pastperfect2
Alumni +
Go ahead. Nerd with a capital N.
I took Friday off and went into town for the whole day at the Main branch of the Library.
First - 2 hours going through 3 books on 2 local stores I had not known existed. Happiness! Plus a number of other local history and photo books on the city that were not as helpful.
Then a quick lunch at a coffe shop across the street.
Then a stroll down a very cold and windy 4th St with my camera. I got a few shots of long closed ladies clothing stores - some buildings date back to 1905.
What was especially neat was that there is one store I have been looking for information on, and by golly the building still has the secomd store name (1917 - 1941) still painted on the side - much faded, but still legible.
And it turns out 3 different local shops that I have labels for were all in that building at one time or other!
Then back to the library, where I spent some time with local archictecture books. But most of the afternoon was spent sucked into the old city Directories. They have the actual volumes on the shelves starting with 1902.
I wasn't systematic enough, though. I jumped around from 1902 - 1956 and realized I will just have to be disciplined next time and go year to year with all the shops I am looking for.
I figure that's another 2 days just at those shelves! It turns out they have the business listings back to the 1830s on microfilm - oh my.
And the main local newspaper back to 1868 on microfilm. Plus others that go back even further.
There's days and days of library time yet to go.
I spent yesterday rewriting most of the blurbs on my local store history page yesterday.
And here's the really Nerdy thing :
I had a ball!
I have said this before, but I will say it again: If you live in a town/city that had local clothing or department stores that are gone, ones that you find boxes and labels from, consider keeping notes on what you find, how old it is, and the type of clothing. Sort of your own private Label Resource. It can be invaluable info when dating or researching your vintage finds.
Hollis
I took Friday off and went into town for the whole day at the Main branch of the Library.
First - 2 hours going through 3 books on 2 local stores I had not known existed. Happiness! Plus a number of other local history and photo books on the city that were not as helpful.
Then a quick lunch at a coffe shop across the street.
Then a stroll down a very cold and windy 4th St with my camera. I got a few shots of long closed ladies clothing stores - some buildings date back to 1905.
What was especially neat was that there is one store I have been looking for information on, and by golly the building still has the secomd store name (1917 - 1941) still painted on the side - much faded, but still legible.
And it turns out 3 different local shops that I have labels for were all in that building at one time or other!
Then back to the library, where I spent some time with local archictecture books. But most of the afternoon was spent sucked into the old city Directories. They have the actual volumes on the shelves starting with 1902.
I wasn't systematic enough, though. I jumped around from 1902 - 1956 and realized I will just have to be disciplined next time and go year to year with all the shops I am looking for.
I figure that's another 2 days just at those shelves! It turns out they have the business listings back to the 1830s on microfilm - oh my.
And the main local newspaper back to 1868 on microfilm. Plus others that go back even further.
There's days and days of library time yet to go.
I spent yesterday rewriting most of the blurbs on my local store history page yesterday.
And here's the really Nerdy thing :
I had a ball!
I have said this before, but I will say it again: If you live in a town/city that had local clothing or department stores that are gone, ones that you find boxes and labels from, consider keeping notes on what you find, how old it is, and the type of clothing. Sort of your own private Label Resource. It can be invaluable info when dating or researching your vintage finds.
Hollis
