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A single folded advertisement for the Edison display at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. From my collection.




Dave

Dave,

Very nice. I think I would rather have gone to that exposition than the trade show I attended a couple of weeks ago.

The picture that they used is great, as is the typography.

Thanks for sharing it with us!

— MordEth

Very nice! I seem to recall bidding on one just like this on eBay several years ago... Are you the guy who broke my heart? That's a great item!

George P.

phonogfp wrote:That's a great item!

George,

I agree completely.

Here is the photo from the front, slightly enhanced in Photoshop:

I need to scan more advertising...

— MordEth

And that last photo begs the question- who are those men? I'm sire the white bearded gent just about in the center (between the gents with sidewhiskers) is James G. Blaine, former Senator, Secretary of State, who had his hand in many activities planning the fair, although he died in 1893 while it was in progress.

estott wrote:And that last photo begs the question- who are those men? I'm sire the white bearded gent just about in the center (between the gents with sidewhiskers) is James G. Blaine, former Senator, Secretary of State, who had his hand in many activities planning the fair, although he died in 1893 while it was in progress.

James Blaine is mentioned in Billy Murray's 1908 recording Over on the Jersey side. Murray pokes fun at New Jersey in this comic song, accusing Jerseyans of being behind the times, quoting a New Jersey resident as stating that he voted for Blaine in the election that had just ended. This was an insinuation that the residents of the state were unaware that he had died fifteen years earlier.

Rocky

estott wrote:And that last photo begs the question—who are those men? I'm sure the white bearded gent just about in the center (between the gents with sidewhiskers) is James G. Blaine...

I’m certain that it is James C. Blaine as well, but I could not discern anyone else.

Compare this picture of him:

The likeness is very good.

— MordEth

I learned a new word this morning! 'Amanuensis': a stenographer. Now that's a $25 word and a beautiful one at that!

Poor Tom looks like the prunes weren't working!

John M

JohnM wrote:I learned a new word this morning! 'Amanuensis': a stenographer. Now that's a $25 word and a beautiful one at that!

John,

‘amanuensis’ was a new word to me, as well, and I’d like to think that I have an extensive vocabulary; in my immediate family I was preceded by two generations of teachers.

(My mom still works as a school guidance counselor, and wonders where I went wrong. )

JohnM wrote:Poor Tom looks like the prunes weren't working!

Did anyone ever manage to take a picture of him where he looked happy (after he was out of his childhood)? He almost smiled, as a young boy.

— MordEth

I love historical detective work, and surely one of those people has to be Charles H Wacker who was the director of the fair, but the photo of him on the web was taken from the look of it in the teens so I can't match him to any of the phono crowd here.
Jim