The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: The Ladies

Oh to be out and about with these ladies on a glorious Spring day, having lunch, getting their photo taken, and then parading in their fine hats. I could use a day like that after dealing with computer problems for days. It's amazing how one little non-virus piece of errant software can do so much damage to one person's life. These ladies could never even imagine what we have at our fingertips today, nor the stress these things can cause.



I will imagine myself in the photo and how the rest of the day would unfold. I'm time traveling as I write this.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: Another House

No information about this house.


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Click on image to see it larger.

I'm wondering if this is one of those occasions when the little one story structure on the right was built first when they claimed their land; with the two story structure a later addition.

What I'd really like to know is if the house is still standing in Nebraska.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: Gertrude

Most of the images I have of Gertrude are when she was middle-aged or elderly, so this was a joy to find. When I scanned this very faded image I had no idea it was her. Working with it in Photoshop it was almost like watching an image appear in a developing tray. Slowly as I applied image adjustments I began to see her face. It's nice to see her in her youth.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: Men

This weeks Sepia Saturday photo was taken at the Potsdam Conference in 1945. These were the men, the small group of men, who made decisions that would affect the lives of the rest of the world. This is as it always will be. There will always be one group in control while the rest of us get on with our lives.

The photos below were taken long before the Potsdam Conference. These photos were taken long before World War I. But these men, their lives, were still shaped by what happened far from their prairie homes. The decisions made by the ruling class had consequences which directly affected them.




Click on either image to see it larger.

Two men from Nebraska, their photos faded to being merely ghost images, are long forgotten, just as what happened at Potsdam is forgotten. And yet these men are just as much part of our history as the small group of men who made the decisions for the world. All of them gone now, all of them ghosts from the past. But only a handful of men made an indelible mark that the rest of the world remembers. These Nebraska farmers had a much smaller sphere of influence and may not be remembered by anyone.

This week I have I have been featuring photos from an old album that once belonged to Gertrude Helen Rich Bowen. Perhaps you remember past posts about Gertrude the schoolteacher from Nebraska. If not you can see other posts that featured Gertrude by clicking on her name in the labels section.

To see the other posts from the album:

the Rich family, a photo so faded that I had no idea there were so many people in it until I brought it back to life,

the family home on the Nebraska prairie,

the barn with the work horses,

and the children of the prairie.

Over the coming days there will be more images from this album.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: The Children

These little fellows are lost to history, but fortunately their images were not lost through time. This photo was one of the few images that wasn't merely a ghost of its former self.

Life on a Nebraska prairie had to be beautiful, lonely, exciting, and heartbreaking.


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Does anybody have an idea what the structure in the background might be? I'm guessing it had something to do with hay.

Let's take a moment to wonder what these little fellows might have been looking at. Take a look at this image at National Geographic of a prairie with a rainbow.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: The Work Horses

The family work horses with the house off in the distance. On a snowy cold Nebraska morning that would be a real trudge through the snow to get to the barn.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM: The Rich Home

I have no proof, but I believe this was the Rich family home in Nebraska. This may be where Gertrude Helen Rich (Bowen) grew up. I love the round upstairs window. You will see it again tomorrow when you see the barn.

Imagine standing at that window as a storm blows across the Nebraska plains in the winter. The highest point around from which you can see the horizon and more of the same. How many people simply went mad staring off into the distance which never seemed to end? How many found poetry in their souls for what they were seeing?


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And in the summertime what were evenings like sitting on the porch? From a distance it would have been seen as lights at different levels breaking up the unending horizon.

The GHOSTS IN THE LITTLE FAMILY ALBUM of Gertrude Helen Rich Bowen

Some may remember posts I did several years ago about a woman named Gertrude Helen Rich Bowen; Bowen was her married name. She had a son named Arthur. All of the photos, several hundred, were bought at a flea market for $10 (known as the Ten Buck Box in the labels). Many were severely damaged, but there was enough to make it an interesting find.

