The exact date on the box is July 18, 1948. Graduation is self explanatory, and YMI in this case stands for Young Men Institute. Joel photographed members of Weber 49 -YWI (Young Women Institute) in 1946. This time there’s a parade with the male and female section of this Catholic group.
And as we will see again, there are more subjects in this box than what’s written on the lid.
Let’s start with Joel’s graduation ceremony pictures. It is not clear who the photographer is in this case, and although Joel had multiple photographers in his circle to choose from, framing of the images tells me this was not a very experienced photographer. It’s of course quite possible Joel tried to do “selfies” on a mechanical shutter timer, in which case, all framing bets are off.
Next two images are from the Johnny Calvin Music Store in the 2005 Building on the corner of Bedford Road and North Pacific Avenue. Cowell Children’s clothing was in the same building. (The Stockton City Directory of 1949-1950 shows Johnny Calvin Music store on 2363 Pacific Avenue, there was at some point a move involved.)
And then there’s the parade with few images of the YMI, the Young Men Institute, but it is clear there are also members of YWI in this parade.
And much more !
And no parade is complete without Joel taking some more majorette images.
The location for both images is the corner of E Weber Avenue and S Aurora Street, actually, the group on S Aurora street performing in front of what is known as the MEPCO building. (This building was the first location for the HATCH Workshop in Stockton. Unfortunately, this building suffered a construction fire in Feb 2021, just after it was sold to an investor group.)
It should also be clear from the images, the majorette to wear a “Hollywood style” Native American headdress. There was little to no discussion of cultural appropriation in 1948, Hollywood culture was in full swing.
And it shouldn’t come as a surprise there were more Hollywood inspired war bonnets in this parade.
There are few images of kids playing games, I don’t have a reference of what and where, just assuming it is all circa 1948, possibly on a state fair. We’ve seen the girl with her face in a plate of cottage cheese of whipped cream before in a negative box of 1948 vintage.
Looks like there’s grabbing in a lot of flour involved in the above images. It must have been a sight to see those boys standing up again.
Last two images are from a College of Pacific football game of unknown vintage.
It was quite the variety in this box of 20 negatives. Six more boxes with circa 1949 vintage negatives to look at.
Cheers !
Finding Joel Pahl Dardis 