And THAT is Why Laptops Were Invented!

This week was busy…still is busy. On Wednesday we visited with Jo An Fox to scan some AMAZING images from the Roger Fox photo collection. Just check out this shot of the Sheriff’s Department from the early 1900s. Love it!

Unfortunately, I might be tech savvy, but I’m certainly not portable. Packing up my printer/scanner/copier/fax machine? No problem. Kari volunteered her Mac laptop. It seemed like an ideal setup. But once we got there and got to work, the limitations of an ancient laptop became apparent. It was taking minutes between each photo to get the software ready to scan again. Add to that my clumsiness with both laptops and Macs. It turned ugly. After almost three hours I decided enough was enough and I returned home to disassemble my desktop computer, loaded it into the car and returned to Jo An’s house. In about three hours we had not gotten through one notebook of photos. Once I was set up with my own computer we got through three notebooks in like an hour and a half! But that still left two notebooks. Luckily everyone was able to gather again this morning and complete the project. And on the bright side, pulling my computer apart gave me a great excuse to do some major cleaning in my office!

It was a really great time. As if it wasn’t enough that Jo An was letting us paw through the entire collection, she got in on the research and was making calls left and right to help us dig up information. She even lent us a lightbox! Wow, now that is a truckload of help! And she was a simply delightful hostess while we invaded her home for two straight days. It’s going to be a happy day when we can deliver copies of our book to Jo An because I don’t know if it is possible to thank her enough.

History Hiding in Clear Sight

A couple months ago I was talking to someone about how Mount Vernon doesn’t do a great job of presenting their interesting history. He asked me, “Have you seen the plaque about the log jam?” No, I hadn’t! I *know* about the log jam, but I had never seen a plaque about it. “Well, it’s up there on the revetment somewhere”. I made a mental note to search out this item of interest.

In my mind’s eye I was envisioning a small plaque on the railing, or one of those state sponsored historical plaques you see all over the place—a pole with a metal sign. A couple weeks later I was making a quick run to a store downtown. I parked in the place I always park when going downtown, got out of my car and looked up to see this: That’s no rinky-dink plaque, that is a full on memorial! And it is beautifully crafted--a true work of art.

And I had parked next to it dozens of times! In my defense, you have to walk up a ramp from the parking area to get to the walkway that this borders. But really? How had I missed that so many times? And how does everyone miss this? Most people I talk to don’t know the first thing about the infamous log jam. It seems simply crazy, how is history managing to hide in plain view like this? Perhaps we all need to look up from our cell phones more often...

Our Dream Remodel

Let us present to you the ugliest building in Downtown Mount Vernon; we’re talking ugly with a capital UG:

Now that is merely our opinion. People might disagree, but we happen to find this building sad and depressing. We thought that before, but then we saw what it USED to look like:

Are you kidding? Nope, that is the very same building. Turns out the ugly was installed over all that gorgeous brick! We also found out that the top floor has a huge ballroom. What we wouldn’t give to see that building restored to its former glory!

Speaking of Dancing…

Who remembers school dances? Did you love them or hate them? Were you the Belle of the Ball or an awkward wallflower? Either way, I’m pretty sure school dances were a regular occurrence in your youth. A rite of passage if you will.

So imagine our surprise when we were looking through documents at the district school office and came across a file of documents all about school dances! Apparently it was a raging controversy back in the 1930s. There were multiple petitions from high school students asking for the right to have dances. There was a letter from Kathryn Hammer Heron (class of 1934) describing how her parents and their friends hosted a Senior Dance at the Skagit Country Club since the School Board refused to allow school dances. According to Kathryn, “It is my recollection that it was such a beautiful occasion for all, the school board soon relented and the Senior Ball, the Junior Prom was born.”

We aren’t sure when the school board relented, because the controversy seemed to continue, or reemerge, in 1936. Once again there were multiple petitions from students. We also found anti-dance letter from First Baptist Church (it was so “Footloose”!).

There was a bulletin, dated October 16, 1936, stating, “The subject of school dances was presented to the school board last evening by a committee of students. The board passed two motions. In one they complimented the committee and expressed their appreciation for the courteous and business like manner in which the committee presented the subject. In the other they thought it unwise for the school as such to assume the responsibility for the sponsorship of dances.” D’oh!

On the bright side, Superintendent J. A. Reeves wasn’t ignoring the students. He sent several letters to principals throughout the area asking about school dances and how they were handled at other schools. Eventually that information was compiled and strict rules were created to govern school dances. The next time we return to the school district office, we might have to dig into the school board records and see if we can find more information. In the meantime, let’s take a moment to celebrate formerly uncelebrated pioneers—the students that established school dances!

Way to Make Me Feel Old

We have had some real jackpots when it comes to getting photos—collectors with tons of images from which to select the best and most interesting. But we also have an extensive list of “single targets”. Random things on our wish list, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a picture of _____?”

One image I wanted was something from the first production of “The Nutcracker” by Skagit Valley Academy of Dance. This institution has been teaching kids to dance for almost 27 years now. In 2011 they put on their twenty second annual production of “The Nutcracker”. Twenty-two years with no end in sight? That sounds like history to me!

My daughter happens to be a student there at the moment, so for the past four weeks, when I drop her off, I’ve been harassing the lovely ladies that work there about getting a picture from their first production. They finally located a huge display they had made two years ago titled “Twenty Years of Clara”. Every single Clara was pictured with descriptions of where they are now. It was downright fascinating!

And the money shot:
The first Clara, in 1990, Renee Kinnear pictured with the Prince, Ralph Fandel. Take a not-so-crisp photo, scan it in grey-scale and suddenly it looks way older than twenty-two years, I think. Now for some personal history, I graduated high school in 1990. Oh man does this photo make me feel OLD!

Boxes and Boxes, Oh My!

This week we’ve been delving into boxes of negatives from Mark. Each box contains dozens of envelops, each envelop contains large old negatives. All these negatives are from photographer Bill Forman. For years he worked as a commercial photographer in Mount Vernon. Being a commercial photographer meant taking pictures of a lot of various topics: weddings, funerals, roads, parties, store fronts, construction sites, sports teams, etc. It is the most amazingly random assortment! Luckily these negatives, which have spent many years in storage, are in pretty good shape. Every now and then we come across some negatives that are beyond repair and it is kind of sad. But we are so excited to look at all these images that have been hidden from the world for so long!

Sadly, we don’t possess a light table. We didn’t really anticipate working with so many negatives. Luckily the first day we had lots of natural light. Today I discovered that the light over my kitchen table is the perfect strength to stare into while it backlights a negative—not too strong, not too weak. Of course my neck will probably be cursing me for so much looking up…

I spent the morning pulling the specific negatives we want to use from the first huge box. Then Kari dropped off a second, smaller box, along with the report that there are two more huge boxes waiting for us. The first box had a lot of gems, but I’m not going to reveal *all* our secrets. This second box, not so much. I think I found four photos that are book-worthy. That box had a lot of portrait work, weddings, storefronts, and my personal favorite, batches of damaged car photos for an insurance company. There were even quite a few serious accidents, like this one. Didn’t I tell you that kitchen light works great?

I can’t wait for boxes Three and Four!