and higher to attract recruits and it is said that men would sometimes move into the towns that paid more lucrative bounties for enlistment. Towns strained the limits of their budgets and their male populations to provide for the defense of the Republic, ultimately requiring state aid to meet expenses.

Many ladies aid societies sprang up, raising funds to provide necessities and support for the fighting men of Western Massachusetts and the families they left behind.

For an excellent accounting of Berkshire County's cost in blood and treasure in the Civil War, penned in 1871, just five years after the defense of liberty prevailed, visit the genealogytrails.com webpage: Berkshire County, Mass. in the Civil War featuring, A History Of Massachusetts in the Civil War, written by William Schouler at: http://genealogytrails.com/mass/berkshire/civilwar.html.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.

Image source: Civil War Treasures from the New-York Historical Society, [Digital ID, nhnycw/aj aj04029]
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/cwnyhs:@field(DOCID+@lit(aj04029))

Sunday, April 18, 2010

The Second Annual International Bicycle Club Meet at Hampden Park, Springfield, Mass.

The Springfield Bicycle Club, organized on May 6, 1881, hosted the second annual International Bicycle Meet in the city's Hampden Park over the three days of September 18, 19 and 20, 1883.

Although the meet held the previous September had garnered a respectable interest, drawing a crowd of 12,000 participants and viewers, the second surpassed all attendance figures of the first and, for a time, held the record for highest attendance of such an event nationwide.

Perched along the east bank of the Connecticut River a bit south of the North End bridge, well-groomed Hampden Park was highly-regarded as one of the finest such venues in the country, with a half-mile bicycle track, a one-mile trotting track and a base ball diamond as well as easy access to transportation and city amenities.

The Milton Bradley Company was responsible for the fine lithography of this colorful moment captured in time.

As always, thanks for stopping by and take care.

Image source: Library of Congress; American Memory Collection; http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?pp/ils:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a50896))+@field(COLLID+pga))

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Advertisements: Insurance Agent Ink Blotters

In the days of nibs and ink bottles, advertising blotters were as ubiquitous as business cards are today. Used to catch excess ink from the writing tips of quill and fountain pens, paper blotters disappeared from everyday use with the advent of the ball point pen in the mid 20th century. Here are a couple of examples of blotter advertising recently shared with EWM by historian Barbara Shaffer, featuring Westfield insurance agent, S. A. Allen & Son.

S. A. Allen & Son's office was located in Gillett's Block, on the corner of Elm and Arnold Streets. The building, designed by Westfield architect, Augustus Holton, was opened for occupancy in 1899 and today is home to Westfield Gas & Electric, the municipal utility. Along with running his insurance company, S. A. Allen was president of Westfield's First National Bank.

S. A. Allen's son, Charles Turner Allen, met an unfortunate fate on the night of June 11, 1903, when he fell three stories to his death in the hose tower of Westfield's Arnold Street fire station. An inquest conducted by Judge Willis S. Kellogg the following month concluded that young Charles died as a result of his own carelessness, raising himself 34 feet above the concrete floor by a life-belt attached to an old rope used for lifting fire hose for drying and storage, despite being warned not to go so high. Even the insurers need insurance.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care. (And thank you, Barbara, for sharing these interesting pieces of ephemera!)

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Advertisements: Hope In A Bottle, Circa 1885

Living in the age of enlightenment, when no bit of information can escape the sticky tendrils of the omni-accessible world-wide web, it stands to reason that rational, deliberate thought-processes and conclusions arrived at through simple research will generally control our impulsive human natures. We all know that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is: Right? After all, those are human footprints on the Moon, the atom dances to our tune and the sound barrier has been broken (as anyone who has been to a Who concert can attest to). We is smarter today than they was smarter yesterday.

Here are some health-related advertisements from the dark-ages of the 19th century, culled from the Gazetteer of Berkshire County Mass., which was published in 1885 and authored by Hamilton Child. It's hard to believe folks bought into this stuff.

I'll be right back. I have to go change my toxin-draining foot pads and make myself another herbal tea, guaranteed to make me lose 30 pounds in 30 days. In three months I should weigh about 65 pounds, which is the ideal weight one has to be to make a PVTA bus seat comfortable. Speaking of the PVTA, I wish my bald spot would start filling in. I've been using the scientifically-formulated hair-growth shampoo I bought for months now, but it doesn't seem to be working (I must be applying it incorrectly) and there's a very attractive woman on the bus I'd love to talk to. No worries, the pheromone-based, aerosol opposite-sex attractant, with full satisfaction or my money-back (in classic Musk Ox scent) that I ordered should be arriving any day now. She'll definitely notice me then. That is, if she ever stops listening to that How to Get Fit in Your Sleep audio-book on her iPod.

