Odds and ends, 1943

We found quite a few odds and ends in the 1943 marked boxes without knowing for sure if these slides were taken in 1943, prior to joining the service or maybe even on the few days he was able to get out of Camp Kohler (Sacramento Area.)

Without any writing or documentation, we won’t know otherwise.

There’s another 1941 Mount Whitney slide from the COP Death Valley trip.

The next slide might be Florida in 1943 based on the absence of a stamped slide number in the cardboard frame. (I’ve only seen this on a limited number of slides and the majority were marked FL 1943.)

All these slides so far are in Ready-Mount Red Border Kodachrome frames. These were popular from 1941 to 1949. Although that’s a wide range, sometime in 1944, Kodak added “Kodak Readymount” to the back of the frame above “Made in U.S.A.” The latter tidbit helps confirming that at least all the slides without the “Kodak Readymount” are prior to sometime in 1944.

This is the case for all slides below, we just can’t be sure about the location where these were taken and the exact date of course,

We know from earlier Kodachromes in glass, that Joel photographed parades as early as 1941.

The slide that made me pause was the last one. The slide was badly overexposed at the left side because the shutter curtain in Joel’s camera got stuck. (What you see below is the result of some deep HDR scanning and digital processing to made the left side of the image somewhat intelligible.)

It’s clearly E Miner Avenue, looking east. The Central Methodist Church at Miner and San Joaquin is still there, so definitely prior to 1958. The only board that is clearly in focus is the one from Olson & Pierson, Upholstery Cleaners at 16 E. Miner Avenue. This business showed first up at this address in the 1941 Polk Stockton City Directory and by 1952, that location is listed as vacant as the business moved to E. Fremont Street.

In light of the absence of “Kodak Readymount” on the back, we date this slide prior to 1944. Since Joel was involved in WWII at that time, this image was taken somewhere between 1941 and June 6, 1943. (Joel entered Camp Kohler prior to that date.)

Kevin Shawver posted the image below in the Facebook group “Memories of Stockton”

Kevin writes:

“… here’s a view looking west on Miner from the late 30s. The building at the end of the street with the sign on top is where the photographer is standing in the Dardis photo. Your pic appears to be taken later judging by the cars. The building may have been torn down. A lot happened in that area in the late 40s when much of McLeod lake was filled in and Center St was extended from Fremont to Weber.”

And so do we add to the understanding of local history. Joel’s image shows what appears to be a cleared lot. So the building must have been gone by then.

The 1917 Sanborn Fire Map from Stockton shows a small building present, where the 1950 Sanborn Fire Map from Stockton no longer shows a building. Nothing in there contradicts the above images from Joel Dardis or the 1930’s image shared by Kevin Shawver.

What was called “Freight House” was no longer there in the 1950 map. 16 E Miner Avenue was in 1917 a vulcanizing tire shop, while in 1950 there’s still an upholstery cleaning business claimed at that address,

Next blog posts we’re diving into more press format negatives Joel made upon his return from WWII and his subsequent enrolment in SJC in 1946.

Cheers !