Friday Fotos (February 14, 2014) -- Another Big Snowstorm Just In Time For Valentine's Day

The federal government offices in Washington, D.C. were closed yesterday.  It is the second time this winter that federal offices have been closed. The snowstorm that caused it this time came north after devastating the southern coastal states from Georgia on up. At last count sixteen deaths had been attributed to this storm.

As can be seen in the pre and post-dawn photos above, we received a foot or more of snow and it continued to come down heavily into the afternoon. There were virtually no cars on the road except a rare driver that, as Governor Nathan Deal of Georgia said, must have had his/her "stupid hat on" yesterday. 

The only sound outside was the sibilant fall of snow as it hit the pine needles and few dead leaves still clinging to the oak trees. The only movement was an occasional bird leaving some shelter looking for the feeders.

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All photographs by the author. 

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Those Places Thursday (February 13, 2014) --The Fillmore East

The Fillmore East was a legendary music concert venue in Manhattan from March 1968 to June 1971. It was a theater that sat about 2,700 people and served as the east coast sibling to the San Francisco music venue of rock promoter Bill Graham known as the Fillmore Auditorium (later "Fillmore West"). The Manhattan venue was originally (1925 - 26) a Yiddish theater called the Commodore Theater and later became the Loews Commodore movie theater when Loews Inc. took it over.  It had fallen into serious disrepair when Bill Graham acquired the building in 1967.

Graham turned the former movie theater into a premier venue for rock & roll acts and it became known as "The Church of Rock and Roll." For the three years of its existence, Fillmore East showcased almost all of the famous rock acts of the time.  The Grateful Dead were regulars and groups such the The Beach Boys, the Allman Brothers Band, Crosby Still Nash and Young, Led Zeppelin, The Byrds, Sha Na Na, and numerous others played there. There is a long list of rock albums that had some or all of their songs recorded live at Fillmore East.

I was an undergraduate and graduate student at Rutgers in New Brunswick, New Jersey for much of the 1970s and since Manhattan was a short train or bus ride from New Brunswick, I attended several rock concerts in New York over the years. I went to shows at Fillmore East on at least two occasions that I can recall.

The first time I went to Fillmore East was in October, 1970.  John Mayall, It's A Beautiful Day, and Flock played as shown in the program pages immediately below.

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Photographs of the Fillmore East program for October 9 - 10 , 1970 from the original program in the collection of the author.

For more information about Fillmore East and a photo gallery, see the website of the Fillmore East Preservation Society at http://www.fillmore-east.com  and the Wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fillmore_East

For more information about John Mayall, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mayall

For more information about It's A Beautiful Day, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_a_Beautiful_Day

For more information about Flock, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flock_(band) 

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Wordless Wednesday (February 12, 2014) -- The Obituary For My Great Grandfather, Samuel E. Carpenter

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1929 clipping probably from the Providence Evening Tribune. Original clipping in the collection of the author.

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2014, John D. Tew

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Military Monday (February 10, 2014) -- The Mystery of a World War I service medal presented to Everett S. Carpenter

Depicted here is a World War I service medal presented to my maternal grandfather, Everett Shearman Carpenter (Feb. 22, 1891 - Jan. 6, 1962).

This medal was presented not by the federal government, but rather by an organization called the "Barryville and New Village Relief Association." Thus far I have not been able to find out more about this organization other than the single hit obtained in a Google search for "Barryville and New Village Relief Association." The single search result is a link to WorthPoint.com where an identical medal is shown as having been sold at auction on December 10, 2006.  The auction listing states that Barryville is a town in Sullivan County, New York.  It sits on the Delaware River across from Shohola, Pennsylvania, but no information is available from the site about a "New Village."  With respect to the medal itself, the site states, "Scarce; this is the only one I have seen."

  

The reverse side of the medal reads as follows: "Presented to [above a blank engraving scroll] by the Barryville and New Village Relief Association in grateful recognition of his service in the WORLD WAR."  In very fine print at the bottom left and right are the words "W. & H. Co." on the left and "Newark, N.J." on the right. My grandfather's medal is in a heavy brown-paper folder that identifies the W. & H. Co. as "The Whitehead & Hoag  Co., Newark, N.J.  Fine Bronze Medals & Badges." 

This medal now presents a bit of a mystery because my grandfather never lived in the state of New York except for the short time he spent at Watervliet Arsenal north of Albany, New York -- which is almost 150 miles northeast of Barryville. This raises the question of why the "Barryville and New Village Relief Association" would present a World War I service medal to someone who was born, raised, lived and died in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

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Photograph of the World War I service medal is from the original medal in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Saturday Serendipity (February 8, 2014)

Saturdays often allow a more leisurely approach to life than work days. I can more easily post links to some blog posts or other materials I have discovered during the week, or even to those discovered during a Saturday morning coffee and extended surfing of the blogosphere/internet.

