Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Smile for the Camera: School Days


The word prompt for the 16th Edition of Smile For The Camera is "School Days." It is September, historically the month when a new school year begins. We all have images of the days spent in school. The barefoot children gathered together with their teacher in front of the rural school your ancestors attended. Children at their desks, children at play in the school yard, and those obligatory school photographs - one for every year. Show us your family memories of school days. Admission is free with every photograph!
I've always been amazed at what my maternal grandparents, Martin and Myrtle (Van Every) Deutsch saved.

High School Report Cards of my grandfather, Martin Deutsch:


Law School report cards


Above I show two semesters of high school (front and back), and three semesters of law school, though my grandfather saved all of them. I like seeing my great grandfather's signature. They also indicate when the Deutsch family moved from Campbell to Mozart street in Chicago.

Here's a photo from one of his two graduations. I don't have a date on it, so I'm not certain which one. [Aug 2019: Thanks to Ancestry's Yearbook archive I now know this is from 1931 and is his law school graduation photo]
I'll finish with a class photograph including my paternal grandfather, Melvin Newmark, from 1926, when he was 14 years old. It was his Confirmation Class from Bnai El in St. Louis. I've drawn a box around my grandfather.

1 comment:

Brett Payne said...

Thanks for sharing these, John. I always think that when you put together photos and documentary ephemera like this, the sum is far greater than the parts. Regards, Brett