Oil mystery from the Hotel Brazos

Here's a page from an undated letter, written on a Houston hotel's letterhead circa 1910 (judging by the letterhead image). Page 6 is all I have here, plus the unnumbered backside (so page 7, too). But it's enough to generate a mystery and shift one's imagination into high gear.


Something's going on here with an oil discovery near the Houston area I would assume. Here's what transpires after the missing first five pages:

But somehow they are afraid of something, and therefore will all be dead by the time oil is discovered--and, even further, if they sold an option outright at a good figure which would make them rich, they would at least have the benefit of money whether there is oil or not. It's very hard to make. Some people see this.

Now, if after a few more days, I know where I'll be, I will telegraph again, so you can send mail once more. Then, you all may have something to tell me that I do not think of now.

Love to dad and all the family,

Your loving son,
Parkey(?)

Do with this letter as you wish.

Who's writing this letter? A young man is writing to his mother, obviously frustrated over a failed business deal. Perhaps he's a landman for an oil company trying to secure drilling rights.

Who's the property owner who will die before oil is discovered on his property?

And why does the mystery writer instruct his mother to do with the letter as she sees fit? Some reason to destroy it? Show it to someone else? Hide it?

A bit of intrigue and mystery here, but the answers lie in the first five pages lost to eternity. The oil fields around Houston those first few decades of the twentieth century were ripe for discoveries. Some property owners evidently were not impressed with what they'd seen or heard and wanted nothing to do with oil companies and drillers on their land or anyone connected with them, such as the frustrated writer of this letter, or the company he represented.

Maybe that had something to do with the downside of such speculative ventures, as outlined in these paragraphs from the Texas State Historical Association's Texas Almanac:

Spindletop, which was also the first salt-dome oil discovery, triggered a flood of speculation in the area, resulting in several other significant discoveries. The boom included an influx of hundreds of eager wildcatters – including former Governor James Stephen Hogg – lusting after a piece of the action, as well as thousands of workers looking for jobs. Right behind them came a tidal wave of related service, supply and manufacturing firms, such as refineries, pipelines and oil-field equipment manufacturers and dealers. It was California's fabled Gold Rush of 50 years earlier repeated on the Texas Gulf Coast with rotary drill bits and derricks instead of pick axes and gold pans.

The boom turned into a feeding frenzy of human sharks: scores of speculators sniffing out a quick buck; scam artists peddling worthless leases; and prostitutes, gamblers and liquor dealers, all looking for a chunk of the workers' paychecks.

Documents from the National Archives

For historical paper that really matters, check out this site from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/

sample screenshot below

Each day, a new document with interesting and educational content is featured. I've got an RSS feed for it in the side bar of this blog (to the right). Enjoy!

Eugene O'Neill playbill

I've got about half-a-dozen drafts of blog posts cooking here and none of them ready to serve up. I wanted to post something and keep the blog alive, so I reviewed some of my old posts on another ephemera blog and found something appropriate.

This is a 1963 playbill for Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, which I found tucked away inside a worn copy of the book of the same title. The play was being performed at the McCarter Theatre of Princeton University during October and November of that year. As a playbill, there's nothing remarkable or interesting about it, except it features an up-and-coming young actress in the play and a concert ad for a young singer-songwriter beginning to make his mark in the music world.

First, the ad. Flipping through the program I came across a concert ad for Bob Dylan, "America's newest folksong sensation" appearing in person November 16th, his only college appearance that fall. And shouldn't that be "America's newest folksinging or folksinger sensation?"



Grammatical correctness aside, as I flipped through the pages, I also found the star of the play, whose photo on the front cover I hadn't recognized... Olympia Dukakis. Ahh, I thought she looked familiar.


So what else might be in this playbill? More plays that Ms. Dukakis was starring in, plus an ad for a famous Russian puppeteer, Sergei Obratsov.


A good bit of celebrity packed into this little college playbill. But I'm intrigued most by the Bob Dylan ad, being a big fan of his music. Trying to find some cosmic coincidence of fate for pairing Dylan with this early '60s playbill, one has to look no further than the play's 1912 character, Mary Tyrone (Olympia Dukakis) and her drug addiction (morphine). And it was drug addiction, or the drug culture and drug usage, that permeated and partially characterized the artistic, political, and philosophical counter-cultural movements of the 1960s.