Here are a few recommendations for inclusion on your reading list.  It is a short list this week due to an early appointment this morning.

1.  I have occasionally mentioned here on The Prism a book that I think is worth reading for those interested in history and genealogy. Nancy at My Ancestors and Me blog posted a recommendation on her blog this week.  Nancy glowingly recommends "Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin" by Jill Lepore. Jane was the sister of Benjamin Franklin.  Since I am within 20 pages of finally finishing "The Bully Pulpit" by Doris Kearns Goodwin (an excellent read by the way), I think this recommendation from Nancy just earned a place in my "To Read" pile.  As Nancy says in her review, we tend to know very little about the lives of women in the 1700s because of the role most women were assigned in life at the time and because reading and writing were not part of the child bearing, cleaning, cooking, sewing world they were most often supposed to occupy. Beyond a biography of Jane Franklin, Nancy assures us the book is also "the history of society, a chronicle of events during the 1700s in New England, an annotated genealogy of a family, and a social history of the life of women at that time."  How could anyone with deep roots in early New England not want to read this book?  Thank you Nancy for bringing this one to our attention!

     

2.  "Assignment: Compare and contrast function vs. beauty in three examples of organizational charts depicting genealogy, business structure and modern war (in 500 words or fewer)." 

Most of us have had to deal with organizational charts that attempt to convey complex ideas graphically; some are more successful than others and can transcend into things of beauty even if their accuracy and functionality prove to be wanting -- others simply fail on all accounts.  Here is a real life 2009 chart that attempts to graphically depict for the Joint Chiefs of Staff something about the war in Afghanistan (what is anyone's guess).

The Vault provides two examples for our compare and contrast assignment.  

First, have a look here at what is apparently considered the first formal business organization chart.  It is an 1855 chart to depict the organizational structure of the New York and Erie Railroad. Its tree-like structure radiating out from a central subject brings to mind some genealogy charts -- and that is a nice segue to the second chart for comparison and contrast. Here, The Vault provides a beautifully illustrated 1873 pedigree chart for George Washington.  The only problem is that its visual appeal is undermined by the fact that its substantive content is wrong.

3.  Judy Russell at The Legal Genealogist has a nice review of copyright law arising from a reported instance of large scale flatbed scanners being made publicly available in a major research library.  "Copyright and the book scanner" is a should read. 

4.  Here is a new resource to me, but many of you might already be aware of it.  Thanks to Janine Adams at Organize Your Family blog for pointing the way to this web site of U.S. maps old and new.

5.  Quiz time . . . Here are two lists of girls names: (1) Charlotte, Seraphina, Olivia, Violet, Elizabeth, Isla, Sophia, Laura, Caroline, Ava; and (2)  Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret, Ruth, Anna, Mildred, Elizabeth, Frances, Marie. Which is a list of the most popular girls names in the U.S. 100 years ago, and which is a list of the most popular girls names in 2010? Click on the links of the list numbers to find the answer. [No cheating . . . write down your answer and have it notarized before checking to see if you are correct!]  

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Friday Fotos (February 7, 2014) -- Story Land in Glen, New Hampshire

Molly (in shorts) at age 6 exiting the Pumpkin Carriage ride at Story Land in New Hampshire

In 1954 Disneyland opened in California. California, however, is a long way from New England and so not many New England children made the pilgrimage to Disneyland that year or in the years immediately following the opening.  

New England children did have a magical place to go in 1954 even if it was not Disneyland. The place was called Story Land and it was located in Glen, New Hampshire.

Story Land was the idea of Bob and Ruth Morrell.  While living in Germany in the early 1950s when Bob was serving in the Army, they befriended a woman named Edith Von Arps.  Frau Von Arps made dolls based on characters in classic fairy tales and she sold them door-to-door. The Morrells eventually bought about 25 of Edith Von Arps's dolls and when it came time for the Morrells to return home to the United States, Frau Von Arps suggested that they build a tiny village around the dolls when they got home.  This suggestion was the kernel of an idea that grew into an amusement park that is still in business today.

The Morrells began their business with the dolls as a theme and an idea to add rides for children and their parents.  The first and only ride when the park opened in 1954 was a tractor ride -- 15 cents for children and 25 cents for adults. In short order other rides were added more geared to fairy tales and the characters portrayed by Frau Von Morrell. By the time the park was approaching 50 years old, the park had expanded to encompass 35 acres and it had more than 20 theme rides for children and their families.  

