PICTURES FROM OUR PAST-
FOREWORD
© Copyright, 2000. All Rights Reserved
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PICTURES FROM OUR PAST- FOREWORD © Copyright, 2000. All Rights Reserved |
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Afterword Red Denotes "Coming Soon"
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In 1908 Edward Arnold (1870 - 1936) a
citizen of San Antonio, Texas, an employee of the U.S. Postal System, and
my grandfather acquired a new camera. Based on current standards it
was not much of an instrument, but it made black and white photographs
from roll film.. The negatives were about 3 3/4 X 1 5/8
inches. Many of the early prints were contact prints made from these
negatives. Later there are better and larger prints either
enlargements or or perhaps the Arnold's acquired a better camera.
Recently my brother and I found an album of pictures taken by Edward Arnold between 1908 and 1918 while looking for some later pictures among possessions preserved from our late parents estates. This find came as quite a surprise to me as I have no previous recollection of ever having seen it. The album contains at least 600 small pictures glued to over 100 black paper pages. The negatives have not been located. The pictures are not in the best of condition. In some there is significant deterioration of the emulsion forming the image. Others show evidence of damage from the mounting glue showing through the paper. Most reflect high contrast with the shadows quite black, and the light areas tend to be too white. They are often weak on mid-tones which provide fine details. Yet all of the near 150 photographs that I have digitized tell their story. Even in photos enlarged to screen size and prints to the 8 x 10 inch range, the story comes through the static loud and clear. The people, even those who today almost a century later are un-recognizable by name, emerge as real people eager to tell us something about themselves and their time. Through these pages as we begin life in the 21st century you are invited to make an extended vicarious visit with this family in the early years of the preceding century. On this visit you will be introduced not just to Edward Arnold, his wife Lula Schlick Arnold, and their son, Harold Henry Arnold, but also to the much larger extended family consisting of their siblings and their countless kids. These extended families in the 1908 - 1918 period in addition to Arnold, carried such names as Iwan, Causey, Meier, Boezinger, Rossmann, Zirkel, Schneider, Mueller, and Blumberg. Later generations have add possibly several hundred additional names to the list. The pictures show better than words the pursuit of family life during this period particularly recording activities of a social or recreational nature. There are river camping trips, fishing in the bay at Corpus Christi, afternoons in the parks, fiestas, and celebrations of the holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the different homes of the extended family group. Other pictures are shots of places, some with, some without family faces, mostly in and around the South and Central Texas area. A few were taken on a post high school trip by Harold Henry Arnold and a cousin, Milton Arnold to Chicago and Milwaukee. Finally you will observe the injections of the new technologies and changing social events that would lead to significant family lifestyle changes in the years ahead. With a "click" of your mouse, let your visit begin with an introduction to the three then surviving 19th century immigrants who started it all. |