Treasure Chest Thursday - Chicago, Illinois

Over two weekends last September, Donald and I went through my step-mother's basement finding much hidden family treasure in the way of furniture, silver, china, photos, negatives, Bibles, documents and books.  After a good airing out I am trying to devote at last an hour every Wednesday evening to scanning and photographing these items for posterity and so that I can share them here with you on Treasure Chest Thursdays.

Chatting on Facebook with a cousin the other day led to me rummaging through a box that contains some scrapbooks/albums that my father made as a teenager. This one is dedicated to his hometown of Chicago, Illinois.  It just happens that as I write this, on March 16th, it is the eleventh anniversary of his death.

The first two pages are photos taken around his school; The Chicago Laboratory School at the University of Chicago.

The next page are photos of the apartment building that he and his parents lived in and from the apartment itself.

From his childhood on my father loved photography and trains. Here are some of his trains that I had never seen. He only kept a Lionel train set into his adulthood.

Of course, a true train-lover goes to see the real thing as well.

I couldn't believe this find. I would never have expected to identify the very first photos Dad ever took. Of course, he did that for me. They were taken around the University of Chicago campus. Dad's caption says that they were taken with his "Donald Duck" camera. Intrigued, I did a Google search and found a few of these children's cameras from the 40s on Ebay, and even, if it is still there when you click here, a print ad that I am very tempted to buy, but probably won't.

Bartlett Gym

Mitchell Tower

Mandel Hall

Eckhart Hall

The Quandrangle Club

The rest of the album contains photos and keepsakes from his visit to the 1949 Chicago Railroad Fair. And I will share those with you next week.