A few Lucas County faces from the 1940s ...

 

J.D. Stout, CHS Class of 1943

We received a package of vintage photographs dating from the late 19th century into the 1940s last week at the museum --- barely.

Shipped anonymously and accompanied by an unsigned typewritten note, the package was addressed to the museum's street address. It ended up at a house with a similar address across town, fortunately the home of an historical society board member who delivered it to the museum office.

Barbara Stewart, CHS Class of 1944

Lesson No. 1 --- If you're going to send us something like this, please call first. We receive our mail at a post office box (No. 807). As nearly as we've been able to discover, package delivery services are incapable of locating the museum (despite the fact our street number is writ large on the front of the Stephens House) and deliver packages to random addresses instead. As a result, we have packages delivered to the home address of a staff member if they're commercial, otherwise to the post office.

Charles Rosa, CHS Class of 1944

Lesson No. 2 --- Make sure that photographs you can identify are identified. Five of perhaps a hundred images have names on them. That's not the fault of the sender --- it's an issue that goes back generations.

Dorothy Stout, CHS Class of 1944

Several of the images are on cards with a Chariton maker's mark; the majority aren't. Several originated in the Sioux City area, others at Osceola.

Don McFarland, CHS Class of 1945

About all we can say of the person whose collection this was is that he or she may have been a member of the Chariton High School Class of 1944 --- a few identified graduation photos are included. I've included five of them into this post. 

We'll certainly safeguard the photos, perhaps pass some on if they seem more relevant to another historical society's collection. But it sure would have been nice to know who assembled this collection in the first place so that we could do a better job of interpreting it.