Another one from great grandma’s personal photo album. I’d posted about this little album a while ago and the issue that the photos are all glued to black construction paper-like pages. I had managed to free a few of the photos that were loose already and made a few new discoveries. Fitting in with the Sepia Saturday this week, I present to you a group of fair maidens.
On the back is written, “Left to right, Anna Shranko, Goldie Powis, Helen Somerville, Kathleen Troland, and Mary Shranko. The Shranko sisters are from Osceola Mills, PA. Four Budds and one bloom from Williamsport, PA. Taken May 15, 1932†Junua “Goldie” Powis (nee Patchin) was my great grand uncle’s wife. Alfred Herbert Powis had died 6 years prior to this photo being taken and they only had one son who died in infancy. It’s sort of a sweet way to refer to Goldie as a, “bloom,” and the other girls who had never been married as, “budds.” I haven’t been able to find out much about the other girls, and I think maybe some of the names are spelled wrong. I did find an entry on the 1930 census that shows Helen, Kathleen, and Mary living in a house together in Williamsport, PA, with them all working a variety of different jobs from machine operator to saleslady and even laborer in a rubber factory. All the gals are dressed nicely for a lovely late spring day (see the tulips blooming in the foreground?). Again, I have to wonder who took the photo and took the time to label it as well with a date and all the names. And that’s that! Short and sweet this week, and a little late given that things have been pretty busy at Casa Sheetar. It’s still Saturday though, so I say it works!
Maybe budds and blooms refers to the dresses. Maybe budds is short for buddies and not a misspelling of buds.
It may be a bit of both! The same terminology is used on another photo too, with “bloom” seemingly referring to the only married woman in the photo.
I like ‘short and sweet’ blogs. And I like your photo. Didn’t their beautiful dresses hang sweetly on their svelte bodies:)
Such a lovely photograph and they looked so smart in those dresses. .
I’d say fair maidens fits the bill. Nice nostalgic photo – complete with tulips.
I’ve made a few reveals like this myself and know what a thrill it is to find names or date on the back of an old photo, especially on a wonderful photo like this.
It’s something I run into often enough with albums like that. Preserve the album as an artifact or try to release the photos from their glue-and-paper prison to hopefuly reveal a little more data? I tend to lean towards the data side especially if I’m not sure who’s in the photo, but it’s always a tough call.
Buds and Blooms — I love that.