METICULOUSLY ANNOTATED PHOTO ALBUMS POCONO PINES PA 1943-1949

Two suede bound photo albums with Native American motives, which are noteworthy for their meticulous annotations, typed on the back of each photo. There are about 188 photos in total, and both albums are from vacations in Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania, where a group of friends and family stayed at the Linnie Lee in 1943 and 1949. The group included Chubby, Marion, Hilda, Bill, etc., and people they met along their travels. Most of the photos were taken by someone name Chester Gardener, and it is not clear who typed the descriptions, but my guess is Chester's wife and Marion's mother. In particular, the photos of a girl (Chester's daughter, I believe) named Marion, where in most cases, the annotation gives the date, the place and her precise age. For example, one message says "Marion E. Gardner, taken by Chester on the beach of Lake Nahomi, Pocono Pines, Pa, on Monday afternoon, Aug. 2nd, 1943. Age of Marion: 14 years, 8 months, 11 days. At Miller's Beach." According to the 1940 census, Marion Gardener, was age 11, born about 1929, and her parents were Chester and Margeret Gardener, and they lived in Hudson, NJ.

The first album measures 7' x 11.25" and has 95 photos attached by corner tabs to the pages. Inside the front cover it says, "Vacation snapshots for 1943." The photos are numbered, and one snapshot is missing.

The second album measures 8.25" x 11.5," and has 93 photos measuring 2.75" x 4.5." This album is from 1949. There are a handful of missing snaps in this one.

I flipped around some of the photos to show the backs, which in many cases, are more interesting than the actual photos.

Side note: About 10 or so years in the vernacular snapshot world, many photo albums hit the market from Chester Gardener, who worked at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in New York City, and all of them had the same careful annotations. There must have been at least 50 or so of these albums that were found by several different dealers, including me, and most were sold on . To my delight, I found these two albums recently. Chester is a gift that keeps on giving, and Margeret is probably still documenting their lives, wherever she is.