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I can't believe my Grandmother's nickname was Snooky.

Hot off the scanner, Sam Blam's high school yearbook from 1924!

Grandpa died when I was only four, so this has been a fascinating little window into his personality for me.  His class photo is on page 12. 

The caption reads:

Sam can argue, Sam can act.  Of his achievements 'tis hard to keep track.

Sam came to Bryant from PS1, Queens, in September 1921.  He has been an Owl agent, a BU Councillor, section president and captain of the Hand-Ball Club, a member of the Speakers' Club, Mathematics Club and the Spanish Club.  he has taken a very prominent part in the dramatics of the school, taking the role of the Duke in "As You Like It," and Demetrius in "Midsummer Night's Dream."  He has brought great honor upon himself by wikking a prize of fifty dollars in the Oratorical Contest.  This is a sufficient basis for predicting that Sam has a wonderful future as a lawyer in store for him.

He was also voted "Class arguer" (which I believe we would call "debater" as opposed to "ornery guy") and "Class most studious boy."

He also has a poem published on page 56 called "Tests (A Parody on 'Boots' by Kipling)"

For some truly terrible jokes, check out this yearbook's humor section, beginning on page 60.

Bryant High School Yearbook - 1924

I took a break from photos for this entry.  There are, in my box from Grandma, diplomas dating back to the 20s.  Grade school, high school, college, and something called the Alfred C. Bossom Diploma, awarded "for service as a citizen while a school student."

The next album is posted, go and check it out!
This album is marked 1929 -1938. It's got some cute pictures of kids named Monroe and Phyllis, some great vacation snaps of Grandma and Grandpa, and photos of their parents as well.

There's beach vacations, a hotel called Shady Glen, a hospital in Kingston, a place called Granite, and a boat trip on the Hudson River.  There are also honeymoon snaps from Lakewood at the Pines Hotel (December 1930).

We also meet Uncle Stanley.

There is a section of photos from a Washington DC trip in February 1937 (brr!) with "Miriam and Bub".
Most of these are souvenir photos (not taken by them), but there's a few shots they took of the Capitol, Supreme Court, from the top of the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the greenhouse at Robert E. Lee's home.

We also see some shots from January 1938 at Sam's workplace, a high school classroom.  Bub's in these, so I'm guessing he was a fellow teacher there.  The school is labeled PS3, and the students are of mixed race, which I found surprising for the period.

Unfortunately, there are some problems with this album.  Some of the photos are overexposed, and many are missing.  I found a pile of loose photos in the back of the album, and a bunch of pages where most or all of the photos have fallen out.  These include "Scenes at World's Fair, March 1938", "Teachers of PS3", and other shots mostly from 1938.

Enjoy!

Ida Blam's Album: 1929 - 38

Dear extended family,

Okay, it's been a while (since Thanksgiving!) since I scanned anything, so I've decided to set aside this Saturday night and finish the set of suede-bound albums.  There are two more, from 1927-29 and 1929.

These photos feature Grandma, Grandpa, and lots of people I don't know at a friend's farm, at "The Overlook Hotel", "The Crowl Karmel Hotel" (sp?)

There are a bunch of people who I do not recognize, so please, the Huckmans or the Sommers are, please comment on the appropriate photos.

One surprising thing is to see Grandma behind the wheel of a car, since we know she never got a license until she took drivers' ed with my mom.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get the first set of photos out.  After scanning that one photo on Mom my scanner broke (I think it was on its last legs for a while).  Then I ordered our new multi-function printer, which was DOA.  Then I sent it back and got another one.  It's much faster and better than my old standalone flatbed scanner, and this first album was a breeze.

So, I was working from home yesterday, and Patty wound up working late, so I took the opportunity to scan in Grandma's oldest photo album.  It's just black construction paper with the photos stuck on the pages from sheer time at this point.  The cover is a piece of suede with an Indian head on it (this was before we had Native Americans ;) ) and "1925 1926" handwritten on it.