Maybe that's a stretch, but, at any rate, the Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, who became a somewhat reluctant icon for his generation, had recently recorded his second album. His appearance at Princeton, one of the earliest solo concerts of his brief career at that point, would occur a mere six days before President Kennedy's assassination. The seeds of his enormous success and cultural influence and the wave of counter-culture revolution were, at that time, blowin' in the wind.

1963 album cover for Dylan's second album

Nick Manoloff, Spanish Guitar & B.B. King

From a 2004 interview with B.B. King:

There was a guy called Nick Manoloff. Nick Manoloff had books. Guitar instruction books in the Sears Roebuck catalogue, the big one. I'd order those books and I studied them religiously, and that's how I learned to put my fingers on -- learned how to tune the guitar and learned my first bit of learning how to read music.

I doubt B.B. King used one of these music wheels. Certainly not this one, as it was for Spanish guitar (Nick Manoloff's Modern Accompaniment Guide for Spanish Guitar). Plus it's copyrighted 1935. B.B. would have been too young. But Nick Manoloff stayed in business publishing guitar instruction and a young B.B. King caught up to him one day and bought one of his books to learn something about playing the guitar. The rest, as they say, is history.


I haven't a clue about how to use one of these things, but I liked the piece and wanted to post it here. It came in a binder full of assorted paper items I acquired earlier this year. There's an interesting blog called Airform Archives where you can go to find out how to use it.

Water receipt from the Nevada Territory

Many of the states in America were first Territories of the United States, or parts of Territories, and later became states. I particularly like finding ephemera that indicate the Territory status for a state, such as the 1864 Nevada billhead above.

This is a receipt from the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Works (payable to the Water Company). Their office was in Virginia, N.T., as noted on the billhead. The N.T., of course, standing for Nevada Territory. Virginia is now Virginia City.

Nevada tried to become a state in 1863, but failed over disagreements about wording in the state constitution that was seen as unfavorable to the mining industry. The 1864 constitution was reworked and approved. On October 31, President Lincoln proclaimed Nevada a state in the United States. A concise history of Nevada's transition to statehood is found here.

Several months prior to statehood, and per this billhead, the Savage Mining Company was billed $150 for "renting" one month of water by the Virginia and Gold Hill Water Works. The Savage Mining Company, among many others, mined the Comstock Lode in Storey County, Nevada.

As mining operations and the general population increased in the Comstock communities, so too did the water consumption. To keep up with the demand, the Virginia City and Gold Hill Water Company was formed. More interesting history here about the development of the greatest pressurized water system in operation in the world.

Indy 500 brochure, 1968

Here's a promotional brochure for the Indy 500 sent out in advance of the 1968 Greatest Spectacle in Racing. Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Tony Hulman, offers a welcome message on the front page, followed by the history and features of the complex.





I bought it because we're IndyCar racing fans, but in particular we support the A.J. Foyt Racing team, of which my step-son is a crewmember (mechanic). This brochure features Foyt in his number 14 car, honoring him as the winner, and defending champion, of the 1967 Indy 500. It was his third win at Indy and he would go on to win a record fourth Indy 500 in addition to a many other titles in his long career.

Below are a few momentos from our trip to the Indy 500 in 2008. The Foyt team didn't win, but we had the privilege of going down to the track for a few photo ops. I got to pose with the Borg Warner trophy before the race ceremonies began. And my wife got to kneel on the bricks at the finish line. Maybe this year we'll have a picture of the 14 car crossing the bricks for the win.

A few words about printed ephemera

I'm cross-posting this from the Bibliophemera blog because it's just as appropriate here as it is there.

Here's a nice descriptive piece about printed ephemera, which I was pleased to receive from William R. Holman. It was a nice surprise and most appreciated. I tried fitting it into the side column for permanent display, as its wordsmithing is most appropriate for this blog. But it just wasn't readable scaled down to fit. So here it is in a regular post, which is better than not sharing it at all. Enjoy!


