The Cozy Book of Mother Goose

This colorfully illustrated book was published in 1926 by Whitman Publishing Company. 

I love illustrations of animals dressed and acting like real people!

The color illustrations in the book were done by Ray Gleason.  A quick Google of his name tells me that he illustrated a lot of books.

The black and white illustrations and hand lettering were done by Earnest Vetsch.  He also illustrated a lot of books.  I love the hand lettering in this little book.  It reminds me of Susan Branch's books and cookbooks.  (Did you know that Susan has a blog now?  It is fabulous!!  Go and check it out right now.

I would pick a puppy any day, too!

My mother used to bounce me on her knee and sing "To Market, To Market".

Don't know what to make of "Little Tom Twig".  That's one I hadn't heard before.

Love the border on the Humpty Dumpty page.

I was Little Bo Peep for Halloween one year.

The end! 

Madeline's Honeymoon

In an earlier posting I shared photos and newspaper clippings of Madeline's wedding.  Now we'll see where she honeymooned and what important artifacts she decided to keep as memories of the trip.

The newspaper article about the big day.  And here are some of their wedding gift cards:

One of the hotels they stayed in was the Penn Harris Hotel.  Here's the bill to prove it:

The name is spelled wrong, but at $6.60 a night I guess you don't complain!  Let's see what else she has to prove they were there -

The needle is missing, but the thread is still there.  Actually I'll cut her slack on this one.  I usually pick up the sewing kit at a hotel today because it's handy to have one in each room in case you need to sew on a lost button.  Here is the back cover.  It's actually very artsy:

She also kept the stationery and envelope:

The hotel comment card:

Luggage tags:

And this:

Only Madeline would save the soap cover!

This is the cover of a very nice map of PA from the PA Hotels Association.

The back cover, discussing post war life and travel.

A little booklet about the tavern at the hotel.

Back cover - the booklet tells the history of the tavern and surrounding area.

If I ever come across any photos from this trip I will be sure to add them to this post.  Hope you enjoyed coming along for the ride!

 

Kappa Delta Sorority and an Update

I came across a folder titled "Kappa Delta".  Inside were a few photos and letters from Madeline's college pals at the University of New Hampshire.  Kappa Delta was the sorority she belonged to and they kept in touch for many years after graduation.  Here's how they looked in college:

Madeline is second from the right in the front row.

And here is a photo taken on October 4, 2006:

She's the lovely lady in red in the back row.

Friends and keeping in touch were very important to Madeline.  She received so many Christmas cards and letters each year!  In the later years when her eyesight was failing I would read the letters to her when we came for our Christmas visit.  I've always wondered who the last Kappa Delta member standing from her class was. 

I have been busy working on the postcard collection.  I found another book filled with postcards from the same era.  I have just completed the task of sorting and filing the first book, putting each card in a protective sleeve.  Now I must start on the second book.  I also pulled a few boxes from the garage and went through them, combining like items and discarding the absolute "junk".  The story continues!

Vintage Postcards

I discovered this very old postcard album today.  It belonged to Madeline's mother-in-law, Mary Cullen.

It is very thick and as I opened it I realized that the pages are not holding up well.  Also, many of the postcards had fallen out and some pages held a big stack of cards like the photo above.  I briefly looked through and pulled out some to show.  There are so many postcards that I will have several postings about them.  There are many themes--patriotic, religious, holidays, scenic, and industrial. 

The timeframe for most of these is early 1900's.  Enjoy!

Since summer is about to start I'll start out with a beach scene. 

This next series is still inspiring today.  Madeline loved anything with a flag on it.

The above card was written by Mary's sister Elizabeth, telling her that a long letter was coming.

Postage for these cards was one cent.

This next series of cards was very amusing to me.  I call it "Hammock Love"!  I love how the cards tell a story.

And here is another series of similar cards.  I wasn't sure of the order for these, so I hope I got it right.  I call this "Love in the Meadow".

The last group are miscellaneous cards. 

I can't tell from the postcard what city this is, but maybe the great San Francisco fire?

Snow sounds pretty good right about now.  It's 90 outside.

Interesting picture.  Again, no info on back.  What is the significance of the "x"?

More to come . . .

Back at It!

This is a project of love, but it is a huge undertaking.  There are many boxes in our garage that need to be taken inside and sorted.  The problem with that is I always find something right away that I am fascinated by and sit down to look through.  Then an hour later there are dogs to walk, or laundry to be done, or meals to make.  And it may be a month before I get back to the box.  I don't ever want to feel that this is a chore and I know Madeline would never want me to feel that way, either.  So from time to time when I feel I need to take a break from this project I will not be updating the blog.  I hope those who enjoy these memories will understand that this is an ongoing project and I so appreciate your visits.  I am a strong believer in preserving our past as a way of improving our present and future. 

I'm ready to roll again and hope you will enjoy the amazing treasure I discovered today.  Thanks for your interest and support.