Ex-Lbris Bookplate From the Free Public Library

I realize that next-to-nobody gives a flip about my burgeoning
bookplate collection but I have tunnel vision in regard to what other
people want as far as historical context goes.

My preference
would be to feature only local Ex-Libris plates but I take what I can
find. Half of what I do find comes from a free book trough at McKay's in
Knoxville, Tennessee or from thrift stores when I'm down there visiting
my daughter. This was another freebie with a very pertinent topic: Mexico.

Apparently, just as now, we were at political loggerheads with the
Mexican government over trade in the 1910s-30s. Then, it was in concerns
to seized American properties by the Mexican President Cardenas. While I
don't know much about the political context of said dispute I would
guess that the mention of Trotsky, Europe and even Hitler in some of the
copious political cartoons suggests a socialist-communist bent to the
rationale for expropriation. Regardless, the subject, content and
bookplate were perfect syncopation for my insect brain. Plus, my
daughter is an excellent artist, even for her tender young age, and
despite her having polar opposite political beliefs as me, she probably
will enjoy such cartooning in the future.

As for the Free Public
Library of New Haven, Connecticut from where this book was discharged
and withdrawn from: it's located less than a mile from the Skull &
Bones Tomb on the campus of Yale University. The library system was
established in 1887 and is still in existence.

Mexico at the Public Bar: A Survey of Editorial Opinion in Newspapers of The Western Hemisphere by Burt M. McConnell, 1939

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A Dudley Randall Poem in Milestone 2

I bought this Milestone 2 poetry Magazine at a Livonia estate sale this week. Milestone was the literary publication of Wayne (State) University and this second issue dates to 1949. While I don't recognize most of the names, Dudley Randall was both a nationally known poet and the librarian for the Wayne County General Hospital at Eloise via the Wayne County Library System. The poem featured is The Southern Road which was a revised version of the completed poem from 1948 that h as a handful or two of word differences between the two. I don't know if Randall edited the poem for later collected works editions or earlier but this link features it in its likely final form in 2009. Neither version particularly enchants me but the block print in the magazine is an added bonus.

A Cabinet Card of a Dead Man Lying in Repose From Wayne Photographer Susan Doolittle

The City of Wayne, Michigan was not a large village at the turn of the 20th century so it stands to reason that there wasn't a glut of photographers practicing their trade there. As such, the 3 cabinet cards and carte de visites that I own represents roughly a quarter of the early ones. Considering that the wives of Frank Hickok and William Corlett, first Village President of Wayne, took over after Frank's death in 1892 the list grows smaller beyond those two families. Had I snagged the Doolittle dead man cabinet card I'd be even that much more Wayne-rich in photographs. Speaking of Susan Doolittle, of whom I have learned very little about, it is interesting to note that Wayne had three women photographers in an era oft dominated by men in that very field. This photograph of a corpse is a startling example of her work.

Frederick Soop: Not An Equal Opportunity Restraunteer

Detroit Free Press , March 28, 1890 If you don't want to hear a racist tale of a suburban namesake then close your eyes now. As early as 1876 Frederick Soop had left his Belleville farm once again, having done a stint at the Hawkins House in Ypsilanti during the Civil War and the City Hotel in Detroit thereafter, and ventured off to Chatham, Ontario to run the Rutley Hotel , which was conducted as a Temperance House. Detroit Free Press , August 17, 1879 In 1879 he was searching for a good restaurant or small hotel to operate. Eventually he ended up on Washington Avenue near State Street running a dining hall which he ran until around 1890. Detroit Free Press , April 16, 1890 It was in 1888 when the aforementioned racial incident occurred at his dining establishment. It was then that William H. Haynes, a black doctor, sat down with his former classmate S. W. Barkwell for dinner. The men ordered but when the food was served none was placed before Mr. Haynes who, ironically, ha...

The Nankin Township Historical Society

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