Hi everyone, here are the Local History Photos of the Week!

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Local History photos are published on Fridays; and the next local history photo posting will be up on Friday, June 11, 2021.

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Helpful Photo Viewing Tips are found at the end of the posting for anyone who would like a few tips on how best to view the photos*

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About This Weeks’ Photos:

At the turn of the Twentieth Century the Drake Family, consisting of parents James D. and Isabel Walker and their three daughter Madge, Dorothy and, taken from Isabel’s 1937 obituary, another daughter who grew up to be “Mrs. J & J McCarty”, lived in Corning.

James Drake was a banker, whose father founded The First National Bank in Corning.

So, the family had money and Isabel was able to indulge her love of the new technology of photography! And by all accounts, and her family had phone and she chronicled their experiences in Corning and at Keuka Lake by taking many, many photos with her early Kodak camera. Some of the photos eventually found their way to the Corning Painted Post Historical Society and a few others to the Southeast Steuben County Library.

The four photos of the week for this, are four of those photos! How the library acquired these photos, which are actually photos of photos, remains a mystery. I can tell you that our local history photo archive wound up at the library prior to the late nineteen seventies when our recently retired head of Circulation Marcia Stewart started working at the library. And the great majority of photos in the library’s archive have what appears to be mid-twentieth century Kodak backing on them which makes me speculate that the library acquired the collection sometime in the sixties or early seventies – and I add all this detail just in case there is someone out there who might read this post and solve the mystery of when the library received the photo archive and who donated it!

In the meantime, enjoy the Drake Family photos for this week, and you’ll find just under the fourth photo, a PDF version of Isabel Walker Drake’s 1937 obituary. The obit is a bit crooked, sorry about that – I was gleefully trying out the library’s brand-new microfilm machine and was overjoyed by how clear the microfilm displays now, and thus didn’t notice the digital copy I made was crooked – the next old Leader article I share will be straight –  I promise!

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Local  History Photo 1: Drake Daughter & Dog

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Local  History Photo 2: Drake Daughters In Horse Drawn Cart

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Local History Photo 3: Drake Daughter In Stream Bed

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Local History Photo 4: Members of the Drake Family

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Isabel Walker Drake Obituary, from the Corning Leader

The Leader 8 5 1936 p 12 Isabel Walker Drake Obituary

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Have a good weekend everyone,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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References

Smith, S. (1975, April). An American Panorama. American Heritage. https://www.americanheritage.com/american-panorama

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Isabel Drake’s Remarkable Photos Show the World of 1900. (2017, November 28). The Corning Leader Blog. https://www.the-leader.com/blogs/20171128/isabel-drakes-remarkable-photos-show-world-of-1900

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Local History Online Library Resources:

Heritage Quest: Heritage Quest is the library’s online genealogy service, and it includes access to census records and other research sources; it can be accessed by going to the Online Resources page, on the library’s website, and scrolling down until you see the link for Heritage Quest:

https://www.ssclibrary.org/research/online-resources/

Once you’ve clicked on the Heritage Quest link, you’ll be prompted to login with your card number and PIN. If you have questions about how to use Heritage Quest, please feel free to let me know – my email address is reimerl@stls.org

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Enjoy the photos and be well everyone,

Linda Reimer, SSCL

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References

Dimitroff, T., & Janes, L. (1977). History Of The Corning Painted Post Area: 200 Years In Painted Post Country (1st ed.). Corning Area Bicentennial Committee.

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Kohut, J. (2006, April). An Interview with the Egginton Sisters. American Cut Glass Association. https://cutglass.org/articles/art25egginton.htm

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*To Create A Larger View (make the photos appear bigger on your screen):

You can click on each photo for a larger view. And then click the back arrow on your web browser to go back to the previous screen.

Alternatively, you can press and hold down the CTRL key, on your keyboard, while tapping the + key on your keyboard to make the photos appear larger on your screen.

To Create A Smaller View (make the photos appear smaller on your screen – after you’ve made them appear larger):

 Press and hold the CTRL key on your keyboard and tap the – sign to make the photos appear smaller again.

And If You Use A Mouse – CTRL & Scroll:

If you use a mouse you can do what is called “control and scroll”, to make photos appear larger and then smaller on your screen. To do this –>press and hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and push the scroll wheel on your mouse away from you for a larger view. To reverse the larger view hold down the same CTRL key on your keyboard and pull the scroll wheel on your mouse towards you.

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Library Local History/Creation Station Resources:
At the library you can scan your photos and slides to create digital family albums and slideshows; and even use one of the Circut machines, and other Creation Station equipment, to help you create a special paper family history album.

Also of note, we have the local paper, at times called the Corning Leader, Corning Journal or Corning Daily Journal, on microfilm from 1840 to the present — so you can visit the library and research local history and your family tree if you wish!

And…

And if you find any old photos or postcards of the Corning area that you don’t know what to do with – you can always donate them to the library!