• The dream of the 44-hour week

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    Carl Johnson

    In honor of Labor Day, let’s take a look back at this article from Editor and Publisher of Feb. 5, 1921, datelined Albany, in which the New York State Publishers’ Association, keepers of the possessive apostrophe, detail their reasoning for opposing the 44-hour week then being championed by the typographers and stereotypers. The president…

  • The “new” Dunn Memorial Bridge

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    Carl Johnson

    Another oddly random pic from a family shoebox. We believe it’s from 1970, and the hideous and high new Dunn Memorial Bridge is nearly complete. The old Dunn is off to the right somewhere, waiting for a good blowing up, which would come a few months later, in 1971. The waterfront, as always, is…

  • I got yer Throwback Thursday right here, pal

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    Carl Johnson

    This is us, rockin’ the ’80s, in front of the Pyramid jewelers in the National Savings Bank Building on State Street. I believe we were going to a record convention, comic book convention, some sort of thing across the street at the then spanking new Hilton. I remember thinking that Conrad Hilton wouldn’t have…

  • Lark Street, ca. 1970

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    Carl Johnson

    I posted this on Flickr a couple of years ago, a very random shot found among my grandmother-in-law’s photographs. A very weird shot, in that we can’t imagine what they were up to in that part of town; there are a couple of others just as random. I’m now pretty convinced this is Lark…

  • The “Bazaar Shirt” of Van Gaasbeek

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    Carl Johnson

    1888: “The Empire State – Its Industries and Wealth” featured sketches of businesses across the state, including many in the capital. Among them was a sketch of the firm of W. Van Gaasbeek, manufacturers of the celebrated “Bazaar Shirt.” W. Van Gaasbeek & Co., manufacturers of the celebrated “Bazaar Shirt” and Dealers in Fine…

  • No worries, Hoxsie will be back

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    Carl Johnson

    As you may know, Hoxsie is on the move. His personal history is all in boxes. Fear not, daily nonsense will return very soon. In the meantime, enjoy this little artifact from very near our new home, from a simpler time when hospitals gave out matches. So you could smoke.

  • The End of the Argus

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    Carl Johnson

    The Editor and Publisher magazine edition of January 15, 1921, noted the sudden closing of The Argus, possibly Albany’s oldest newspaper at the time. Albany Argus Ends Career of 108 Years Sold to Knickerbocker Press and Merged with Jan. 14 Issue — Argus Staff Dropped on Two Days’ Notice Albany, N.Y., Jan. 12 —…

  • Women – Can they be trusted to make ice cream?

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    Carl Johnson

    A 1918 edition of “The Ice Cream Journal” contained this treatise on “Women in Our Industry,” by C.D. Monroe of The Albany Ice Cream Company. It’s a little hard to read without applying modern sensibilities, but just remember, 96 years ago, those were different times. It was in June, 1918, that we started to…

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