Featured 1930s USA handkerchiefs

Bakers, there are probably another 30-40 hankies.

I only got them on Friday so havent looked at them all to see if there is a collecting theme.

My first thought was that these were collected on travels.

But maybe it was a fad in the 30s to collect autographs on handkerchiefs?

 

I really don't know, although collecting autographs by mail certainly would have been easier (for most US fans.) Usually the letter would ask for an autographed picture - at least for movie stars. Radio personalities (if that's the theme) might not have "pictures" so sending them something to sign and return is at least a possibility. I have no idea whether someone in the UK would have even heard these people over the airwaves.

As you can see, I'm back!

That probate case I mentioned turned out to be a dud as far as Lucile Biggerstaff was concerned. Found out that the one in the case was Lucile Perry prior to marriage and in 1940 was still single and living with her mother Gertrude Perry, the owner of the Leland Hotel in Springfield, Illinois. She did not marry George Biggerstaff until later - making it unlikely that she would have signed this hankie.

Tried Ancestry census records for another Lucile Biggerstaff without any reasonable result. Had the same problem with Harry G Mills and Harold Slaton - none that was either an organist (Mills) or a Methodist minister (Slaton) in 1940.

 

Bakers, isnt it Slaten, not Slaton?

 

Keep up the excellent work, Bakers. Fascinating!

But maybe it was a fad in the 30s to collect autographs on handkerchiefs?

Good question, I haven't heard of that but maybe others have? This is definitely a bit more involved than just getting an autograph. The handkerchiefs are so varied, at first I thought they belonged to the people who signed them. However a few of the male signatures are on what appear to be more of a women's handkerchief. Maybe they were asked ahead of time to bring one from home they could spare? Such a variation. Some seem even a bit stained, used, others starch pressed and new looking, some very plain and others quite fancy. Hmmm...

I think fair to say that the person who collected these was probably a woman and maybe a well-connected a socialite or wealthy or something. It just reminds me of a 30's type of flirty game/stunt you'd see some starlet doing in a movie. Love pondering this!

 

Ah! You are correct. I'll re-search with that spelling.

As to "Flood of 1937" here's more than either of us wanted to know about it. As you can see, it was focused on the Ohio River Valley, causing devastation in a number of states (since the river forms the state borders all along its length.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_River_flood_of_1937

 

Found Harold Slaten, Methodist minister, although I am clueless about why he would have been asked for his autograph unless the collector was actually in his presence.

Harold Yates Slaten, born 1900 in Illinois, was minister of the Methodist church in Trenton City, Clinton County, Illinois in 1940.

 

Seems to point to a travelling collector rather than one collecting by mail?

The tacking of many handkerchiefs suggests this is an individual rather than an assembled collection.

I'll save judgment until I've checked the rest!

 

Well, I may have found the right Lucile Biggerstaff in Evansville, Indiana (one of the worst hit cities during the flood.) Lucile was born about 1890 in the rural area outside of Evansville and never moved out of the county. In 1940 she was living with her widowed mother in Evansville. She never married and died there in 1982. I am sure there was much media coverage of the devastation, but think, as with the minister, it would be unlikely that she would be singled out for an autograph unless the collector met her in person. More detailed research on Evansville flooding - newspaper accounts, etc. - might reveal something.

 

I finally found a person for #16. I thought the given name was "Masy" but that went no where. Finally tried "Mary Garden" and lo and behold! Yet another opera singer.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Garden

 

Knowing that Lucile Biggerstaff lived in Evansville, Indiana, I investigated a Joseph B Moore (for the JB Moore hankie) living there in 1940. This Joseph B Moore was a clergyman (speaking of "patterns.") Without any result on Wiki, it seems like the best possibility.

Now, this one may be a stretch, but again, I got no Wiki hits on John S Cobb - nor on Joan S Cobb just in case. However, there was a John S Cobb who was a newspaper writer in Memphis, Tennessee in 1940. Not all that far south of the folks in Evansville, Indiana and a major city on the Mississippi River (which also suffered flooding in that same 1937 event.)

 

Bakers, you are amazing!

Lucille, thank you.

Now for some more

18:

19:

20:

21:

22:

23:

24:

25:

26:

27:

 

26 is Zane Grey, I think, Dentist and author.

Lucille, I can't see Grey having a handkerchief like that, so I think you are right in the collector being female.

 

Didn't know he was a dentist, but author for sure!

Haven't even had my first cup of coffee yet, so it will be a little while.

 

Getting ready for the search and I have a question for you @rhiwfield - on #23 - Martha Jayne (something) the end of her surname is difficult to read because of the thread hanging down. Could you tell me what it says?

 

Sorry Bakers, I think it is Tibbs

 

No 23 is Charles Wayland Brooks,a republican senator from 1940-1949. I looked him up because we have the same last name.

 

That's certainly what it looks like! Thanks.

Now, about Ida M Kirk, "neice (sic) of Peter Cartwright." If Peter Cartwright is who I think he is, Ida cannot have been the child of a sibling of Peter's, because he was born in 1785. She must be at least a grand-niece or great grand niece. I was hoping to find a family tree showing the descent of his siblings, but alas, I haven't found one yet.

Here's info on Peter:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cartwright_(revivalist)

 

AND in 1936 he ran for Governor of Illinois!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_W._Brooks

 

Another Illinois connection - Leonard Salvo, Chicago radio organist.

Here's his obit

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...502210507_1_organist-las-vegas-jack-armstrong