Mr. Holman's memoir, The Orphans' Nine Commandments tells the incredibly poignant story of what a young Oklahoma boy had to overcome during the Great Depression to find success in life as an innovative librarian, award-winning book designer, printer, publisher, and writer.

I feel honored that he shared with me his thoughts about printed ephemera. Thanks again, Bill.

Eastern Airlines Ticket 1950s

Here is an Eastern Airlines ticket in its original jacket or envelope from the early 1950s (best guess). I've taken nine photos showing the different components in this piece.

The cover illustration depicts Eastern's fleet.


The back shows Eastern's routes and advertises the aircraft by name in the fleet.


Inside is the actual ticket with no less than four reminders about confirming (or losing!) your reservation, a baggage claim, and an ad for Sinclair Aircraft Oil.








There are three airplanes in the Eastern Airlines fleet featured on this ticket envelope: Super Constellation, New-Type Constellation, and Silver Falcon.

Here's a video of Arthur Godfrey doing a promo for Eastern Airlines, flying in a Super Constellation, circa 1953.



I can remember flying on some of these old birds when I was a small child. My dad liked Eastern so we usually flew Eastern on trips back east from Texas in the late 1950s through 1960s. I always feel a bit nostalgic when I see an old Eastern Airlines piece, which conjures up vacation memories of family members who have long since passed. Hope this will stir a few good memories for others.

Pittsburgh Pork Packers 1883

The alliterative title sounded catchy in my head, but my first choice was to just use the company's name--E.H. Myers & Co. And they were actually pork and beef packers, as the subtitle in their name indicates on their billhead below.


The banner at the left of this billhead informs customers of the day that they also were curers of hams (sugar cured), shoulders, breakfast bacon, dried beef, and beef tongues. Additionally, they were also dealers in cheese lard and carbon and lard oils.


The fine print in red ink to the left of the banner, running vertically alongside the banner, makes a curious (to me) statement: We do not guarantee PLAIN MEATS against Skippers. Plain meats is in caps for emphasis. Skippers is capitalized as a proper noun would be. That's too interesting to not research, so I did.

Anyone who has cured hams or bacon would know about this, I guess. I've never done it and knew nothing about skippers. According to information I found at pestproducts.com, skippers are insects, or pests, that look like flies and feed off moldy cheese or slightly putrid meats like hams. They are commonly called cheese skippers or ham skippers. The image here is what E.H. Myers & Co. wouldn't guarantee their meats against.

The backside of this billhead has an interesting piece of writing. It's dated January 1st, 1882 and contains the rules adopted by the Pork Packers of Pittsburgh.


Apparently, the guarantees on smoked and cured meats had been abused by both sellers and buyers of meats in Pittsburgh so much that the handling of these meats had deteriorate into neglect and carelessness under the assumption of unlimited warranty. Therefore, certain rules of guarantee were put into place to protect both the seller and buyer.

The first two rules about inspecting and hanging in a cool, dry place and plain meats not being guaranteed against Skippers are also reiterated on the front side of the billhead. Rules 3 and 4 concern the conditions of returns.


Living in the litigious society of today, I wonder if in 1882 lawsuits may have played a role in the conditions and rules being stated on company correspondence such as this billhead. More likely, at that time, the clarifications and caveats had more to do with angry customers and bottom line.

One last item... Researching E.H. Myers led me to a great Web site: David Rumsey Map Collection ~ Cartography Associates. Here I found an image (engraved print) of E.H. Myers' residence in Pittsburgh. Looks like the meat packing business was very, very good to Mr. Myers and family!

Jingle bells in January with sleigh robes

If I were to make New Year's resolutions, which I don't do, one of them would be to post more on this blog. It's the runt of the litter of three blogs I maintain. It got started later than the others and usually gets pushed aside when I'm rationing out writing time for the blogs.

So for the first post of the new year, here's a winter-related item--a billhead for a company that manufactured sleigh robes, among other driving goods for sleighs and, I would assume, carriages.


Nothing too fancy on this billhead, but I was interested in the product. I had never heard the term "sleigh robe" before, so I did a little digging.

This would have been a timely post before Christmas, but...

