Willard Suitcases / John R
John R had quite a collection of interesting objects in his cases. He certainly was interested in the wild west.
The green shirt has a classic western look and the tie with the scantily clad woman is pretty cool. One wonders if he ever wore it, and if so, where. The object in the middle of the photo is a jock strap. I remember them from gym class when I was a kid, but you don’t see them around much anymore.
Back in the day, men sometimes wore garters with their socks. This color gray is beautiful.
I am thinking that these leather straps went with some sort of jodhpur trousers, but I suppose they could have also been worn around the wrists. Anyone out there have an idea about this?
Click here to see all of John’s cases. Don’t forget to click on the “view all” tab, as there are more than 25 images in the gallery. I am really proud of this one.
Willard Suitcases / John R / Talks
When I talk about the project I am often asked if I have a favorite suitcase. My answer is always the same; from the start, I have seen the collection as a whole and no case stands out to me. But I do have some favorite photographs from the project, and this is one of them.
The dark glasses are pretty cool.
This was the first time I had ever seen an actual Shinola tin.
We saw several of these Yardley Talc containers.
I have uploaded the rest of the photos from John’s case at the suitcases site. Check it out!
There are two upcoming events near to me where I will be talking about the suitcases. I’ll have copies of the second Kickstarter reward book for sale at the Hadley, MA Barnes & Noble this Saturday the 18th. I’ll be there from 2.00 – 5.00 PM. Come by and say hi. And on Monday I will be giving a talk at the Amherst Woman’s Club. I expect to start at 1.00 PM.
Thanks for following!
Willard Suitcases / Issac and Alice
I continue to make good progress uploading to the suitcases site. Issac’s case had just a few items, but the buttons are nice, as well as the safety pins. I especially like the folding coat hangar.
Peggy and I were thrilled to open Alice’s case and see the beautiful lining.
Check out the latest at willardsuitcases.com.
Thanks for following.
Willard Suitcases / More Labels / Peg
I am just about finished up editing the December 2013 shoots.
The cases were mostly empty, but this newspaper is interesting. It describes a particularly tragic boating accident in Alexandria Bay, NY that occurred in August of 1929. I did a bit or research. Here’s a link to an online newspaper archive that goes into some detail. It wasn’t completely unusual for a suitcase to contain a complete section of a newspaper and little else. I wonder if H. L. had any connection to the Lipe family. (Lipe is not his surname.)
Walter arrived in February of 1945. Nelson Rockford Socks are still available.
Mary Agnes’ case just had this little metal clasp, a shoelace, a hairpin, and a label.
And a pair of “leather-like” boots.
Baker’s case was the only one where we found a bit of “racy” material. Look closely to see the title of the painting. Cheeky!
The storage facility wasn’t always the warmest place to work (except in the summer). Peggy Ross was always such a sport though, and only rarely complained. We ate a lot of hot/sour soup from the local Chinese restaurant for lunch, which helped us get through the day.
Check out the Willard Suitcases site to see the latest. Thanks for following.
Willard Suitcases / December 2013
I have been editing and uploading the suitcases in the order in which they were shot. This process is quite drawn out as I shot well over 30,000 images during the project and it is an enormous task. I have been feeling really good about it though, as I am spending most days until 1 PM working on the files. The photos in this post are all from a shoot on the 11th of December 2013. At this point, Peg and I had worked through many of the suitcases that were full, and in this stretch the cases were largely empty except for labels.
Mary’s labels are quite evocative. The small one on the left is unfortunately torn, so we can’t see her date of admittance, but the larger one on the right tells us that she came from Syracuse. Dr Elliott’s name shows up often in our work, and I must assume that Elliott Hall at Willard is named after him. (I can’t remember if I have ever linked to this before, but Dr. Robert E. Doran wrote a history of Willard in 1978 that is really interesting. Here is the link.)
There are so many small details that grabbed my attention when I was shooting. This is all that was left of Mabel Y’s label.
Norah’s label tells us quite a lot. Her Willard number, her date of admission, from where she came and into which building she went. Peggy and I often had a laugh over the description of the suitcases; “leather-like” was used constantly. And occasionally “cardboard-like” appeared. When you think of it, cardboard-like is probably…..cardboard!
Ida came to Willard on 16 November 1929. The string on the label is pretty and the Syracuse Post-Standard is from June of 1929.
Charles and his small leather grip arrived from the Binghamton State Hospital.
Richard’s case was clearly a traveling salesman’s and was completely empty.
Here is a detail. The Zanol Company was based in Cincinnati.
Finally for today, Alice R’s case had this nice thermometer, a clasp for holding up a stocking, and a card from a Christmas present.
Please go to the Willard Suitcases site to see more photographs of these particular cases. Click on “The Cases” and scroll down to the bottom to see the latest additions. Thanks for following.
Willard Suitcases / Stuart B / Oscar Wilde
I am getting a lot of editing done lately, and am feeling great about the images.
Stuart’s (maybe Stuert, it appears both ways) case was full of interesting toiletries. Several of the residents had Dr. Lyon’s Tooth Powder.
I have always wanted to avoid “fetishizing” the objects that came to Willard with the patients, but the design of the items in Stuert’s case really grabbed me.
The attention to detail in commercial design during the time of these products is impressive.
