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Portraits, Box 30, July 1947

Two subjects in this box of 17 negatives. “P. Bush, July 1947” and “John Pearce Child, July 1947” I’ll be showing all the converted negatives, even after 75 years, these are someone’s relatives or ancestors. P. Bush ends up to be a number of portraits of a young couple sunbathing in a grassy area. I…
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More, Box 29, 1947

Joel’s attempts to photograph through a storefront window stood out in the remainder of this box. It is notoriously difficult to get the subject right because of the reflections. I do sense this was a photography class assignment. And these reflections, in addition to see-through opportunities, can give us additional clues. There’s a partial “C…
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Catch-All, Box 29, 1947

This box had 31 negatives and covers quite a few subjects but also has a number of negatives that are clearly rejects for various reasons. Still, Joel didn’t throw anything away. And even the rejects give us insight in what he likes to photograph. The only writing on this box is “Weston 50”. The latter…
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Eano Canepa, Box 28, 1947

This box simply says Eano Canepa Graduation 1947 and Sum (sic) Dinner 1947 A total of 16 negatives. Ten graduation related and 6 images of friends at dinner. According to Naranjado 1947, Eano graduated in June 1947. This anchors the date on the images. Why would Joel photograph Eano’s graduation ? They were close friends…
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SJC Art, Box 27, April 1947

Not a real surprise to find more SJC artwork in the boxes. There seems to be some continuity as I did find three 1946 pieces duplicated in this box of negatives. It’s a mix of 3D and 2D work, with the 2D work yielding a few names of students. Matter of figuring out who Joel…
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Coloma, Box 26, Jan 1948

Although it is quite obvious that James Marshall was not the first one to find gold in California, it was this carpenter from New Jersey, working on John Sutter’s Mill, who made the effective discovery which electrified the world, altered the course of western history, greatly accelerated the development of California, and had national and…
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Box Car City, Box 25, 1946

I took me some research to figure out what the contents were of this box. The lid had following notations; Houses, Terminous, Woodbridge, Stockton 1946. Checking the history of Terminous online, I found a reference to “Box Car City” and then the light bulb went on. All these shacks were clearly built on box car…
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San Francisco, Dec 1947

These images were found in box 24 with the Jack Pahl Dec 25, 1947 images. We can’t be sure that these images are from that time period but it would make sense for Joel to pass by one of his favorite subjects when he was in the Oakland/Berkeley area to visit family. Most of the…
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Jack Pahl, Box 24, 1947

Few different subjects in this box where the majority is photographed on Agfa Super Plenachrome Press stock. The pencil marks read “Jack Pahl Family, Dec 25, 1947” and below that “Torlan, Dec 26, 1947” (Note: Torlan could also be Toulau, Toilan … Joel’s spelling is often erratic.) We do find multiple subjects in this box…
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Baby Alert, Box 23, 1947

This box is missing its cover lid. On the bottom it reads in pencil “Werne Pahl Baby” “Feb 3, 1947” and “March 16, 1948”. Two events, two subjects as we will see. There are a total of 21 negatives in this box. I won’t show then all this time as quite a few of them…