This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt focuses on the
motorcycle and its riders, but the tent reminds me of some photos that need a
little explanation. I just wish I had
one – an explanation, that is.
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| A camping trip about 1922 or 1923 |
The evidence that my grandaunt Violetta Davis Ryan ever
went camping is preserved in her photo album.
If you knew Violetta like I knew Violetta, you’d agree that she is the
last person on earth who would ever fit the camper profile. She focused on good education, culture,
owning “nice things” (like her pink Cadillac) and obtaining financial success
and independence.
Even in college she was the cerebral type: a member of Le Cercle Français and the High School Club (for students planning to teach on the high school level).
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| Violetta is fourth from the right from the 1923 School Ma'am yearbook of the State Normal School at Harrisonburg, VA |
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| Violetta on the back row with the green arrow from the 1923 School Ma'am yearbook of the State Normal School at Harrisonburg, VA |
While the notes beneath her graduation picture make
Violetta seem at least a bit athletic, membership in the Athletic Association
and YWCA was automatic for ALL students.
There are no signs that she ever joined an intramural sport.
But camp she did. It is not likely the camping trips were even school related since they were clearly co-ed while the teachers college was not. Maybe this was a typical outing for groups of young people in the days before sports bars and frat parties.
The most interesting photo though is this one.
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| Double exposure? |
At first glance it appears to be a group photo of friends
in two rows – but look closely.
Be a good pillion passenger and ride with me to Sepia Saturday for more stories and old photos.
Perhaps she just joined them for a short while, not the whole camping trip as it does seem out of character for her.
ReplyDeletePossibly. Or this might be one more thing I never knew about Violetta.
DeleteDouble exposure or ghosts? ha!
ReplyDeleteOh please -- no ghosts in the woods -- there's enough scary stuff out there.
DeleteThat last shot is a little creepy, I must admit! But everybody seems happy enough...
ReplyDeleteYes, they do seem happy. And are they cleaning their dishes in a stream??? I guess pollution wasn't a big deal then.
DeleteMy Mom & Dad met in the 1930s while working for the same company & many of the young folks in the company used to get together on weekends and go on hikes or to the beach or somewhere, so I think you might be right about the young people back then getting together for some sort of fun activity. And I don't think it strange that your grandaunt went camping. People can surprise you. When I was young, I used to think my father's mother was a rather staid sort of person. But when I began learning about her younger days, I was happily surprised to find out she had quite a wicked little sense of humor and loved to go camping among other things. Who knew?!!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are many things that might surprise me about Violetta as a young woman. It's just hard to picture her willingly sleeping on the ground.
DeleteI never did anything athletic in high school, but I was automatically a member of the Girls Athletic Association.
ReplyDeleteWell, there ya go. Even in modern times . . . .
DeleteWhile it may have seemed out of character for your grandaunt to have gone camping (that first photo looks excruciatingly uncomfortable), there may have been an era when it was all the rage to "get back to nature." I have several photos of distant relatives--confirmed city slickers--who were featured in rather bucolic or mountainous surroundings, all decked out in gear appropriate for mountain hikes, hunting trips, or camping. I never would have thought them to be the type, either, which makes me wonder if it was a '20s thing or something.
ReplyDeleteGood point. There was a hiking club at the college, so I can imagine students hiking into the woods and reading Burns or Wordsworth.
DeleteWellll.... and people do change sometimes too. While I use to do a fair amount of camping myself in my younger years, it isn't top of my list anymore. She may have thought things were fun in her younger years or at least went along with them, but with time and age, she may have thought differently.
ReplyDeleteYou're probably right. The way I knew Violetta is just far removed from any Violetta that camped.
DeleteGreat post. True camping should really be an experience of roughing it. Violetta's tent certainly fits my definition.
ReplyDeleteRoughing it, for sure. And everyone seemed to have a tin plate and cup. If that girl is actually washing her dishes in a stream, that's REALLY roughing it. (I can't tell if I'm looking at leaves or water!)
DeleteI agree, double exposure or ghosts for sure! As for your other photos, very nice, camping is one of my favorite things to do!
ReplyDeleteI like the outdoorsy side of camping, but I'm not interested in tent camping.
DeleteThat photo is seriously odd! If it were double exposure wouldn’t it be the same people twice on the same photo rather than different people? Ghosts for sure!
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily. I have some photos that are like this that I did myself when I put a used roll of film back into the camera thinking it was a new roll. As a result, my sister's college graduation pictures look like she graduated in a dog kennel.
DeleteHA! The thought of Violetta camping is funny, but I am sure she joined right in since she was very social. I wonder if she had a pink sleeping bag?
ReplyDeleteTrue -- she was a people person. I'm sure if there were such a thing, the sleeping bag would have been pink!
DeleteAnd such a pretty and feminine name, too - Violetta - it really conjures up am image of a graceful lady., Hard to imagine such a lady out camping.
ReplyDeleteVioletta always loved her name.
DeleteYou need a good ghost story when on a camping trip. I didn't expect to see a ghost in the photo though.
ReplyDeleteOh that's true -- maybe these were the ghosts of campers past.
DeleteNow I see why you saved the tent pictures for this week. That double exposure is certainly ghost-like, almost as if they were being followed (haunted) by another self.
ReplyDeleteGreat post of how Violetta had more than her one personality. I like the double-exposed shot, kind of like before and after eating...all in one! I've got some photos of young adults also camping out in the woods in the early 20s...though I don't know what they slept in. But they were glad to travel in those old cars!
ReplyDeleteAnother great post. I love the double exposure. It seems very deliberate as it seems well composed?
ReplyDeleteYou paint with your words such a wonderful image of Violetta,
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother was the same way and I cannot for the life of me visualize her camping yet there are photos to prove it in her scrapbook. I remember once we took our kids camping - camped all day, cooked dinner over the fire, roasted marshmallows.....and then got in our car and drove about 20 miles to a hotel. Maybe that's what my grandma and Violetta did, too. :-)
ReplyDelete