This Ever-Ready shaving brush had quite a bit of use.
I love the typeface (or is it font?) on the Mennen talcum powder. One wonders about the “neutral” tint, and on just how many faces it wouldn’t show.
The above image is one of my favorites from the project.
The Mennen Company is still in business, and are mostly known for their deodorants.
Lander Perfumer; New York, Memphis, Montreal, and……Binghamton!
I am glad I (or Peg) thought to photograph the back of the “Locktite Humidizer”.
It keeps your tobacco fresh, and they are definitely out of business.
Thanks for following. I have been uploading a ton of new cases on the Willard Suitcases site. Go check it out, and don’t forget to click on the “view all” link at the bottom of each page. 25 is the default number and in many instances, there are more than that number in the gallery.
I was listening to “With Great Pleasure” on Radio 4 today while I was editing these photographs and heard this Oscar Wilde quote from “De Profundus”. “Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground”. I think he was right on the money.
Robert L. Crispin / Cuthbertson Verb Wheel
I never thought of my dad as a bow tie kind of guy. In fact, this is the only photo that I have with him wearing one. I found it along with his notes on work he did on the German Cuthbertson Verb Wheel. I remember him saying that as a grad student at the University of Colorado he did most of the background work putting it together. Grad students all over the world can recognize this particular situation.
This one was published in 1933 and belonged to my mom and her brother Bill who were both students at the university. I’m not sure what H.P.J.C. stands for after Uncle Bill’s name. My mom was clearly proud of her affiliation with Alpha Chi Omega.
I looked online, and couldn’t find much information on Cuthbertson beyond the fact that he taught at C.U and was Chairman of the Department of Modern Languages. And clearly he gave credit to his wife Lulu (great name) who worked with him on all the Romance language wheels they published.
When I picked up the wheel this morning, I was cheered to see that the arrow pointed to the verb “lächeln” (smile). Not a bad way to start the weekend.
Peggy Ross has worked with me on the suitcases project from the very start, and today is her birthday. Happiest of days, Peg.
Cheers everyone.
Willard Suitcases / Vintage News
The Vintage News ran a nice little interview about the suitcases on their site. You can check it out here.
Thanks Alex!
Willard Suitcases / Labels / Books
I have been spending a lot of time editing the suitcases in the past few weeks, and have set a goal to finish all of that work by early April. Over the 5+ years of shooting, the amount of images generated is quite massive. So check out the willardsuitcases.com site if you haven’t been there lately. All of the recent folks are at the bottom of “The Cases” page. I am uploading on a regular basis. Most of the cases that I have been working on are not very full, but the labels are so evocative. Bertha S was clearly at the Newark State School (The New York State Custodial Asylum for Feeble-Minded Women) before she came to Willard.
Florence G. arrived at Willard in 1936 and lived in Eliott Hall. Her two cases contained little more than some coat hangars, a key, and a label.
On Ida’s label, the “returned from family” line is interesting and a bit sad. One always wonders what kind of connection the patients at Willard had with their families.
Ellen H. arrived in March of 1967. This type of tie down ribbon was common in many of the suitcases. The green is such a beautiful color.
When I ran the second Kickstarter appeal, the top reward was a limited edition book that was for backers at the $500.00 level. I had 40 printed and still have a few left that are numbered and signed. If you would like to help the project in a big way, I would be most grateful for the support.
Many of you have asked about a book, and I realize that $500.00 is beyone the budget of a lot of the followers of this project. So I have had another run of the reward book printed. It is a slim volume that contains 32 suitcase photos and a picture of the attic where the cases were stored, along with a bit of text. I am selling these for $60.00 + $10.00 shipping and they are really beautifully designed and printed. If you are interested, send me an email at jon@willardsuitcases.com. You will then get an invoice through Square, which processes my transactions, and once payment is made, I will ship it right out. Paypal also works for me, and if you email me, I’ll give you the details. If you want one for yourself and one as a gift, I’ll send along two for $100.00 (plus the $10.00 shipping).
Thanks again for following and for all the support.
Willard Suitcases / Margaret D / Journal of Contemporary Archeology
This case belongs to Margaret D, and she clearly liked beautiful underthings. It is difficult to describe just how wonderful the fabric in these garments felt to the touch.
Margaret was a nurse before she came to Willard, and she also brought along a massive collection of highly starched nurses uniforms.
There had to have been at least 50 of these uniforms, and they were all folded nicely.
❖
I first met Zoë Crossland shortly after she backed the first suitcases Kickstarter campaign. She is an anthropology professor at Columbia University and has invited me on two different occasions to speak to her department about the suitcases. Both visits were amazing, and I learned so much about the project from hearing what the faculty and staff had to say. Over a year ago we started a dialogue about the project with hopes of getting it published. Six months ago the Journal of Contemporary Archeology agreed to do so, and the online version was released late last week. Here is a link to see a pdf of the article. Scroll down to “Download Media” and click on the little icon next to “PDF”. I am so proud to be a part of this as I think Zoë did a fantastic job of connecting my photographs with her interests as an archeologist/anthropologist. There will be a print version available soon which can be ordered through the JCA.
Thanks for following. I have been getting quite a few new subscribers to this site, so as a reminder, you can check out The Willard Suitcases site here.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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