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Crisis in the Armory!
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Speaking, as we were, of the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company (which veered off into paper more of the toilet variety), Hoxsie has previously guessed that not only did old A.P.W. invent roll toilet paper, but probably, and of necessity, the roll toilet paper holder. This 1899 letter to the A.P.W. company, written by…
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From Toilet Paper to Terminal Warehouse
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I’ve spent some time trying to sort out the history of this ancient looking remnant of the lumber district, and finally sorted it out in the oddest way. On the “Albany: The Way It Was” Facebook group yesterday, we were discussing the various locations of the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company. You know, the…
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Gold Beaters of 1863
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I’m not sure where I’d go today if I had some gold I needed beaten. But in Albany in 1863, I’d have had three choices.
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Fine Corn Husk Mattresses
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In 1863, downtown Albany was home to a mattress and feather depot run by Antrim White, whose store was at 36 Green Street, and whose home was at 3 Ten Broeck St. He was also listed as an upholsterer, naturally. Imagine the comfort of a husk and palm leaf mattress, “by the ton or…
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A last bit of Rooseveltiana
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Had to share one last picture of FDR in Albany. (He spent more time getting his picture taken in the capital city than his cousin did.) This one from the National Archives and Records Administration, features Franklin, Eleanor, and unnamed Democratic Party workers. Safe to assume this is from the vicinity of 1929 or…
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Roosevelt and Byrd in Albany
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I’ve had these pictures of Governor Franklin Roosevelt and Rear Admiral Richard Byrd on the steps of the Capitol in Albany for the longest time, trying to figure out just what was going on. I finally found out, not from the pages of a local newspaper, but from a wire story that appeared in…
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A Roosevelt in Albany
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People are all a-twitter over the discovery that there were once Roosevelts (!) in Albany (!). Not having cable (and not even sure if I have broadcast), I haven’t seen the latest effort from Ken Burns, though I’m sure it’s excellent. He’s a good man, and thorough. Some time ago I set aside a…
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Colonel Roosevelt’s “flying trip” to Rensselaer County
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There’s some sort of hubbub about Roosevelts these days, so we may as well recall the time when Colonel Roosevelt, not yet Governor of the Empire State, made what the New York Tribune called “The Colonel’s Flying Trip to the Rensselaer County Fair,” in 1898. At that point flying was entirely metaphorical. Troy, N.Y.,…
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What’s up in the publishing world, 1919
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Ran across an edition of “The American Printer” from August, 1919, which featured a series of short blurbs informative of what was going on with printers and publishers in New York State that summer. Among them: The Schenectady Union-Star has changed its mechanical equipment to print an eight column, 12½ em page, instead of…
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An old-time newspaperman
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While perusing old editions of Editor and Publisher, we came across this little reminder that in the old days, there tended to be two kinds of newspapermen: the ones who were lifers at a single publication, and the ones who worked all over the place. Here’s the obituary of one of the latter type…