Each Friday, I answer questions submitted by readers seeking information about items that they own or were given to them. I try to help them identify their items or find out more about their history.
I also get questions asking me to determine the worth or value of items. For those, I have no answers, but I do direct readers to my blog post on how they can search for the answer on their own.
This week’s questions are from readers searching for images and photos pertaining to their relatives:
Question:
I was born and grew up in Redditch, which is basically the home of needles in the United Kingdom. I’m currently researching a book about my great-grandfather who was a needle maker and I am looking for any examples of his needle packs – just a photos would do! He traded under his own name of Wharrad, also British Needle Co. Ltd. and E. Paice & Co., Astwood Bank. Has anyone ever seen any of these packs, please? He was operating from around 1905 to 1940.
My Answer:
I’ve written about needle packs in my blog but I don’t recall coming across any with those labels. I’ve had Milward (one of the largest), Brabants and Crowley’s packs.
My most recent find was a red case of needles made by John James & Sons of Redditch (see photo above), with some needles still in the case. That company appeared to have been started in the mid-19th century. The English author Charles Dickens wrote about visiting Redditch and its needle industry in his weekly magazine “Household Words,” around 1852.
The reader didn’t mention his great-grandfather’s name, but in Googling, I found a Lionel Alfred Wharrad who applied for patents in the 1920s to improve the manufacturing and packing of needles, among other related issues. In 1918, the U.S. Patent Office listed Wharrad, of Redditch, England, as an applicant who had filed for a patent in 1917 for a “needle scouring and polishing machine.” He’s also mentioned in other patent filings, including one for fish hooks, another product of the needle companies.
Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch re-creates the area’s needle and fish-hook industry. The town produced 90 percent of the world’s needles, according to the museum website. The museum includes a scouring or polishing mill, rare needles, and fish hooks and needle cases produced by the needle companies that once thrived in this town northwest of London. It was said to be hard and tedious work. The museum may have some Wharrad packs.
I love those old needle packs because the graphics on them are lovely. Those needle companies took the time to make them very appealing to women.
Question:
I am looking for any photographs of my mother, who was Howard University’s Homecoming Queen in 1949. Her name is Martina S. Walden. However, Howard may list her maiden name, which was Martina Amy Street. She graduated in 1950.
My Answer:
I haven’t come across any information that could help this writer, but I did find a 1949 Howard University recruiting catalog at auction about two years ago. I’m not sure if his mother was mentioned in it.
If you can help either of these two readers, please drop me a line.
Update: A reader suggested that the person seeking photos of his mother the homecoming queen try classmates.com “for a listing of people who went to Howard the same time (his) mother was there. Someone may have a pic or a yearbook. If (his) mother belonged to a sorority, they may have pics.”
That’s a good idea. The person could also try the Howard University Archives and the Department of Alumni Relations.
