Monday, January 5, 2015

Whatever Happened to the Forties?



Here we are in 2015, and I hope the year is starting out well for all of us! The holidays are over and things have calmed down. Right? Nope. Still busy, busy, busy. So, with your indulgence, I’m reposting an older blog that I think/hope you’ll enjoy.



What’s one of the best things that can happen to a mystery writer? Well, to come up with your own personal mystery, of course.

Thanks to some book trailers I made some time ago, I needed to find photos from the 1940s. Not an issue because I have a huge old trunk my grandmother gave me, and it’s chock full of old photos ranging from the 1800s through the 1970s. This trunk has three layers and enough photos to last a lifetime. You can find a photograph to suit just about any occasion.  The trunk also includes vintage greeting cards dating back to the early 1900s and plenty of vintage postcards.

In addition to family photos I’ve found pictures of a train wreck, vacation photos, and to my horror, a photo of a firing squad shooting people. (How would you like to find that stuck in the middle of your family photos?) Since the officers are on horseback, it’s a pretty old photo. There are even “posed” photos of a fight and a marriage proposal. Anyway, I even have an entire album of pictures from my grandfather’s service in the Navy from 1904-1907. Fascinating photos from around the world. He served on the Elcano and he was part of the Yangtze River Patrol.  By the way, Grandpa was quite a bit older than Grandma, so draw your own conclusions as to my age. (Good luck with that.)

This trunk is so full that every time I go through it I find things I’ve missed before. I found a small diary, and a pad of paper on which my grandmother tried her hand at writing poetry. I’m very family-oriented so these things are important to me.

By this time you’re probably wondering what the big mystery is, right? I was looking for candid photos from the 1940s to use in book trailers, remember? I found some group family photos, but that’s not what I was looking for. Eventually l found an old family album resting in the bottom of the trunk. It was full of old greeting cards from the forties and I knew I’d found what I was looking for. Eureka! Oh, really? The cards were followed by page after page of those little black tabs people used to use to hold down the corners of photos – and that was it. There were lots of tabs, but no photos. They’d all been removed.

Picture me looking perplexed.


Now, I come from a family of photographing fools. They took pictures of everything they could aim a camera at, including a buggy being pulled by an ostrich and my great-aunt trying to look sexy in a woolen bathing suit (1915 or so). This is an aunt I mentioned in an earlier post whom I saw drinking out of a perfume bottle on Thanksgiving one year. Yes, she had a bit of a drinking problem and hid her, um, liquor in the bottle.

Okay, I had group shots from the forties and pictures of my siblings and me, but that wasn’t what I needed. So what happened to the 1940s? Why are all the other photos gone? Most of the people who could answer that question are gone. Those who are left don’t have an answer. A whole era is missing. How can you lose ten years of photos?

Maybe I’ll never know the answer to this little mystery. Or maybe I’ll find something informative in the trunk the next time I go through it, although I have overwhelming doubts. Or maybe I’ve just stumbled on an idea for a new mystery. Ideas come from the darnedest places.

You’d think a mystery writer could figure this one out, wouldn’t you? Not necessarily.

Until next time, I wish you a New Year of good health, prosperity, and… Well, maybe a little mystery of your own to solve. They can be so much fun.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website
CLICK HERE for a quick trip to Amazon. com

CLICK HERE to see some of the book trailers on my website. Scroll down The Books page.

16 comments:

  1. My niece found old photos from the 1800s that were supposedly on her mother's side of the family (not related to me). The photos were very well preserved but there were no names attached to any of them. She knew they were family pictures but she had no idea what the relationships were. Her grandmother had died without ever telling her about them and her mother was clueless also. So, my niece decided to go back into family history and find names, which she did. Then she decided to try and fit pictures to the names. She would even ask me if I thought Aunt So and So looked like a certain picture. Of course, I had no idea. But she was determined to put names to those pictures, which she did. I left her to it--I knew she couldn't possibly have known who was who. Or could she? Well, it's still a mystery to me.

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    1. Thankfully, my grandmother went through the trunk with me before we lost her. I was able to write names on the pictures we had. I sure would like to know why the forties pics are missing though. Best wishes to your niece. I hope she finds what she needs. Thank you for commenting today!

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  2. Photos missing from an old family album. What a great mystery, Marja! I'm sure there are all kinds of ideas swirling through your head. Who were the people in the photos and why did someone remove them from the album? That trunk sounds like a mystery writer's dream!

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    1. It just could turn out to be the next Sandi Webster book. Time will tell. I'm sure it makes ideas swirl through the heads of others, too. Thank you for commenting today!

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    1. Could be, Marilyn. Like I said in another Reply, time will tell. It does open a lot of doors to ideas. Thank you so much for commenting today!

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  4. I agree!!! There's for sure a wonderful story here. Or maybe several stories..Though, Marja, I just enjoy reading your posts period, they're always so interesting...

    Madeline

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    1. Thank you, Madeline. I'm glad I can entertain you a little. : ) You know, I've been searching for an idea for the next Sandi Webster book. From the comments left today, I may be onto something. Thank you for commenting!

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  5. LOL, Marja. I have a trunk full of old photos dating back into the 1800s, thanks to my dad, who was a shutter bug. Some of the photos are missing, which makes me wonder who made off with them and why. Cetainly a good mystery that I look forward to reading about in your next Sandi Webster novel.

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    1. Don't you just love those old photos, Jean? They're so interesting. But those missing photos really make a person wonder what happened to them, especially when they're from the same time period. Thank you so much for commenting!

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    2. Did you watch the new Agent Carter Marvel series, set in the 1940s, last night? I think it was a little over the top, but I enjoyed seeing the 40s styles and old cars.

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    3. We weren't home, so I missed it. I'll watch it next time it's on. Super heroes are often over the top. : )

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  6. Always intrigued my unmarked photos of people. Perhaps we should be careful & remember to write on family photos. Great blog as usual.

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    1. Thank you, Jake. Marking pictures would help. Missing pictures? Not so much. Thank you for commenting today!

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  7. As a family we used to sit around and look at old photos and try to remember who thsoe people were. usually we could at least guess which side of the family. We'd always say we would write on the photos but never did. And now the people who would remember are gone. I admit I occasionally will fancifully make up a story behind the photo but I don't think facts will be easy to find anymore.
    Then again, I have an aunt who is very into our ancestry and has a talent for digging up answers.

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    1. Many years ago I sat down with my grandmother and a handheld tape recorder and started asking questions. Now I have the information, and can still hear her sweet voice when I want to. I wonder if you could set down with your aunt and do the same thing. I'd hate to see you lose good information. : ) Thank you so much for stopping in!

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