Uncovering Our History Through The Relics Left Behind
Posted in Art, and Black history
I was at an auction this week where paintings and prints by several Philadelphia artists were sold. I knew some of the names, but others were unfamiliar to me. This wasn’t the first time that…
It must have been one horrific murder perpetrated that July 4, 1958, on the tony Main Line in the Philadelphia suburbs. A successful real estate salesman named Max Kravitz had been found beaten and shot in his home. Soon…
I had seen the big box of dolls several times at the auction house and had rifled through it a few times. I was looking but not seeing. No one else seemed to be interested…
The child’s toy washing machine was cute and sweet. It was a mini version of mom’s old wringer washing machine, but this one had logo of a little cartoon figure holding a tennis racket. With…
I missed the news more than a week ago that illustrator Leo Dillon had died. A friend mentioned it to me a few days ago, and for a minute I had a mental block of…
Posted in Art
I don’t remember the first time I saw the human-size busts that are the signature artwork of sculptor Woodrow Nash. From a distance they resembled stylish wood carvings – men and women with scarifications of African…
I thought you’d like those, the auction staffer said, a big smile on his face. He was feeling this mother lode of age-stained songbooks that lay on the table in front of me. I had…
Posted in Gardening
I was taking my morning walk one day recently when I saw bursts of roses abloom in yard after yard. It was if someone had startled Mother Nature from her sleep and she had flung open her arms and…
Posted in Art
The scene reminded me of Thomas Hart Benton. An old pickup truck sat parked near a railroad crossing as the driver engaged in a conversation with a man idling at his door. Coming towards them was…
Posted in Home, and Personal items
Several of the auction-house staff had warned us in hushed conversations that it was a hoarder’s house. They could barely get through the door or walk through the house to prepare it for an estate…
