travel

Antique Personal Possessions

Antique Personal Possessions by Silvia Druitt is a 1980 publication covering collectible personal items from 1860 to 1930. The book, measuring 10 X 7.5 inches, has just 128 pages (including small bibliography & index) and features illustrations — black and white throughout the text and 32 color plates — by Mary Camidge and Mary Sims.

If the 70 years seems like a lot of ground to cover in such a rather slim book, consider the breadth of collectibles included.

Here are the chapters (topics):

1. Toiletries and Dressing Table (vanity collectibles such as perfume, cosmetics, etc., as well as vinaigrettes, smelling bottles, soaps, and razors)
2. Hair (lotions & potions such as fixatives and pomades, hairbrushes, curlers, hairpins, etc.)
3. Accessories (jewelry, hat pins, fans, visiting cards and card cases, muffs, handbags and purses, chatelaines, lorgnettes and glasses, stocking suspenders, etc.)
4. Sewing and Writing (sewing accessories and sewing machines; pens, pencils, stationery, writing desks, etc.)
5. Smoking (snuffboxes, pipes, cigar cutters, cigarette holders and cases, cases for matches and/or wax vestas, smokers’ lamps, and other tobacciana)
6. Excursions (travel items, such as luggage, trunks, and baskets sets, muff and pocket warmers, damp bed detectors, travel clocks, battery lighting, thermos flask, umbrellas and parasols, shoes, skirt lifters, etc.)
7. Children (pottery sock dryers, baby bottles and feeders, diapers and safety pins, teething sticks and rings, nightlights, rattles, infant spoons, learning to write educational items, dolls and toys, etc.).

To Druitt’s credit, she notes in the book’s introduction that any such study or indeed collection of these items is limited:

In writing of personal possessions in the nineteenth century it is inevitable that one should find oneself speaking almost entirely about the more privileged sections of society, as it was their possessions, in the main, which survived. Such possessions as belonged to the very poor were liable to be handed on and on, to the point of destruction. The many examples taken from the periodicals and magazines reflect the same trend, less accentuated as the period progressed.

The accuracy of such realities is noted; but still, that’s a lot of collecting categories to attempt to cover in one book. However Druitt does a fine job. As she should; the author was, at least in 1980 when the book was published, employed by the Hampshire County Museum service, “an expert on the period covered.”

If you’re looking for in-depth information, you’ll probably want to get a guide book dedicated to a specific collectible category; but the beauty of this book is the context of seeing all these items with their contemporaries, gaining perspective on life a the time, the practicality &/or impracticality of the objects, and the desires of the people who used them.

The brevity is also tantalizing… At least for a history nerd like me. For along with the collectibles in context are a myriad of clues for those who love to learn about history and culture.

Illustrations in Antique Personal Possessions

I have a modest collection of vintage vanity items, including cosmetics etc., and this book taught me more about dirty tricks in ye olde beauty business; but I’d never really thought about collecting many of these other items… Like skirt lifters or chatelaines — mainly because I rarely see them.

And I don’t think I’ve ever heard of, let alone seen, pottery sock dryers or damp bed detectors. If I have, I likely didn’t recognize them. Considering them now — without the diapers angle, even — reminds me just how damp yesteryear was… It may be easy to romanticize delicate ladies drenched in lead-based cosmetics fanning themselves as they await the next gentleman listed on their dance cards, but to know the complete picture, we ought to at least remember that the ride home was cold and damp. As was the house when they got home. And need I remind you of the plumbing situation?

Since this book is now out of print, you’ll be looking for used copies; as it was published in the UK, most copies at Amazon and eBay are located in the UK, so US collectoras should look closely & consider shipping before committing to any purchase. But wherever you find a copy of Antique Personal Possessions, I think it’s worth it.

I love it when some small, seemingly innocuous, object I’ve collected reminds me that it’s not just “mine,” that it belongs to a much larger story. Sometimes I know that Big Picture story, other times I don’t; here’s a case that illustrates the latter.

TWA Convair 880 In-Flight Card

Recently, Rollie Puterbaugh contacted me, through the Collectors’ Quest Community, about adding scans of one of my travel and tourism ephemera items to his website. The specific item he was interested in was the laminated in-flight instruction card for TWA’s Convair 880 jet and he wanted to add the image to his project, the Flight 383 & 128 Memorial Project.

I’d never made the connection between that plastic-covered in-flight card and the tragic crash, but once I did, I was only too happy to have “my” card become part of those stories — especially as the stories are not only historical research and collection of artifacts, but the stories of the people involved in the tragic events, and the project works to create a physical memorial. So I asked Rollie to share some more information about the project and his involvement.

Tell us how you became involved in the memorial project.

