A Portland Oregon Summer in 1905

Portland Oregon in 1888 (thanks to LOC)

I have a diary from 1905 from my great-grandfather Alvin Barton Barber's sister Aunt Fanny Barber who went to school in Rhode Island but finished in June 1905 and returned to Portland, Oregon.  Her family lived there and she stayed with them before finding her first teaching job in Puyalip, Washington (that's how she spelled it, I know it is now Puyallup, WA).  I've been transcribing the summer entries since it makes it clear how much her brother Alvin "Vin" B. Barber and Lucy Lombardi (my great grandparents) were well known to each other by 1905 since both the families lived in Portland..  Fanny included Lucy Lombardi among the people she sent Commencement announcements, though Lucy Lombardi had finished her degree the previous year at Bryn Mawr.  Vin had finished at West Point in 1905 as well and the family returned by train to Portland, Oregon.  Vin to await his first orders in the Army and Fanny to find a job teaching school.

My transcription of this diary is not good enough yet, so instead I will share some pictures if I can find them of Portland in 1905 and the places they went for church, for "barge" parties, to the Fair, and movies they saw.

"Vin" and a Mr. West went up Mt. Rainier that summer leaving July 18, 1905 and returning "early" July 28, 1905 as did this group (they might have been in the group, the picture is from 1905):

Thanks to Oregon State University Archives, and their posting of this image on Flickr Commons, see larger version at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/osucommons/3230006120/sizes/l/

The year 1905 was a particularly festive year in Portland since it was the year of the Lewis and Clark Exposition celebrating the centennial of the trek of them and their many fellow voyagers across the Continent. 

The Exposition celebrated the many features of Oregon, as well as a false lagoon where Fanny and family members went on July 4, 1905:

Thanks to Oregon State University Archives, and their posting of this image on Flickr Commons, see larger version

Besides exploring this area and taking a boat road on the lagoon, the Barber family also saw Trixie the Trained Horse."   The fair also included this impressive Forestry Hall which was quite a break from the "White Buildings" typical of these expositions:

Thanks to Oregon State University Archives, and their posting of this image on Flickr Commons, see here

and of course an impressive Agricultural Display:

But there were also outings to the river where she and friends would canoe or have barge parties.  Though such outings were fun, it seemed common for a wind to pick up and make the return trips quite hard.

Thanks to Oregon State University Archives, and their posting of this image on Flickr Commons

Fanny, Mrs. Lombardi and Lucy Lombardi took the train to Multanomah Falls, had lunch there (but not at the restuarant to which you might have been since it only opened in 1925) and then went to Oneonta Gorge.  Fanny writes "where I broke my glasses & got wet ‘ way up. Man rowed up back to the Falls & came back on the train."  She found the glasses when she later tried to go to Bonneville for a Salmon Festival, missed most of it, but could stop at the Falls on the way back.  This scene of a riverboat steam is about 15 years earlier, but gives the impression of where they were heading:

She also went fairly often to her "Joe" sing at Calvary Chapel.  This could have been the younger Lombardi for whom my grandfather was named. Calvary Church is still there in Portland.  Here's a rather contemporary shot of it:

Picture came from Flickr, click here to go to original poster's stream.

Now my brother lives in Portland and sees these places 105 years later.  Bet they didn't know that would happen. 

Fanny took many naps that summer and I'm ready for one too.

The Clean Plate Club and US Food Administration, or Take the kids to Poland, 1919-1922

Thanks to Library of Congress, link is: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93502259

I wrote recently that this blog had no theme except to relate events in my family's history to larger trends.Now one could connect today's post to event in the world today, but I'll stay historical (but am grateful that I'm not seeing any cheerful posters around DC imploring me to donate to support US efforts in Afghanistan).

So today is to look at how my maternal great grandparents, Lucy Lombardi Barber and Alvin Barton Barber dealt with the "Great War."  But first some simple details.  Colonel Barber went to Britain in 1917 and stayed there, as far, as I can tell until 1922. At some point, his task became to work with the U.S. Food Administration, directed by his old friend Herbert Hoover.  In 1919, with the war over, he became more active in helping to rebuild Poland, through the American Relief Administration.  And around the same time, Lucy Barber began making plans for her and the three children, ages 10 to 4 to join him.  Col. Barber helped built the railroads in Poland as well as promote its industry.

Lucy and the children dealt with unfriendly children (see posting: http://overrepresented.blogspot.com/2010/01/barbers-and-poland-in-1920s.html  ) By the time, they returned to the States, Poland was a country again, and everyone had to get new passports.  I suspect that today, I will just include some nice images and words from elsewhere rather than report on any documents I have found about the event in Poland (which include passport applications, boat sailings, etc, and even a mention of Lillian Gish, a famous movie star of the 1910s and 1920s who kept going throughout the 20th century).