Jingle Bells, though associated with Christmas, was not intended as a Christmas song when James Lord Pierpont published it in 1857. It's primarily a winter song associated with riding in a sleigh that evolved into one of the most popular Christmas songs ever.

Dashing through the snow,
in a one-horse open sleigh...

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
Jingle all the way;
Oh! what fun it is to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh!

No references to Christmas, just a ride in the cold and snow. So how did those folks keep warm in that open sleigh dashing through the snow? With sleigh robes, of course. Heavy, warm blankets of animal hides from buffalo, bears, cows, horses, beaver, or whatever got the job done. In the early days, more plentiful animals were used like beaver, bear and buffalo. I've read accounts of raccoon furs being used also.

L. Zechiel, located at 554 Broadway in New York City, is the company on the billhead. The date of the transaction is Aug. 31, 1888. As the small print under the company name indicates, L. Zechiel imported animal skins for making sleigh robes. And as the animal graphic on the billhead indicates, some pretty exotic skins were imported for more discriminating tastes in keeping warm in open sleighs. The company used the image of what appears to be a tiger on their billhead. A tiger hide sleigh robe? I hope not, but back then who knows. Probably.



Growing up in Texas and in the latter half of the twentieth century, I had never heard of a sleigh robe, but I guess I should have. I have an old 1920s photograph of my grandfather driving a sleigh in New Hampshire, taking some of the family down off the hill where they lived to the state road where they could have gotten into a car and been on their way. For the sleigh ride, they must have kept warm with a heavy blanket or old sleigh robe.

Also, my wife and I opted for a buggy ride in New York one chilly night after a Broadway show instead of walking in the cold air back to our hotel. I remember now that the driver covered us in a thick, warm blanket for the ride, as the temperature had dropped into the 30s. A modern day sleigh robe, I suppose. I don't recall any orange stripes or exotic patterns.

Curious about what business might now occupy 554 Broadway, I typed the address into a Google search and came up with Banana Republic at 552-554 Broadway in NY. Talk about opposite ends of the retail spectrum. I'd be willing to bet all I have that you can't buy a sleigh robe today at Banana Republic.

Baskets from Williams Manufacturing, Northampton, Massachusetts

Williams Manufacturing in Northampton, Massachusetts was known for its fine baskets in the 19th century. A basket was included in the logo for this billhead from 1897.


The Central and Western Massachusetts digital library project known as Digital Treasures, has a nice photo in their archives that puts a "business face," so to speak, on the paper ephemera.

Wheel Cafe Salutes the 1939 Cincinnati Reds

Here's a 1939 Cincinnati cafe menu that congratulates the hometown nine on a championship season.

First, the menu, and then we'll get to what really matters--baseball!

The menu is from the Wheel Cafe in Cincinnati, at Walnut near Sixth. If you couldn't find something at this cafe to like, there was little hope for you. A variety of sandwiches to choose from, including grilled frankfurter and bratwurst sandwiches. No peanut butter and jelly here.

For a quarter you could have gotten the Self Serve Platter Dinner, which included on this day (it changed daily) your choice of meat or fish and two vegetables, salad, rolls, and butter. A quarter!


Pricier entrees included prime rib, chicken, Veal cutlet with spaghetti, pork chops, Swiss steak, and sirloin steak. For dessert, there were fresh baked fruit pies and that original Wheel creation, Old Fashioned Apple Cake. Hungry yet?

Another thing about those prices... Add up the prices for everything on the menu and it totals $4.25. Amazing. That amount of money wouldn't get you very far on a 2009 menu.


Beer and cocktails were on the menu also to help you wash down all that good food. And speaking of beer... The earliest mention of the Wheel Cafe I can find comes from an old Federal Writers' Project book, Cincinnati: A Guide to the Queen City and its Neighbors. In that book, we learn that on the eve of Prohibition, in 1919, a reporter was on hand at the Wheel Cafe in Cincinnati to record the events:

On May 26, 1919, local bars and beer parlors accommodated overflow crowds. All day and well into the evening men drank at their favorite saloons, a little stunned by the fact that the next day would bring prohibition. Everywhere the cash registers snapped with staccato rings; in some places trade ran to $20,000.
As the closing hour drew near, an Enquirer reporter was on hand to record the historic moment.