In 2005, I gathered my previous research about the accident and began the process of locating the property and property owner where the Boeing 727 had hit the hillside. After “finding” and then gaining access to the property in 2005, I hiked up to the site of the November 8, 1965 crash site of AA Flight 383.

AA Flight 383, November 8, 1965 (Photo Courtesty of Kenton County Kentucky Public Library)

After posting the information on the internet, I was stunned by the inquiries I would receive in the following years from family members of victims and witnesses. I realized that the accident was not well documented because of the number of hits and comments I was receiving on the FOTKI site.

In January 2009, I decided to expand my research and scope on the story of Flight 383. The angle I decided on was the life changing effect this event had on hundreds of people; victims, families, witnesses, and first responders, so I began documenting and gathering data on all these groups. Somehow I gained credibility in Hebron, Kentucky where these accidents occurred and the next thing I knew, I was involved in writing the story of two disasters and attempting to place two memorials in the area to honor the participants of both Flights AA 383 and TWA 128.

TWA Flight 128, November 20, 1967 (Photo Courtesty of Kenton County Kentucky Public Library)

Today, I am active with the Flight 383/128 Memorial Group of Hebron, Kentucky in historic research and the pursuit of a memorial to honor all those who were impacted by the Cincinnati aviation events of the 1960’s.

Mark Free, Harvey Pelley, and Linda Holbrook, Members of the Flight 383/128 Memorial Project

Please understand that at this point the project is a gigantic team effort from people all over the country, including Mark Free (Witness TWA Flight 128), Harvey Pelley (First Responder Flights 383/128), and Linda Holbrook (Telephone operator the night of November 20,1967), who are contributing their stories, images, or time to the effort. It is no longer a one man project…

The members of Flight 383/128 Memorial Group do not want future generations to see just statistics about these calamities and forget the people and events that played out in the “Hills of Hebron” on the nights of November 8,1965 and November 20, 1967. All of them had “stories” that were lost on those fateful Monday nights.

Bruce Hart, Decca Records Employee, Victim of AA Flight 383, Photo Courtesy of Dorian Hart-Cochrane

Are there other parts of the story the group is looking for?

People can help simply by contacting us if they had relatives onboard these flights or have any other information about the disasters, including, as in your case, owning items directly related to American Airlines or TWA in the 1960’s {specifically the Boeing 727 and Convair 880 aircraft}.

I am looking for a TWA Sytem TimeTable for the Fall of 1967 and an American Airlines System TimeTable for the Fall of 1965. I am also looking for a Kentucky roadmap from the 1960’s. I am interested in posting the covers and the pages showing the Flight schedule for the flights involved in the air disasters in the Cincinnati area during this period. I would also be interested in purchasing these items if someone was interested in selling them.

If you have personal stories, information and/or items you think Rollie and the Flight 383 & 128 Memorial Project might be interested in, you can message him via his profile in the Collectors’ Quest Community or email him at rollie13@msn.com.

If you’re interesting in the memorial project, you can keep up via the group’s newsletters — and you can support the group with donations. Contributions for a memorial in Hebron, Kentucky to American Airlines Flight 383 and TWA Flight 128 can be made by visiting any local branch of the Bank of Kentucky or by mailing a check made payable to “Flight 383/128 Memorial Project” and mailed to:

The Bank of Kentucky, Inc.
Attention: Joy Wilson
1065 Burlington Pike
Florence Ky 41042

Joy’s phone number is: 859-372-5176.

A day without kids, just $20 to spend — what should we do? Well, there’s an auction in town…

For just $5 of that $20 I get me a nice old box of ephemera. The stuff of other people’s travels, everything from travel books & maps to unsent souvenir postcards and — believe it or not — table toppers proclaiming the drink minimums, but not the location.

Retro Drink Minimum Table Topper

These people saved everything, and I love them for it.

Here are a few of my favorite finds so far — I’m sure there will be even better gems once I slow down and really look at everything. (You can keep up with my sorting by watching my collection here.)

Unsent postcards from Harrah’s in Reno, publicity for TV’s “F Troop” in the Headliner Room:

F Troop Postcard

The airline flight instruction card from TWA’s Convair 880 jet:

TWA Laminated Flight Card

There were many copies of a brochure for Cleveland’s Terminal Tower Observatory — I dig this one for the arrow, presumably to illustrate to friends just how high they went in the tower:

Terminal Tower Observatory Brochure Marked With Arrow

The daily dinner menu from the Prince of Wales Hotel, 1962. Mmmm, the cold buffet features Ox Tongue.

1962 Prince Of Wales Hotel Menu

Even if I could to afford to travel like these people, I’d never see what they saw. The places, logos and times have changed. In some cases they’re long gone. But since they saved all this ephemera, I can see it just as it was. It’s almost like traveling in a way… Of course, this way I don’t need to watch other people eat cold ox tongue. That’s a bonus.