First though, a little find thanks to Google Books.  In 1920, a new magazine appeared: Poland which was described as a publication and a service; a monthly magazine for those seeking facts, figures and information regarding any phase of Polish life" and published by the American-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Liberty. 

By March 21, Col. A. B. Barber is the Vice President of this Group along with several other prominent Americans and Polish representatives:

But first, let's look at some of the efforts necessary to convince Americans to help in Europe for the Great War.  As you might remember, most Americans were not convinced that it was necessary for US to be involved in any way.  For example, the US Food Administration was designed to convince Americans to save food so that the country could export more food to the Allies.  There were posters:

Sow the Seeds of Victory! Plant and Raise Your Own Vegetables. Write to the National War Garden Commission, Washington, D.C., for Free Books on Gardening, Canning, and Drying. "Every Garden a Munition Plant." Charles Lathrop Pack, President. ca. 1918
Originally uploaded by The U.S. National Archives

Similar posters were made for people who lived in Poland or Polish people who lived in American:

Source Library of Congress, Call Number : POS - US .I55, no. 5 (C size) [P&P] Medium: 1 print (poster) : lithograph, color ; 71 x 52 cm

Also, let us note what the US Food Administration was teaching those who read American Cookery about food manners.  In my family we grew up with the "clean plate club" and the warning to think of the "starving indians" (East Asian Indians, not native Americans). In part, this tradition was designed to keep us from eating everything in the house except vegetables.

I suspect my grandparents were taught to think of the people in England and Poland.  In any case, it was the case that I don't recall sitting down to plated meals except at dinner time with my grandparents.  Rather food was put out, perhaps soup was served, and otherwise, one made what we wanted. 

American Cookery, v. 22 - 1918, thanks to Google Books.

I love the story of the "New England Housewife" celebrating the "two whole barrelfuls of garbage" as a sign of how she had splurged (or her neighbors had splurged).  Now, people would celebrate how much they could compost!!!

Now what was a bit amazing about my great grandparents bringing the children to Poland, was that in 1917-1918, Poland's economy and infrastructure had been almost completely destroyed.  Here's an English poster on the issue:

Thanks to Library of Congress for this image.  Click and you see it in better resolution.

Here's some images from 1917:

From Ernest Bicknell, Begging Bread for Poland: Five Months of Fruitless Effort to Obtain War Relief, The Survey, vol 37 (January 6, 1917)

And then there was the flu epidemic that killed millions around the world (including most likely Martha Wick's father Thomas in Minnesota but C.L Barber who will marry their daughter Elizabeth is only 4 at the time). Indeed, I think the first trip to Poland for Lucy and the three children was changed because one of the children (perhaps Janet the only girl) became sick.  I think she was then left behind. In any case, in 1920, typhus broke out in Poland as Russia invaded and refugees fled the war lines.

Practicing at helping Flu Victims in 1918 in DC, LOC photograph

Meanwhile, those of you who have studied history will recall that one of the main sticking points of the Treaty of Versailles was about the post-war fate of Poland, with Americans demanding a free Poland, and Germany wanting parts of Poland back.  Indeed, Germans began appealing to ethnic Germans in the Polish boundaries to assert their rights to be part of Poland by making the Polish people seem horrible:

According to the Library of Congress who supplied this poster, the text means: "This is what the Polish emigrants look like, and you'll look like this too if Silesia becomes part of Poland." Pointing to the "huddled masses at the top..  then it concludes:  "Upper Silesians! Stay with the new Germany!

Then just to make everything more chaotic, Russia started invading parts of Poland, and the country was assaulted by illness, politics, and guns again.  It was a nightmare for Wilson, and couldn't have been too great for the Barber family who returned by 1922, though the railroads were definitely in better shape, thanks to his efforts.

So I started on one upbeat note, and that was that Colonel Barber had an encounter with Lillian Gish. They both took the same boat from New York to England in 1917 (they appear as aliens on the passenger's list because the boat was English and they were Americans).  If you don't know of her, she is Famous and was for over 70 years.  She was the "it girl" of the 1910s. Appearing on stage and in movies. Here she is in 1915:

Thanks Library of Congress for another great picture, easy to find, and easy to link to: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2005687253

Now the quiz questions:  Family members: did Janet get left behind?  Family Members and non Family Members, what makes Lillian Gish a bit infamous depending on your politics in different eras?