Midnight in front of the Wheel Cafe resembled the old Klondyke days... Two hundred men, each carrying a battle, a jug, or a case of liquor, thronged the barroom.

Fisher Bacharach, the manager, stood on the table. Coatless, and with sleeves rolled up, he waved his left hand filled with bills of all denominations.

"The town is dry," he announced. "Outside everybody," he commanded.

And so, at 12:01 o'clock, Cincinnati... passed into the shadow of the valley of ice cream and ginger ale.

Fast forward to 1933... The Wheel Cafe figured prominently and historically in Cincinnati when Prohibition was repealed, becoming the first establishment to receive a shipment of beer.

From Over the Barrel: The Brewing History and Beer Culture of Cincinnati, by Timothy Holian (Sudhaus Press, 2 vols., 2001):

As it turned out, the Bruckmann Company was the only Cincinnati-area brewery fully licensed and prepared for the repeal of Prohibition and immediately able to deliver beer shipments; other beer was brought in from Louisville, Chicago, Columbus, and Milwaukee as it became available, to help satisfy the initial heavy demand. At precisely 12:01 a.m. on April 7, 1933, the first Bruckmann truck left the loading docks at Central Parkway and Ludlow Avenue and headed toward downtown Cincinnati, to deliver the first legal supply of beer since January 18, 1920 to the Wheel Cafe, on Walnut Street. The joy of patrons there at the return of beer was diminished slightly by a lengthy wait to purchase the product; actual sale of beer at the Wheel Cafe did not commence until 9:00 a.m. due to delays in the retail sales permit process. Other establishments had better luck with the government; by 1:00 a.m. the Ohio State Liquor Control Commission—which had set up a temporary office in the Hotel Metropole—had granted 138 area permits for the first day of beer sales, to 115 bars, sixteen grocery stores, and seven wholesale distributors. In a later reminiscence a longtime Wheel Cafe employee recalled the typical response when the first glasses of draft Bruck’s Beer finally crossed the counter at area drinking establishments, where overflow crowds consumed a continuous flow that quickly tested the abilities of the bartenders—and the beer supply—to keep up with the rush:

People lined up 10 to 15 deep on Walnut Street between Fifth and Sixth, just waiting to get in to get a taste. We didn’t figure they’d do much eating, so we almost did away with the platter lunches. The only food we served was sandwiches which were wrapped ahead of time. ... We had only the lower floor open when they started packing in. There were at least nine bartenders on the job. Soon [I was sent] upstairs to open up another bar on the second floor. At both bars we would set up a barrel of beer ... open the spigot and let it run. We never had to shut off the spigot, so fast did that beer move. We just shoved the half-liter and liter glasses and mugs across the bars. [The customers] would toss their money on the bar, grab a beer and stand aside. We would throw the money into the open register. It went on like that all day.

Now to the ballpark for a dog and a beer and to watch those champion Reds.

Flip the menu over for a look into Cincinnati baseball history.

The Reds won the National League pennant in 1939 (the year of this menu) with players such as Al Simmons, Eddie Joost, Johnny Vander Meer, Ernie Lombardi, Paul Derringer, Bucky Walters, and Harry Craft. Vince DiMaggio was on the team, too (see below).

Following are some anecdotes about several of the players (I used to eat baseball trivia when I was a kid!) from memory and a bit of research for verification:

Johnny Vander Meer is the only pitcher ever to throw back-to-back no-hitters, which he did in 1938.


Ernie Lombardi caught both of Vander Meer's games, but is probably best remembered for what happened in the 1939 World Series against the Yankees. With the game tied 4-4 in the 10th inning, and Cincy needing a win to stay alive in the Series, Joe DiMaggio singled in a runner, Charlie Keller, for the go-ahead run. Keller scored on a close play at the plate in which Lombardi was knocked silly. DiMaggio circled the bases crossing home untouched as Lombardi lay on the ground still in a fog. Lombardi, known as the Schnozz, became a part of baseball folklore that day, with the episode dubbed "The Schnozz's Snooze" or "Lombardi's Big Snooze."


