Item Highlight-World War II Photograph

After writing about the Civil War photograph yesterday, my fascination with old pictures just increased. I looked through our other photographs and came across another one that had a strong effect on me. This time, it was a picture from around World War Two.

This picture is of two brothers. It was taken in Washington D.C. in 1940. There is even an address for the location of the picture: 4210-10th Street in North East Washington D.C. The one brother's name was given as Eugene, but there is not a name for the other one. It seems like information on the back of the photograph is primarily about the unknown brother. It says that he was stationed at the United States Naval Magazine of "Bellevue" in D.C. as a commanding officer. Fifty-nine years of age, he was a lieutenant of the United States Navy. The man served until the 15th of July in 1943, when he retired.


I thought it was really amazing that the information about the photograph had been written on the back at some point. It was neat to see that whoever took the picture wanted to make sure people would know about the people in it and what they did in their lives. It definitely gives this particular photo a very personal feeling to it that I find pretty moving.

Again, if you'd like to look more closely at this item or wish to make it part of your collection, here is the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=170436007875&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

June 25th-Important Events in History

Today is June 25th. It is a day that has seen a lot of history, which I'll be talking about in today's entry.
On this day in 1947, Anne Frank's diary was first published in Amsterdam. As you know, Anne Frank was a young girl who was forced to go into hiding for two years during World War Two. Her family was apprehended in 1944. Anne died from typhus while she was being held in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Otto Frank, her father and only family survivor, was able to get Anne's diary after the war. He realized that her diary was something that would be vitally important for future generations to understand what people went through during the Nazi occupation. Otto Frank did some editing before allowing the book to be published; some names were changed to protect people's identities and some portions were removed because they might offend people who were more conservative (later on this revisions were changed back to the original manuscript). Soon after the book's publishing on June 25th, 1947, the first 3000 of the first edition (copy shown above) were sold out. Since then, the book has remained one of the world's most popular and inspiring stories ever told, with translations in many different languages.
June 25th was also the day that famous British writer George Orwell was born. Orwell (picture above), whose real name was Eric Arthur Blair, was born in 1903 in Motihari, Bihar, British India. His work was known for its satirical and often dystopian views on society. His most famous works were: Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm. He also wrote a series of poems and essays. Orwell's controversial writings are still being studied even to this day. George Orwell died on January 21st, 1950 at the age of 46.