Waterloo, NY
Waterloo, NY is an interesting little town. It is not too far from Willard and I have passed through it a lot since it lies on one of the main routes between the Thruway and Ithaca. There was a Masonic Lodge on this corner (Virginia and Williams Streets) which was torn down in 2007. When that building came down, this sign became visible again.
I walked up to the brick to get a closer look and it is in very good condition. It is a complete shame that the Masonic building had to be razed, but at least something interesting came out of its destruction.
Willard Suitcase #15
It has been too long since I have posted a suitcase here. I have been very busy shooting and have also been feeling a bit rushed about mailing out the rewards for the kickstarter backers. It has been a long and interesting process, and helps me feel the connection that I have with all of you who have supported the project.
This suitcase belonged to Thelma R.
She had a very interesting collection of items.
Many of them were of a religious nature.
I especially like to come across miniature dogs and Thelma had three. I really like the way these Scotties looked up at me while I was working.
There is usually one anomalous item in each case and in this one it was this small figurine. It didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of her things.
One of the envelopes was full of photographic negatives. There were no prints but most of the shots were of friends and I presume, family.
This is one of several small banks that I have seen. I like the lock painted on the front; the real access to the money was from the bottom.
I wasn’t sure what was contained in these envelopes as they were all sealed, but the word curl makes it a bit obvious. I held one up to my lights and it looked and felt like a lock of hair. Thelma’s surname was not Sullivan, but that name appeared in most of the papers and books in her suitcase.
This is the only recording that I have found in a suitcase. I really like the design of the label, and the record seemed in perfect condition.
I have obscured the last several letters of her name here. This piece of paper was in one of her notebooks, and tells a bit of a story about her origins.
The post mark on this card looks to be 1943 or 1945. One of the labels in the case says that she came to Willard on 9 July, 1946, so she would have been in her early 20s when she received this.
Many of the cases have day books or diaries, but in every instance but one, they all have only a few entries. On the first day of the new year Thelma found a penny in Camillus and wrote about it.
Her next comment came almost 3 weeks later, and only one more entry followed this one.
Thanks again to Craig Williams and the New York State Museum for granting me access to the suitcases, and thank you all for following this project.
Albert Bierstadt
I have always liked this painting. Bierstadt was apparently quite the operator. / I’ve been in DC the past few days and had the chance to spend a few hours at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. It is the best museum in a city full of great museums. It shares the old patent office building with the National Portrait Gallery which in itself is pretty cool. While there I got the chance to see some of the people that Peter Carroll and I worked with on the Lunder Conservation Center project, and had a really nice visit. / Back to Massachusetts tomorrow and will mail out the next level of rewards for the suitcase backers.
Rewards
I am pretty close to mailing the first of the Kickstarter rewards. So for those of you who backed the project at the $10.00 level, watch your mailbox. These are the first prints I have made of this work, and I am thrilled to finally see them on paper. Each print is signed and so the process is a bit slow; tonight I will start addressing the envelopes. You might notice the beautiful Yard-O-Led pencil in the bottom of the photo. It was a gift from my great friend John Wilson and it is the perfect writing instrument for signing the prints. It makes me so happy to be using it.
Pia and Flying Angel Seafarers Club
I spent a fantastic couple of hours with Pia Massie walking around the completely non-touristy parts of Vancouver. We started in Gastown and went to the area that is mostly inhabited by addicts and street people. She really knows her way around and it was fascinating. Her latest work is a documentary about Canadians of Japanese descent who were forcibly moved from the area just after Pearl Harbor. Everything was taken from them and they and have never returned as a community. There are still remnants of their lives if you know where to look, as in the name underneath a doormat at the entrance to this building.
We ended up at the Flying Angel Seafarers Club, which is as close as one can get to the port without encountering pretty heavy security. Unless you knew it was here, you might never find it. An amazingly beautiful building and since there was a sign on the front that said open, we went in. A volunteer named Frank gave us the grand tour and we learned a ton. Here is a link. I was especially taken by this book which is in a glass case at the front of the building.
Here is a description of its purpose.
Very touching. / We fly home tomorrow. Thanks Pia for the tour. It was great fun.
Ellis Island Autopsy Room
I spent a lot of time in the Contagious Disease Hospital wing at Ellis Island on Wednesday. The wards were set up much like a lot of the Kirkbride asylums in which I have photographed. Some large ward rooms and some smaller single patient rooms. This photo is from the autopsy room. I took a shot from the lower angle which you can see below.
It is quite an evocative space.
Ellis Island
I had the rarest of opportunities yesterday. Pieper is giving a presentation on Ellis Island about the construction of the original buildings and he had me come out with him to take photographs to illustrate his talk. It was an incredible day, and I was mostly in a state of near rapture. I have always wanted to photograph the unrestored buildings on the island and am so grateful to Pieper and Darcy Hartman of Save Ellis Island for the chance. This photograph was taken in what I believe is called the Doctor’s (or Surgeon’s) residence. I’ll post more in the days to come. Here is some information on the talk: “The Actual Bricks and Mortar Story; Building Ellis Island’s Hospitals”. 10.30 to 12.30 on 15 April, 2012. It is open to the public but limited to 50 participants. For information, email information@saveellisisland.org For anyone interested in these buildings this is a unique chance to don a hardhat and take a tour of the usually off limits parts of the island.
Grand Central
Here’s another shot from Grand Central. I was a bit disorientated because I have been up on this balcony on the East side of the station many times. It always used to be just an open space with people milling around and taking pictures just like this one. It is an Apple Store now. As soon as you walk up the stairs, there is a greeter asking if you need help. Things change, I guess. A very long time ago Kodak used most of the wall behind me for a giant Kodachrome image. Now Kodak is bankrupt and Apple is in charge. Interesting.
Oyster Bar
Sorry, it’s been a while. / I took the Metro North train from New Haven to New York on Friday. I could have taken Amtrak from Springfield, but it goes into Penn Station and I prefer Grand Central. I arranged to arrive with time to spare, so I had some Cotuits and a pan roast at the Oyster Bar. / Just after my Kickstarter page went up, Zoe Crossland from Columbia University contacted me about coming down to give a seminar on the Willard suitcases project. She connected me with Brian Boyd who set it all up, and at 5.30 I was sitting in a room with a great group of faculty and students from the anthropology and archeology departments. I was hoping for lots of feedback and dialogue and wasn’t disappointed. I showed selected photos from what I have done so far and we had a great discussion. / Had a very productive day at the museum last Thursday and will be back shooting in the next few days.
Hudson River Psychiatric Center
I was in Poughkeepsie on Tuesday photographing at the recently closed Hudson River Psychiatric Center. I have been there many times and it was a bit sad to know that the facility was closing. / When I was shooting shuttered asylum buildings for my earlier projects, they were all from the 19th century. Those buildings and their contents came from such a markedly different time which was part of the reason it was such compelling work for me. When I was thinking about my photographs from Tuesday I realized that in the future, someone will look at this photo and have the same feeling. To our eyes, this isn’t such an unusual scene; fifty from now it will seem truly exotic.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
leave a comment