I was listening to This American Life while doing this, and they were broadcasting stories about people who live alone.  The first story was about a woman whose job it is to investigate the lives of people who die unclaimed, and find their next of kin.  They often have no evidence in their home of having any family or friends.  The contrast to what I was working on didn't hit me until halfway through, and it made me proud of this project.

Anyway, check out the first album, and please leave comments if you know any back story about the photos, or can identify anyone aside from Ida and Sam.  The album has names in the captions, but I don't necessarily know what the relationship was.

Since I've been back from my trip, I haven't blogged very much.  I've been busy with the new house, new job, new wife, etc.  But now that the wedding is over, and we've settled into our new place, I'm going to try to start my next project for this blog.

Last year, my grandmother passed away while I was in Turkey.  As the family went through her belongings, I asked them to set aside her photos for me, with the idea that I'd scan and upload them, making them available for the whole family.

Well, it's a mammoth task.  There are albums going back to Grandma's time at summer camp!  But I'm going to take it a little at a time, and whenever there's a new set of photos available, I'll post here.  It may take years, but no time like the present to get started.

Hey, I'm an uncle ... again!  This is Patty's new niece Sally.

We surprised my family for Thanksgiving.  They had no idea we were coming back.  We just showed up for Thanksgiving dinner.  I got to spend the weekend with my new niece!

For those who are interested, the map of our travels is up to date.

After Thanksgiving, we drove out to Pittsburgh to visit our friends Bryan and Joy.  From there, we visited Fallingwater, and made our way to Shenandoah National Park.  Then we drove down the Blue Ridge Parkway to Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  We did some great day hikes all along the way, and saw lots of deer and even a black bear!

While we were at Smoky Mountain, we stayed in Pigeon Forge, home of Dollywood.  No, we didn't go.  We did play black light mini golf, though.  I swear, this town is Vegas goes country, right down to quickie wedding chapels featuring hillbilly ministers and wedding receptions of "nuts and mints" for $4/head!

From there, we made our way to Atlanta, to visit my cousin Karen.  We started going through Grandma's photos, which I now have in storage and will begin the task of scanning when things settle down a bit.

From Atlanta, we drove to Rogersville, AL, home of a couple we met on the ferry from Italy to Croatia.  They put us up for the night and showed us around their beautiful county.  We had a really fantastic visit with them.

Then we drove through an ice storm in Oklahoma to get to Dean's place in Sedona, AZ.  From there, we all drove to Sonoma to bottle the wine from the grapes we picked last year.

A couple of days in the Bay Area, and then it was up to Portland, for a night with my old buddy Scott, and then finally up to Seattle, and Patty's family for the holidays.

That's the quick rundown.  We're here for a few weeks, and then what, we don't know!

11/15/07

We're sitting on an air-conditioned ferry to Dar es Salaam from Zanzibar.  Just one night in Dar, and then we board a plane for NYC. Zanzibar was the perfect cap on our African experience. 6 days of worry-free beach relaxation, including a snorkeling excursion with dolphins.  We actually got a very nice view of about a half dozen swimming around each other, apparently mating.

11/16/07

...entry interrupted on account of puking.  Weird.  I've never been seasick before in my life.  Those seas were pretty rough and stormy, though.

I was very grateful to arrive in Dar.

We got off the ferry and shrugged off all the cabbies to walk the few blocks to the YMCA.  Walking around this city with our big backpacks made us big targets for pickpockets, as we couldn't run after them.  We're pretty savvy by now, though, and though I was carrying my wallet in my pants pocket, there was only a little bit of cash in it, and nothing else.

Several guys tried to pickpocket me, but they were rank amateurs.  They each tried the bump and swipe technique, without a partner, and each time, I protected my wallet.  The last guy was really obvious, and I actually smacked his hand away from my pocket.  Later, in the room at the YMCA, I went to throw away my used ferry ticket, and noticed it was missing, from that pocket.  One of those guys got quite a haul :)