Have a cough? A bit of a cold? Tuberculosis? This advertisement features a product that is a "sure cure" for all of those things. Of course, if old Aunt Emily passes even after consuming the cure-all "in season," 'tis only that she didn't drink it soon enough to constitute "timely use." Silly old Aunt Emily. A day late, and now, a dollar short.

Okay, there is nothing funny about charlatans preying upon ill folks' fears. In the above advertisement, Dr. S. D. Merriam makes this shameful claim: "I tell your disease without asking questions, putting my finger upon any ache or pain, thus pointing out the diseased organ. By this means I am enabled to prescribe successfully in all diseases." Nope, nothing funny about a pitch for false hope. Until, that is, one reads further, where Dr. Merriam promises, "A forfeit of $500 wherein I fail to reduce a large, fleshy person to any weight desired." Snicker. Yeah sure, once the neglected true illness kicks in, you'll drop all the weight you can stand to lose and more. Okay, that's not funny either. How did this guy sleep at night?

"Eating plasters?" I don't even want to know.

Not all physicians or pharmacists were snake-oil peddlers. Many supplemented their legitimate pharmacopoeia with other merchandise for sale, including toiletries, tobacco and stationery. And, of course, there were the ever-popular, "pure liquors for medicinal use," as offered at Henry F. Shaw's drug and jewelry store on Depot Street in Dalton.

J. S. Moore advertised "A full line of all the popular Patent Medicines of the day," available at his establishment, but at least he didn't expand upon their effectiveness as an investment. He saved that for his guarantee of an eight-percent return on money entrusted to him as an agent for the Minneapolis Loan and Investment company. I don't know. I'm not sure I'd want my interest compounded by the same person who compounds my prescriptions. A glitch in the market and one could go "belly-up," in the very literal sense of the term.

Some old advertisements give one that warm, down-homey feeling inside. Need "family medicines?" Just "give us a call." We're here for you. Not only that, but you'll find "no lower prices in town." Makes a person want to go browse M. S. Manning & Son's "full line of TRUSSES AND SUPPORTERS," which are obviously special enough to warrant a full-throated yell in ALL CAPS. And, don't forget, there's "no extra charge for fitting." However, if the item does not fit you, there will be a small fee.

Out of all the advertisements here (which are all of the health-related pitches to be found in Parts One & Two of the Gazetteer), I think the one showcasing Fred Gillmor's retail concern would be the most effective lure of my patronage. In the advertisement, Mr. Gillmor is genuinely excited to introduce his new pharmacy to the public. He describes his stock without bragging or throwing around false claims and he's thankful that the well-mannered folks in the Lee area are receptive to his entrepreneurial efforts. Mr. Gillmor knows he has to provide quality service to build his customer-base and he seems sincere in his intention to do so. Plus, he has the "largest and choicest" selection of candy in Southern Berkshire County. I am so there. On the way, I can stop at the Post Office and mail out my order for this stuff I saw on television that promises to add three inches to my...um...height. Yeah. Height. That's the ticket.

As always, thanks for stopping by and take care.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Map: Bird's-eye View of North Adams, 1881

North Adams was both old and new when this bird's-eye view map of the town was created by H. H. Rowley & Company in 1881. Settled as part of East Hoosuck Plantation well over a century prior to the captured scene, North Adams was only three years into being a stand-alone town under this lithographed sky, officially separating from the neighboring town of Adams on April 15, 1878. Coincidentally, 1878 was the year of Adams's centennial anniversary, that town having been incorporated in 1778.

This map and many others are available to study and download on the Library of Congress's (LOC) American Memory Map Collections web site. You may find it helpful to save the above image to your computer and manipulate it (zoom in, etc) in a photo program from there. The images below are the six scenes at the bottom of the map cropped for individual appreciation. Captions in quotes are from the map.

"Arnold Print Works"

North Adams was not immune from the economic fate that befell most New England mill towns, and its manufacturing base steadily dried up over the course of the twentieth century as jobs disappeared, culminating in the closing of the 56 year-old Sprague Electric Company (which at one time employed thousands) in 1985. With Sprague's closing, the vast 26-building Marshall Street complex it had occupied stood empty a second time. Arnold Print Works, established in 1860 and the former occupant of the site - a firm which had also employed thousands of residents in its manufacturing heyday - had vacated the premises in 1942 for smaller facilities in Adams. But from the ashes arose the Phoenix: Today the 13-acre site is home to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MassMoCA), which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year and which has helped establish North Adams as one of the cultural centers of Western Massachusetts.

"D. J. Barber's Tannery"

North Adams at the height of its manufacturing boom was home to a variety of industries besides textiles, including shoe, brick and cabinet makers. An ironworks in town hammered out the steel plates that formed the armor for the ironclad ship, the Monitor, during the Civil War. In 1885, there were ninety-six farms in town.

