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Fred Turner, the instructor for this class, identifies himself as a "History Scrounge," meaning he finds old bits of minutia from the past not only fascinating but useful in family history. He reminded us that before the internet, the only forms of communication were telephone, telegraph, and postal service. This may include love letters from your parents, V-Mail, ration books, old magazines, cancelled checks, and postcards. | Fred Turner, the instructor for this class, identifies himself as a "History Scrounge," meaning he finds old bits of minutia from the past not only fascinating but useful in family history. He reminded us that before the internet, the only forms of communication were telephone, telegraph, and postal service. This may include love letters from your parents, V-Mail, ration books, old magazines, cancelled checks, and postcards. | ||
Turner described how he found an old wooden boxcar in Moriarty owned by the Crossley family and got their permission to go through it. The current owners said that the contents were a bunch of junk from their mother dating back to 1914. Turner showed photos of many of the items he found and explained how they are useful in family history research. Because many of these photos are copyrighted, they can't be posted on this website. | Turner described how he found an old wooden boxcar in Moriarty owned by the Crossley family and got their permission to go through it. The current owners said that the contents were a bunch of junk from their mother dating back to 1914. Turner showed photos of many of the items he found and explained how they are useful in family history research. Because many of these photos are copyrighted, they can't be posted on this website. Instead, below are descriptions of some of the images that include tips on how they are useful in your family history research. | ||
Turner showed images from old magazines including hand drawn and hand painted covers, old advertisements, and articles about what was going on during the time. These publications help you better understand what life was like for your ancestors. Some of the magazines are still in existence, such as ''[https://www.cappersfarmer.com/ Capper's Farmer]'' (practical DIY advice--Turner's cover was Vol 46 July 1935), ''[https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=delineator The Delineator]'' (an American women's magazine from 1873-1937), ''[https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=lhj Ladies' Home Journal]'' (1883-2016), and ''[https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/issues/?issue-year=1950 The Saturday Evening Post]'' (issues back to 1821). Some of these websites have online archives of back issues that you can view, although some may charge a fee. | Turner showed images from old magazines including hand drawn and hand painted covers, old advertisements, and articles about what was going on during the time. These publications help you better understand what life was like for your ancestors. Some of the magazines are still in existence, such as ''[https://www.cappersfarmer.com/ Capper's Farmer]'' (practical DIY advice--Turner's cover was Vol 46 July 1935), ''[https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=delineator The Delineator]'' (an American women's magazine from 1873-1937), ''[https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=lhj Ladies' Home Journal]'' (1883-2016), and ''[https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/issues/?issue-year=1950 The Saturday Evening Post]'' (issues back to 1821). Some of these websites have online archives of back issues that you can view, although some may charge a fee. | ||
Turner had some postcards that were also hand drawn and hand painted. Besides the lovely artwork, you can glean information from the written messages, names, addresses, stamps, and postmarks on the reverse sides. One of the postcards Turner showed was the N & W Coal Piers in Norfolk, Va., which you can see an image [https://www.cardcow.com/370168/new-nw-coal-piers-lamberts-point-norfolk-virginia/ online]. | Turner had some postcards that were also hand drawn and hand painted. Besides the lovely artwork, you can glean information from the written messages, names, addresses, stamps, and postmarks on the reverse sides. One of the postcards Turner showed was the N & W Coal Piers in Norfolk, Va., which you can see an image [https://www.cardcow.com/370168/new-nw-coal-piers-lamberts-point-norfolk-virginia/ online]. Another postcard was postmarked June 2, 1953, from Sussex England and had a photo of Queen Elizabeth II commemorating her coronation. Turner told us that his parents made him watch the entire coronation on an itty bitty black and white TV when he was a child. | ||
Turner also showed images of an Estancia NM Drug Store calendar from 1966 that included recipes, household hints, tips on entertaining, first aid, a fishing guide, astronomical data, farm information, food facts, and coupons. | Turner also showed images of an Estancia NM Drug Store calendar from 1966 that included recipes, household hints, tips on entertaining, first aid, a fishing guide, astronomical data, farm information, food facts, and coupons. Other images of local interest included a sheep grazing permit, mortuary receipts, photos of the Crossley gas station from mid-1900s, | ||
An 1898 copy of ''Child Stories as Related By Dwight Lyman Moody in His Revival Work in Europe and America'' was another treasure Turner found. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_L._Moody Moody] was a 19th-century evangelist. | An 1898 copy of ''Child Stories as Related By Dwight Lyman Moody in His Revival Work in Europe and America'' was another treasure Turner found. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_L._Moody Moody] was a 19th-century evangelist. | ||
More items of interest were several issues of ''The Railroad Telegrapher,'' a monthly magazine of the Order of Railroad Telegraph Operators first published in the late 1800s. Turner reminded us that back then communication was by telegraph. | More items of interest were several issues of ''The Railroad Telegrapher,'' a monthly magazine of the Order of Railroad Telegraph Operators first published in the late 1800s. Turner reminded us that back then communication was by telegraph using Morse Code. | ||
Another item of interest was an old invoice for a yearbook of the new ''Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia''. The invoice was an old computer punch card that was to be returned with payment. Turner told us how he worked with old style computers in his early career, and communication with these computers were by punch cards. | |||
== Class notes for 2022 == | == Class notes for 2022 == |
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