Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Merry Travels/Holidays!

In 1939, Laura Mae Gumb of Hope, North Dakota took a long rail journey with her best friend Alice Curtis. They wanted to visit the New York World's Fair and see Washington, D.C. In the process, they celebrated the retirement of a 70-year-old Great Northern railroad engineer (above), ventured to Chinatown, and remarked on the wonders they saw. They drank cocktails at the Diamond Horseshoe and the Savoy.  They also seemingly stole a lot of restaurant menus, napkins and ashtrays. They met travelers from all over the world.

May your travels and festivities this season be equally remarkable!



2 comments:

Thomas Rosell said...

What great pictures from an amazing trip. I like all the photos but the Trylon and Perisphere might be my favorite.

Keli Rylance said...

That is my favorite also. While she was traveling, she wrote their observations down in shorthand, and then typed them into the scrapbook when she returned to North Dakota. Her comments on the Polish Pavilion: "was an all-steel structure, painted in bronze. In making those comments months later I read, 'The Polish Pavilion presents the story of Poland as she is today and as she intends to be in the future - an active vigorous member of the family of nations.' Today there is no Poland."

To see the monument: http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/worldsfair/moment-time-brink-war/essay/essay-horbal-polish-pavilion