Wild Postcards

Here is what’s known as a piece of “ephemera” — an envelope I found being used as a bookmark, in a book that had apparently not been opened in quite a while. I love the fact that it’s simply addressed to the business name and the city, and it got where it needed to go. Robert B. Ely’s return address is preprinted, centered on the flap of the envelope on the back.

Alas, the Surf Building and Loan Association no longer seems to exist. However, 51 Piermont Street in Wollaston, Quincy, Massachusetts, looks like a nice place. Was Mr. Ely paying off this house, or another property? Did he build the house with the loan money? Does the fact that this business envelope was being used as a bookmark mean that employees found ways to goof off at work before Al Gore invented the Internet? Unfortunately, the answers to these questions are outside the scope of this blog. However, if you know the answer, feel free to share it with us.

Here is what’s known as a piece of “ephemera” — an envelope I found being used as a bookmark, in a book that had apparently not been opened in quite a while. I love the fact that it’s simply addressed to the business name and the city, and it got where it needed to go. [...]

This may look like a real photo postcard, but it’s actually a black-and-white photochrome postcard with a deckled edge. It was published by Dexter Press of Pearl River, New York.

Owens-Illinois was a key place in my family’s history. This from the obituary of my grandmother, Mildred Cossaboon, who passed away on 27 March 2008:

She was the daughter of the late Philip Nelson Smith and the late Charlotte Blanch (nee Arison) Smith. Born in Flatwoods, Fayette County, Pa., on June 30, 1923, she attended grade school in Franklin Township, Pa., and graduated from Dunbar High School, in 1942. Mrs. Cossaboon came, as did many others, to work at the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, in 1943.

It was there that she met my grandfather, a glassblower, and the rest is history.

Her cousin, John Hodinka (“Sonny”), also came to work there after his service with the 82nd Airborne Division. He’s a great man who is very proud of his service (and rightfully so), and would love to jump out of a perfectly good airplane even today.

Not surprisingly, he’s enamored with the Band of Brothers miniseries. He told me that he was watching the interviews and that one of the members of Easy Company was talking about how he went to work for Owens-Illinois in Bridgeton. (That man was Carwood Lipton, played in the movie by Donnie Wahlberg.) Sonny told me with surprise, “I worked with that son-of-a-bitch for five years and he never said a word.”

This may look like a real photo postcard, but it’s actually a black-and-white photochrome postcard with a deckled edge. It was published by Dexter Press of Pearl River, New York. Owens-Illinois was a key place in my family’s history. This from the obituary of my grandmother, Mildred Cossaboon, who passed away on 27 March 2008: [...]