Celebrations: Thanksgiving Day

The Metropolitan Museum used this stunning image from 1895 in their Thanksgiving message. I wasn't familiar with Will H. Bradley (1868-1962), the artist who created it so I did a bit of research and it turns out that there's a local connection.

[William Henry Bradley (American, 1868–1962). The Chap Book: Thanksgiving Number, 1895. Lithograph.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art.]

After a long and illustrious career*, Will retired to South Pasadena around 1948 and began working on his autobiography. In 1957 he and his widowed daughter Fern came to live in La Jolla. Three years later, declining health caused him to move to a convalescent hospital in La Mesa where he died on January 25, 1962.


*This splash page to the WillBradley.com website gives an overview of all this creative genius accomplished in his long life.

© 2019 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Home to Thanksgiving - 1867

For those of you who are traveling today, keep safe.

[Currier & Ives. (ca. 1867) Home to Thanksgiving. , ca. 1867. New York: Published by Currier & Ives.

Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2002695889/.]

P.S. My daughter Christine has come down with the flu and won't be posting until she's feeling better.


© 2018 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Thanksgiving Day - San Diego, 1928

Looking through the old photo albums this is the only Thanksgiving picture I found--and it doesn't feature a turkey. Dad (Currey) was taking the opportunity to get some work done on his rowboat somewhere along San Diego Bay.

[From my personal collection]

When I was growing up, Thanksgiving wasn't a big family dinner kind of day for us--I don't remember there ever being a gathering of all the Curreys for any occasion.



© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Celebrations: Thanksgiving Day

[Art and Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Best wishes for a good Thanksgiving." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-6467-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99]

The New York Public Library's digital collections are a great resource. This year I deliberately chose a postcard (mailed in 1908) which doesn't feature a turkey but there are plenty available, including this one which seems to show a young girl fleeing from the turkey; another where several children chase after a running bird; and one with a smiling boy grasps the turkey's neck while they sit near an axe. Most commonly though, the image is of  a fully fledged tom in all his glory although one or two depict happy turkey families before the fatal day.




© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Celebrations: Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

[Pumpkin pies and Thanksgiving dinner at the home of Mr. Timothy Levy Crouch, a Rogerine Quaker living in Ledyard, Connecticut, 1940. Jack Delano, photographer. Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)]

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just having some fun.  From a Thanksgiving search on the blog POSTCARDY: the postcard explorer.

© 2016 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Celebrations: Thanksgiving Turkey Revisited

The Library of Congress has lots of pictures. These date from the first two decades of the twentieth century.

[The Thanksgiving turkey / Alfcamp, Elizabeth, N.J. (c1900), Alfred S. Campbell.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c00216]

[Buying Thanksgiving turkey (between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915. Bain News Service, publisher.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print]

[Thanksgiving turkey (between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915). Bain News Service, publisher.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print]

[Thanksgiving - taking home turkies from raffle (1912), Bain News Service.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b18267]

[Thanksgiving, 1919, National Photo Company.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.00888 ]

[Thanksgiving, 1919, National Photo Company.

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.00890]

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.


© 2024 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.