"Wilson House, F. E. Swift, Proprietor"

The four-story Wilson House hotel, with its distinctive uneven parapets, opened its doors to travelers in 1866. Located on Main Street, the hotel underwent renovations in 1872 that included installing central steam heat, an amenity surely welcomed by visitors during the cold North Adams winters.

"Drury Academy"

Born from a $3,000 bequest acquired with the generous Nathan Drury's passing, North Adams's Drury High School continues to bear its benefactor's name 166 years later. The original Drury Academy was built in 1843 as a private school. In 1851, the school went public, opening its doors to all local high school students free of charge. The original school building was razed in 1867 and replaced with the one in the image above. Today, Drury High School is located on South Church Street, moving into its 'new' building in 1976.

"The Hoosac Tunnel West End"

Nicely situated on the Hoosic River, North Adams grew and prospered early on as the mills along its banks flourished in production and trade. By 1875, when the seemingly-impenetrable wall of the Hoosac mountain range was breached with the completion of the nearly five mile-long Hoosac Tunnel, North Adams had established itself as a respected industrial center, with over seven decades of manufacturing history to back it up. The coming of the railroad only served to enhance this position. The first freight train passed through the tunnel between Florida and North Adams on April 5, 1875.

"Glen Woolen Mills"

The Glen Woolen Company was incorporated in 1880. By 1886, under company president Sanford Blackinton, the firm had a workforce of 100 folks producing 20,000 yards of fine-quality cashmere fabric per month. Blackinton was also president of the S. Blackinton Woolen Company, which was established in North Adams in 1876. Within a decade of incorporation, the S. Blackinton Woolen Company employed 350 workers who produced 60,000 yards of fine cashmere monthly.

Here's a link to an excellent web site devoted to the Hoosac Tunnel:

http://www.hoosactunnel.net/index.php

And the official web site of the City of North Adams:

http://www.northadams-ma.gov/

And to the largest contemporary art museum in the country, MassMoCA:

http://www.massmoca.org/index.php

As always, thanks for stopping by and take care.

Map source: Library of Congress Geography and Map Division; Digital ID: g3764n pm003125 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3764n.pm003125

Sunday, March 1, 2009

The Federal Theatre Project Visits Mt. Park Casino

The taxpayer-funded Works Progress Administration's (WPA) Federal Theatre Project put some of the nation's unemployed actors to work during the last depression. Writers and artists, too, were sustained through those lean years by the massive get-to-work WPA program, instituted by executive order in 1935 and funded with a nearly five billion dollar initial outlay by Congress. Public works projects commenced, as well, under the auspices of the WPA. According to Indiana State University's Lilly Library WPA web page:

"By March, 1936, the WPA rolls had reached a total of more than 3,400,000 persons; after initial cuts in June 1939, it averaged 2,300,000 monthly; and by June 30, 1943, when it was officially terminated, the WPA had employed more than 8,500,000 different persons on 1,410,000 individual projects, and had spent about $11 billion. During its 8-year history, the WPA built 651,087 miles of highways, roads, and streets; and constructed, repaired, or improved 124,031 bridges, 125,110 public buildings, 8,192 parks, and 853 airport landing fields."

Folks in Western Massachusetts benefited from many of the economic stimuli the federal government was using to try to kick start a hungry nation way back when. Roads and parks, plays and displays...somehow America muddled through those hard times to get here...er... more hard times. Well, okay then. Here we are. Let's build some cool stuff. Let's fix some roads and bridges. Let's clear some trails. Let's not forget the artists and most of all: Let's laugh. It's free.

Here are some posters from the WPA Federal Theatre Project - found in the archives of the Library of Congress - advertising shows at Mountain Park Casino, Holyoke, Massachusetts.

July, 1938

August, 1938

September, 1938

As always, thanks for stopping by and take care.

More on Mt. Tom and Mountain Park from EWM:

A Ride on the Mt. Tom Railroad, Holyoke
Holyoke, Massachusetts: Mountain Park (c1900-1915)
A Misty Morning on the Bray Loop Trail

Poster sources:
1: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpapos:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3f05478))
2: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpapos:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3f05472))
3: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/wpapos:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3c12626))

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Leftovers: Westfield's So's Restaurant Menu

Perhaps in hope of nudging Spring awake, I've recently begun sifting, sorting and scrapping the contents of the assorted accumulated partitions and containers chock full of yesterday that clutter my apartment and mind. Funny what one can find in the hidden recesses of trunks and cellars, attics and memory.

This seventies-era menu from Westfield's famous and much-missed So's Chinese-American restaurant brought thoughts of growing up in Westfield. When Sunday meant the inevitable line of hungry folks snaking out the door of the popular restaurant up Elm Street.