One of the items I most prize from the box is a little cardboard photo album held together by a ribbon. Alas, the ribbon long ago broke off due to my constant looking at the album. Truth is, it was barely hanging on after being tied there over 100 years ago.

The images in the album are mostly faded to the point of just being ghost images. That's okay, because these days we don't have to accept ghost images thanks to Photoshop. So, don't think of these as images as having any monetary value. These are the ghosts from Nebraska around the beginning of the 20th century.




Click on either image to see it larger.

Just to give you some context, in case you don't click over to see other pages, Gertrude Helen Rich was born on December 21, 1885 in Nebraska. She became a school teacher. I'm guessing this photo, which is on page one of the album, is of her family. I'm not sure which one, if any, is Gertrude. I'll let you look at the other links and decide for yourself.

I will be featuring the photos for about the next two weeks, not including if I participate in Sepia Saturday.

To see previous posts about Gertrude click here, here, and here. You can also click on Ten Buck Box in the labels.

Okay...NAME THIS CAR!

Another photo from the Arthur Bowen estate. This photo was also taken in Germany in the early '50s. Any ideas?


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NAME THAT CAR!

Arthur Bowen, son of schoolteacher Gertrude Bowen, was living in Germany in the early 1950s working for the U.S. government. He wrote postcards home to his mother about wanting to buy a car. Amongst the photos from his estate were a couple of photos of cars. Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to figure out what this car is. I already know because he wrote the information on the back. 

Any guesses? I think you'll be surprised by this one.

Click on image to see it larger.

STRANGERS at the CARNIVAL

Have you ever been to a carnival when it's virtually devoid of customers? There's an eeriness to all of it. It's sort of like clowns; you know it's supposed to be a happy place, but without all the people covering up the ugliness it just becomes a bit creepy.

These photos are from the Ten Buck Box and most likely were taken by Arthur Bowen around 1951 when he was living in Germany. Arthur is Gertrude's son.

Look at these and tell me what you see?

Click on any image to see it larger.

I can't stop thinking of the finale in Strangers On a Train.

THE PARTY is in full swing

I hadn't even noticed this shot went with yesterday's shot of the musicians. I had it separated into a different envelope. There are, I believe, 12 large envelopes full of photos and ephemera from the Ten Buck Box.

This is proof there was a party. These are the ladies of the party. If you look closely you'll see the band still sitting next to the building off in the distance.

Still no information as to where this was taken. Time period would be late 1940s to early '50s. Neither photo has any information on the back. Usually for photos that Arthur took he had them processed in Wiesbaden and there is processing information on the back; no such luck with this and yesterday's image.

Click on image to see it larger.

Take a moment to imagine the sights and sounds of the party. The little band sitting in the warmth of the sun playing a little swing while others drank, smoked, and chatted. No raucous noise; nothing amplified. Hoping they had a good time. Also hoping food was provided, though there's none to be see in either photo.

THE PARTY was just getting started

Another vintage snapshot from the Ten Buck Box.

I believe the fellow standing at the fence may be Gertrude's son, Arthur Bowen. As I've mentioned in a previous post he was in the military stationed in Germany following the war. At some point I believe he became a civilian contractor of some sort for the US government, still in Germany.

Perhaps this shot was taken on a military reservation in government housing. I really have no idea where it was taken; no information is provided on the verso of the image.

It appears these folks are getting ready for a party. It looks like there are several containers full of cold beer against the fence. The lady and the gent, probably the mixologists for the evening, might be studying a "cookbook" which means it probably got more interesting as the evening wore on.

The band consists of drums, fiddle, and guitar. The fellow shading his eyes is holding something, but I don't know what it is. Perhaps a flute?

So what do you think was their speciality? Bluegrass? Swing? Bach concerto? Bloody Mary's?

Let's hope a good time was had by all, including the neighbors who were hopefully invited.