As official family... archivist, I guess...

I've been going through some of my grandmother's papers. These are just a few of the things I've learned today:
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1) Wedding Announcements were much more interesting around the turn of the century. Evidence:


"With pleasing grace?" How cool is that? And also... What the heck is a coronet of orange blossoms? (ETA: Oh, look. If you use the dictionary, you don't have to be stupid! A coronet turns out to be a tiara. Even better.)

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2) My great-grandfather (my grandmother's father) served in the Navy during World War I. Which I semi-knew. What I didn't know?

He served on this ship. That's the USS Mt. Vernon. He was on it, traveling to Europe, when this great big hole got put in it. He was uninjured, thankfully, and was honorably discharged in August of 1919.


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3) In honor of my grandmother, who will be 83 next week, here's one of the stories the Boston Daily Globe thought was important enough to put on their front page the day she was born:

It's the Maury Show, circa 1923. "He claims he is not the father.

The daily paper cost 2 cents back then. Other interesting stories that (because I am crazy) I would have liked to read more about included:


First off, where do you find deserted monkeys?

And secondly... What's up with the secret weddings? Seriously, the paper was a bit more tabloid-ish than I expected.

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That's a round-up of today's lessons. I take an insane pleasure in this sort of thing - digging through papers and pictures, putting names to random faces, reading the lifestories of people I never knew, but am, still, somehow, connected to.

Hope you're enjoying your Fridays - the rain here is a bit gloomy, but at least it's not snow, right?