In August 1958, my wife Molly was just barely six years old when she, her parents, and her older sister and brother visited Story Land during its fourth season of operation.  Molly is shown above walking out of the Pumpkin Carriage ride.

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Photograph digitized from a color slide taken by Daniel J. O'Kane and in the family collection.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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Those Places Thursday (February 6, 2014) -- NOACs

The Participant Patch for the 2000 NOAC

To medical professionals and the pharmaceutical industry, NOACs are "New Oral Anticoagulants" used in treating certain kinds of heart disease or anomalies. For members of the Boy Scouts of America, however, NOACs are the National Order of the Arrow Conferences that occur about every two years.

The Order of the Arrow or "OA" has been described as the "national honor society" of the Boy Scouts of America. It was founded in 1915 by Dr. E. Urner Goodman and Carroll A. Edson at the Treasure Island Camp of the Philadelphia Council.  The camp was located on two islands in the Delaware River between Point Pleasant, PA and Frenchtown, NJ.

The Order is built around themes and traditions of the American Indian and members of the Order are known as Brothers or Arrowmen. Somewhat unusually, membership in the Order is based on selection by other Scouts who are most often not themselves members of the Order of the Arrow.  Selection is based on an election where members of a Troop annually select those Scouts in their troop that they believe best exemplify the ideals and goals of Scouting. Eligible youth must have attained the rank of at least First Class and have a certain level of camping experience.

Once Scouts are nominated for membership via an election, they then attend an Ordeal weekend following their call-out at a ceremony during summer camp or at a district-wide camporee. The Ordeal is set up to safely test a candidate's commitment to service and self-sacrifice.  Candidates participate in a welcoming campfire ceremony conducted by youth members in Indian garb.  The ceremony emphasizes the meaning and goals of the Order and "service to others." Candidates who wish to become members then take a vow of silence and agree to spend a day of "arduous labor" doing camp improvements and other service projects. They also agree to receive little food during the day of the Ordeal.  Once they agree, they are led into the woods to spend the night alone with no shelter before rising early the next day to begin silent service to others through their labors.

There are more than 180,000 youth and adult members of the Order of the Arrow today and they represent about one-seventh of the total membership of the Boy Scouts. Since 1953 there have been no honorary memberships bestowed in the Order. [Franklin Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower were two honorary members before such memberships were ceased.] There are no "ranks" within the Order, but there are three levels of "honor": Ordeal; Brotherhood; and Vigil. Our sons and I are members of the Order of the Arrow. Both sons were youth members of the ceremonies teams and our younger son was a member of a ceremony competition team that competed at the National Order of the Arrow Conferences in 2000 and 2002.

A National Order of the Arrow Conference or NOAC is a multi-day event that almost always takes place on the campus of a large university during the school's summer recess.  Thousands of Arrowmen from OA lodges around the country participate in these events to attend leadership courses, engage in sports competitions, ceremonial competitions, Indian dances, Indian culture courses, patch trading, and fellowship.  The first actual NOAC was held in 1948 at Indiana University.  Since then there have been thirty-one NOACs at universities such as Michigan State, Iowa State, Colorado State, Rutgers, Purdue, U. of Texas (Austin), U. of California (Santa Barbara), the Universities of Wyoming, Kansas, Illinois, and Nebraska among others.  The next NOAC will be held in 2015 at Michigan State University. Indiana University has hosted ten NOACs thus far, the most of any university.

Each NOAC has a theme that is based on concepts and quotes from the Order of the Arrow ceremonies.  Participant patches, neckerchiefs and other items display the theme for the NOAC as shown in the items depicted in this post.

Official neckerchief for the 2000 NOAC

In 2000, our younger son and I attended the NOAC held at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) as delegate members of a contingent from Amangamek Wipit Lodge 470, of the National Capital Area Council.  It was the third time a NOAC had been held at UT Knoxville. The others were in 1977 and 1992.

The special combined pocket patch and 'hanger" for
Amangamek Wipit Lodge 470 delegates to the 2000 NOAC

In 2002 our younger son also attended the NOAC held at Indiana University.

The Participant Patch for the 2002 NOAC 

  

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Photographs by the author of items in the author's personal collection. 

For more information about the Order of the Arrow see, http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/BoyScouts/OrderoftheArrow.aspx and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Arrow

For more information about NOACs, see, http://history.oa-bsa.org/node/3202

For a list of all the NOACs and other Order of the Arrow national events, see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Order_of_the_Arrow_national_events
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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew
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Wordless Wednesday (February 5, 2014) -- Suggested Captions Solicited Via Comments . . .

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Original photograph in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2014, John D. Tew

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