Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Out of focus

Do you remember what it was like? When you didn’t have the perfect camera on your phone to capture all life’s memories. Many times getting a photograph took planning and patience. Sometimes you’d run out of film and if you weren’t prepared, you might not get the shot you really wanted. And if you didn’t advance the film, you might get stuck with a double exposure. Not to mention developing and printing the photos. It took a lot of time to get them back and for you to see how they developed. Sometimes the results were like this photo of Jean, a little out of focus.

In the 1930s, owning a camera was a significant step toward documenting life. There were various camera types that catered to a photographers needs. The selection was endless from the easy to use Kodak Brownie, to 35mm cameras like the Leica and professional cameras that enabled photos to have a depth that was missing from the earlier camera models. However, image quality was limited by lens technology and film speeds, especially in low-light conditions.

Here we have a photo taken from Cousin Jean Bourscheidt’s scrapbook of our Jean and a friend. While the photo itself is fuzzy it’s not so out of focus that we can’t tell it’s Jean. I just love how she’s sitting with her legs tucked under her. You can just see where her socks are. The collar of her dress is so cute, it looks like there might be something embroidered on it, but unfortunately we can’t tell. She looks so cute holding a little paper parasol. There’s nothing on the photograph stating who the other person is with Jean. But they look like they’ve been having a good time.

This photo reminds me that even though things may sometimes get a little out of focus that’s when we need to slow down to ensure that all our photos are in focus and our prints are sharp and clear.

Posted on by Michelle Anderson

Mail Time!

It’s so much fun to get mail. Nowadays, mail means that someone cares enough about you to send you a card or letter. In Jean’s day, it was another form of communication. Mail could move quickly and was cheaper than making a phone call. And Postcards are a lot of fun. You could send a photo of whatever exotic location you were at back home for everyone to see.

All these photos are from Uncle Fred Bourscheidt. And they all have just his signature on them. This one was sent in 1930 and is postmarked from Kingston, Jamaica. I tried to enlarge it to see if I could read what he’d been writing. While at first it looks like he wrote Dear mother, Catherine died in 1928 so he wasn’t writing to her – but perhaps Father – for Brother. And the erased it (luckily he had been writing in pencil) and sent the postcard to our Jean.

This postcard is from Jean’s collection, of which I have shared some in past years’ blog posts. Jean was an excellent writer, and even when she’d just send a postcard, it would be full of exciting news and left you feeling unique and loved. I think I’m gonna see if I can find some postcards to send out to friends and family because who doesn’t like to get some mail?

Posted on by Michelle Anderson · 2 Comments

Mail Time

Don’t you just love getting mail. I think that today so little people send mail that it’s special when we receive some. I hoard my handwritten letters and cards keeping them in my desk too look back on.

Here we have a postcard that Uncle John Wenke sent to his sister Rena in 1919. The postmark is September 13, 1919 in Yellowstone, Wyoming. It is addressed to her at the family home they shared in Peoria at the corner of Rohman and Sterling Avenues. It appears that John also put that the house had a Rural Route address.

Yellowstone was established as the nations first National Park on March 1, 1872. Signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant, America’s first national park was set aside to preserve and protect the scenery, cultural heritage, wildlife, geologic and ecological systems and processes in their natural condition for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations. Yellowstone encompasses 3,472 square miles (2,221,766 acres) which makes it larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

While Uncle John got to see the Teton’s and wonders of Yellowstone in person, I’m glad Rena saved it so that we have this record of his trip. To me it’s just as beautiful as the park is.

This is as close to deciphering Uncle John’s penmanship as I could get. It’s faded in spots and he used very little punctuation. Uncle John writes on 9-11-1919: Well I am at Old Faithful Hotel now. Having a fine time will write a letter after I get through the park for I’d not have any time here with go all the time. John