Vince DiMaggio was traded to the Reds by the Yankees (farm team) at the end of the 1939 season and played in only eight games for the Reds. He had no plate appearances against the Yankees and brother Joe DiMaggio in the World Series, which the Yankees swept in four games, by the way.

I remember Harry Craft, of course, because he was the first manager of my hometown team, the Houston Colt .45s, a National League expansion team in 1962. I can remember going out to old Colt Stadium with my brother and father for a few games in those early years, so I'm sure I saw Craft at some point, but had no idea who was who. I was only six. My dad did point out Stan Musial in one game and impress upon me the fact that he was one of the game's greatest hitters ever.

Craft also figured in the historic second no-hitter in Johnny Vander Meer's back-to-back gems, having caught Leo Durocher's flyball for the last out in the ninth inning to clinch Vander Meer's spot in the record books for eternity.

Craft got his managing start in the Yankees farm system. Mickey Mantle, on his quick trip through the minors, first came under Harry Craft's tutelage and later complimented Craft, saying, "I was lucky to have Harry as skipper my first two years. He started me out right."

Later in the 1950s, Craft was managing in Kansas City and a young Roger Maris credited Craft for helping him with his hitting. A few years later, Maris was traded to the Yankees and had his historic season in 1961, breaking Babe Ruth's single season home run record. No asterisks here. If you're a fan of baseball history, and have not seen Billy Crystal's film, 61*, order it from Netflix or your neighborhood video store now. You won't be sorry. Especially nice for you Yankees fans in the Hot Stove League.

As far as I can tell, the Wheel Cafe is long gone, but the Reds are still playing baseball. And in 1976, the Big Red Machine finally avenged the 1939 World Series loss to the Yankees with a sweep of their own.

9/11 ephemera

Browsing the Ephemera Society of America site today, I found an article about an interesting collection that focuses on 9/11. From an ephemera standpoint, you can't get any more topical than that on the this day, the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Michael Ragsdale is the collector. The article originally appeared in the Northeast Journal of Antiques & Art. and provides links to a 9/11 digital archive that includes the Michael Ragsdale Flyer Collection.

White Mountain Freezer Company

I've been in a New Hampshire state of mind the last several days after talking with friends about vacationing there and after reading Donald Hall's memoir from last year, Unpacking the Boxes: A Memoir of a Life in Poetry.

Donald Hall served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2006 to 2007 and hails from New Hampshire (by way of Connecticut and Michigan), where he's lived and worked at his craft on his grandparents' farm for the last 35 years or so. I like Mr. Hall's poetry, but his essays rooted in New Hampshire and his personal landscape are my favorite (Seasons at Eagle Pond, Here at Eagle Pond). And I recently found a "lost" letter I received from him about 15 years ago (subject for another blog later).

Anyway, all this had me thinking NH and I remembered an old billhead I plucked off ebay a year or two back. It's from the White Mountain Freezer Co., manufacturers of White Mountain Ice Cream Freezers.


The billhead is dated April 11, 1898 and the officers of the company are listed as F.W. Estabrook, President; George A. Rollins, Vice President; and L.F. Thurber, Treasurer and General Manager. The company was located in Nashua, New Hampshire.

As for the company's history, hats off to Sam Streubel who blogged about the company and its history here. I was mildly disappointed to learn from his research that the company left New Hampshire, home to the White Mountains, in 1963, having been purchased by the Alaska Freezer Company. That they had begun in Laconia, New Hampshire in 1872 and stayed there nearly a hundred years counts for something where longevity is concerned. And they didn't move too far from Nashua. The buyout resulted in their relocation south to neighboring state Massachusetts.


The company was shuttled through several other owners in the next 40 years or so and, like everything else it seems, their ice cream freezer is now being made in China. That was very disappointing to read. Streubel also reports that complaints about the ice cream maker have surfaced since the manufacturing end of the product moved overseas.

I bought my dad one (he an ex-pat from New Hampshire) in the mid-1980s, so I know it was made in the good ol' USA. And I can personally attest to the quality of that ice cream maker, not to mention the ice cream it makes!

And if you happen to like these old ice cream freezers, or maybe even collect the White Mountain and others, you'll want to visit this site if you haven't already.