This week I’m right on the theme at Sepia Saturday. In honor of our host Alan, and his trip to New York, I give you Bill and Dick’s Excellent Adventure.
A few years ago, when I could still afford to go to estate sales, I arrived late at one after most buyers had already emptied the house. To my astonishment I found an old photo album on the coffee table. Why was this left? What about it did not entice a buyer?
The album consists mostly of a trip two fellows took across country in 1914 between May 5th and June 5th. Their trip originated in San Francisco. Most of the images are just one or the other, Bill or Dick, sometimes both, posing for the camera. They’re not great photos, just ordinary snapshots. Usually there is nothing significant in the background to indicate where they are; you have to read the handwritten caption across the bottom of each image. What took my eye was the included typed journal; simple log of what they did each day. Nothing special unless we look at it with our eyes 97 years later. Then it becomes a bit of a treasure.
As you look at the images and read the journal remember that at this point World War I had not yet begun. Within weeks of their return to the San Francisco Bay Area the world was at war.
Click on any image to see it larger.
There are two big mysteries never solved about this book:
Who took all of the photos of Bill and Dick together in the various locations? There was no other person traveling with them.And...who are those ladies at Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and at the top of the Statue of Liberty? They are never mentioned.
I may not be able to get around to all fellow Sepia Saturday posters until next week so I apologize for being late with my comments.
UPDATE: I got to thinking about the ship which is mentioned when the fellas toured the harbor. I did a little digging and found the following links about the Hamburg-American Liner Vaterland. Not long after the fellas saw here she was seized by the U. S. and was eventually turned into a troop ship.
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