We met the Alberts a few weeks ago, when I introduced Raymond and his family, whom we know from a box of about 20 developed rolls of film Raymond left behind recently. This installment appears to have been taken around 1950, and daughter Louise is about 4-5 years old. I’m guessing the Korean War is ongoing.
This is Hosmer Field, in Rumford, Maine, where the family lived at this time. No idea what’s going on, but it clearly involves the military. The stands are packed and families are out on the grass watching military marching bands perform and drill. For comparison, here is Hosmer Athletic Complex, much more recently, from an article about flooding.
Later in the roll, I love this shot of who I believe to be Raymond, fishing. Fishing was such a more formal occasion back then. Slacks, tie and sweater vest.
Here we have a photo of Louise in a cute sailor suit. I think people in the ’50s and ’60s were also big on dressing their kids in sailor suits. Those are the pictures grown men keep hidden years later.
This appears to be three women on mom’s (Fisher) side of the family. They are posing on a bridge over a river. Can you identify it?
This appears to be some sort of vacation house belonging to Grandma Fisher. If you look closely, you can see “Cranberry Lane” just below the roof. Another shot from the short end of the house shows a sign “Andy” on the porch above the door. I couldn’t find anything on the ‘net to suggest where this is.
Moving on to the next roll, there was a whole series of wonderful family photos; here are a couple of examples:
Nearly all of these people would be long gone by now. But Louise is still around! She lives in California. Here she is talking on a phone. Which doesn’t fit in your pocket.
And – apropos for today – Halloween!!
Lastly, the return of a war hero. This would have been during the Korean War, though there could still have been people returning from World War II at this time (things moved more slowly back then). But most likely the Korean War. A wartime loss would have impacted a small town like this, as most people would have known the soldier or sailor returning from war, and much of the town would have turned out.
Here is a separate photo of the Rumford rail station with the Rumford paper mill in the background (1919) – which Mike found for me on Flickr. Paper production was one of the main (no pun intended) employers in Rumford – in fact Raymond Albert, who took these photos, worked in one.
And thus ends another installment in the Albert Family’s “found film” series.
You can see the previous installment, which gives a bit of history we have been able to glean from the photos, here. And you can browse through all the photos, including many I didn’t post, here. Or, see the next post in this series, here.