Back when Burger Town (sure, the meat was questionable...but for seventeen cents a burger...) occupied the northwest corner of Orange and Elm and the Donut Shop on the opposite corner was still the Donut Shop. On the way to school, it was daily magic to walk through the warm, heaven-flavored donut steam pumping out of the the wall vent into the cold air of a Westfield winter morning. It was a treat to stop for a donut and hot cocoa. Sometimes there would be change left for penny candy at Rasta's store, which always smelled so good of cigars and tobacco. If one was flush with funds - say fifty cents, or so - a balsa-wood airplane or a Tales from the Crypt comic book or the latest Mad magazine could be had there as well. And empty cigar boxes galore - free for the asking - great for organizing desks and crayons and saving baseball cards and storing things like...well, this menu from simpler days...

As always, thanks for stopping by and take care.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Westfield's Grant & Besse Clothiers Tradecards

One New Year's resolution here at EWM is to cull through the clutter scattered in ever-multiplying folders and sort the scribbled notes on scraps that sometimes don't make it, found in a pocket of just-washed jeans or tossed in a drawer with an old grocery list. The reason being, of course, is to find forgotten treasure, tucked away for a future post and still gathering dust.

The scans below are just such a find. Generously shared by historian Barbara Shaffer, these images were clipped paper-doll fashion from advertisements for Westfield clothiers, Grant & Besse, located at 94 Elm Street in the Gowdy Block.

For more examples of Grant & Besse advertising trading cards - which tend to be spare-no-expense good as far as cover art - check out offerings at the Paul J. Gutman Library Digital Collection.

And from the Victorian Tradecards section of the Digital Collections of Miami University Library advertising Christmas gifts for 1886 :

http://doyle.lib.muohio.edu/u?/tradecards,1773

http://doyle.lib.muohio.edu/u?/tradecards,1774

As always, thanks for stopping by and take care.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Westfield's Traffic Problem & Other Items From 1938

Westfield is a great little city. But let's face it, the burg has issues. Traffic issues to be precise. Is it any comfort for the weary commuter to know that the monkey of motoring mayhem has been riding on the back of many a generation of Westfielder? Imagine the interruptus horribulus that must have plagued the town in 1900 or so, when North Elm Street was dug out to flow under the railroad tracks, thereby avoiding the constant interruption of the lowered crossing-gates for train traffic that had been frustrating through-traffic for years. Things apparently being shorter back then, the engineers didn't scoop quite enough dirt from the new underpass and, as a result, its 11'5" height has been a long-time snare for many a truck driver caught unawares.

Traffic issues, specifically on-street parking habits, were also on folks minds in 1938, according to this article (following two images) in the January 28th issue of The Westfield Advertiser:

Am I the only person who thinks that the line, "The city is getting an unfavorable reputation abroad from visitors who find themselves in trouble here." Is a little over the top? I mean, was some guy in Marseilles overheard complaining about Westfield traffic? Nevertheless, the article is interesting. But the intersection of Main and Elm Streets is still a nightmare for pedestrians. It helps to wear running shoes.

Believe it or not, this newspaper came from inside the walls of my parent's house, put there by some cold soul who had come before them for its insulating properties, however meager they may have been. In 1938 times were hard. Seventy years later, the shadow of those uncertain days threatens to overtake us once more. Here are some more scans from The Westfield Advertiser and others...

More Westfield news of 1938.

A & P was a popular grocery chain in the Western Massachusetts area for decades. During high school, I worked at the now-closed Westfield A & P, which by then had moved to 47 Franklin Street from the Main Street location shown in the advertisement. I can still smell the fresh-ground 'Eight O'Clock Coffee' whirring in the big red grinders stationed at the end of each checkout counter. Mmm...

One of A & P's competitors, First National Stores.

I can remember my mother using Vick's Vapo Rub on us when my brothers or I were sick, but I consider myself extremely fortunate to have appeared on the scene long after the Cod Liver Oil cure craze. Then again, I do remember Fletcher's Castoria...ugh.

Headstones, heels, heat and haulers. Just three numbers away.

Anyone remember sock-sliding on just-waxed wood floors fresh with the smell of Johnson Paste Wax?

From pitchforks to pianos, books to bassinettes: What a selection!

Silk for a hundred cents.

Snuggies, flannelette pajamas, blankets: Makes a body feel all warm and toasty.

Mackinaws and mufflers and tailored ties, Jack's was the place to go for men's fashion in Westfield.

Ninety-six ice cubes and delivery for just five bucks down?! (Not to mention the "Super powered Rotorite Unit!") Sold!

Hmmm, a loan on just a signature. Sounds familiar. McWallStreet: 700 Billion (unde)Served.

Buy now, pay later!

Six tube, seven tube, whatever it takes.

Dynotrol II. Cool.

Lest anyone think folks were having fun in 1938, muddling through the dark days of the Great Depression, looking at advertisements in newspapers they're stuffing in the wall for insulation, at things they can't afford, here are a few newspaper front pages from the time. Some of the headlines are as chilling as a Sears Coldspot.