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dlaur.bsky.social
dlaur
@dlaur.bsky.social
260 followers 1.1K following 140 posts
almost there

into ephemera, genealogy, urban & material history, maps, fiction of all kinds, pre-cinema optical devices & entertainments, cats, and a delicate balance of quality to trashy tv

(banner by Martin Johnson Heade)
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dlaur.bsky.social
In the record from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Society, he is listed as a "half" orphan. The unrelated child above him, also a half orphan, was only 2 years old. It saddens me so much that some of these childrens' stories will never be told. #Genealogy
An excerpt from a Hebrew Orphan Asylum Society of the City of Brooklyn record, showing entries for two children from 1887.
December 12, 2024 at 7:23 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Happy Depression era Thanksgiving
(from the New York Public Library Digital Collection)
Three rectangular black and white photos mounted on tan backing. Across the top is written "Celebations, Parades & Municipal Events, Macy's Thanksgiving Parade - 1932 - No. 1." The left photo shows a balloon dachshund floating above a street and crowd, with buildings in the background. His nose is very pointy. The central photo shows the same balloon and scene from the side, The right photo shows the head only of a cat balloon: the head is round and very close to the crowd, as if it has descended almost on top of them.
November 28, 2024 at 2:14 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 20 #BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
Cover for a paperback edition of "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl." The background is black and the title text is white. In the center is a black and white photograph of Anne Frank. Her hair is dark and clipped back on one side. She is gazing slightly upward towards the left. Her expression seems serious but not unhappy: her eyes and mouth suggest a very slight smile. She is wearing a white blouse with a rounded collar, over which seems to be printed jumper.
November 27, 2024 at 3:57 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 19 #BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
The cover for the Bantam Book paperback edition of "The Medium is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects" by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore. The background is black. All the text in white and slanting upwards towards the right.Two-thirds down is a woman's face consisting mostly of eyes and a smiling mouth, but it is flattened and elongated, resembling a record album.
November 26, 2024 at 3:09 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 18 #BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
A cover of "The Golden Bowl" by Henry James (Penguin Modern Classics paperback edition). A woman leans back in a chair. She is swathed in a white garment and her hands are crossed loosely in her lap. Her long black hair is loose. Her head is tilted towards the right and eyes seem half closed, as if she is almost but not quite asleep. She seems to be both at rest and aware.
November 25, 2024 at 2:34 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
As someone who once wrote way too much about Henry James, this edition's cover for The Turn of the Screw almost makes it all worthwhile. #books
A book cover of The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. In the lower right corner is a caption that says "A story of horror which has baffled every reader." The illustration shows a man in black who is somewhat transparent lurching up winding stairs. At the top of the stairs is a woman in a pale green negligee, holding a candle upright. Her hair is platinum blonde and pulled back with a red tie. There is a window in the background with floating curtains and an open doorway behind the woman.
November 24, 2024 at 5:54 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 17 #BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
The cover of "W. H. Auden: Collected Poems", edited by Edward Mendelson. A black and white photo of Auden's face fills the space. He is gazing directly at the viewer with a serious but welcoming expression. There are deep lines crossing his forehead and under his eyes. He is wearing a suit and tie.
November 24, 2024 at 2:59 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 16 #BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
The cover of a 1960s edition of "Susan Anthony: Girl Who Dared" by Helen Albee Monsell, illustrated by Al Fiorentino. In the upper right corner is the series name, "Childhood of Famous Americans." The main illustration shows a woman pouring water from one basin to another basin that's on top of a stool. She's wearing a long dress with a white apron. Watching her is a girl of about 12 years old, also wearing a long dress with a white apron. They both have happy expressions. Behind them is a tree and a house with an open door, a many-paned window, and stone path in front. The overall colors are green, blue, black and white. At the left is an inset of another, smaller illustration, showing an overhead view of a snow-covered barn in winter with two people shoveling a path to it.
November 23, 2024 at 1:52 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 15 #BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
The cover of the photography book "The Family of Man." Its subtitle is "The greatest photographic exhibition of all time -- 503 pictures from 68 countries -- created by Edward Steichen for the Museum of Modern Art. Prologue by Carl Sandburg." The background is white. In the upper two-thirds is a montage of irregularly shaped squares and rectangles in various colors: yellow, blue, green, orange, black, red, gray. In the center of this montage is a black and white photograph of a person playing a long pipe. They are wearing a floppy hat, under which a scarf is wrapped around their head, and looking directly at the viewer. Behind the pipe-player is another person in a floppy hat looking up towards the sky. Both people are smiling.
November 22, 2024 at 2:32 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 14
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
The cover of the book "Journeys: Prose by children of the English-speaking world", collected by Richard Lewis. The entire cover is a bright, light green. The main title "Journeys" is at the top in black text and capital letters. The subtitle is centered on the cover, with the round parts of the letters filled in with various colors (pink, green, blue, purple).
November 21, 2024 at 1:30 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Sensing this obit writer did not spill quite all the tea about my 3x great-grandfather.... #genealogy
Clipping of newspaper obituary. Text is as follows: Benjamin Burland, for many years Collector of Customs at St. John's, died at his residence in Port Kent, on the 17th instant, in his 81st year. Between 30 and 40 years ago Mr. Burland was a prominent man in this town. He was a large property owner; was at once time Mayor, and at Grand Lizne, near here, carried on an extensive trade. He was a man of strong connections and resolute character and amassed money, and as usual under such circumstances he had warm friends and bitter enemies. [paragraph break] The deceased was superanuated and superseded as collector of this port early 20 years ago, by Mr. E. D. Phillips, who is today himself an esteemed superanuated officer living in Manitoba. Mr. Burland, however, for many years preceeding his death, sometime ago he became a pronounced Spiritualist, but whether he died in this faith we know not. -- St. Johns News, P.Q.
November 20, 2024 at 3:41 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 13
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
A cover of Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. The background is a bright red. In the center is a circle, on either side of which are curved lines: the effect is that of a cancelled postage stamp. Within the circle is an illustration of a man on a galloping brown horse, superimposed on the phrase "GOING POSTAL". The man is wearing a yellow suit and a yellow hat with two wings. A mailbag is hanging from his shoulder, from which are falling white letters.
November 20, 2024 at 2:22 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 12 #BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
A cover for the book The Complete Short Stories of Ambrose Bierce. It is mostly black, with the text in red and white. In the center is a rectangular illustration showing a narrow, closed, wooden door atop two steps. The door and steps are in shades of light brown. The door handle is round and white. The walls on either side of the door are a bluish green.
November 19, 2024 at 2:50 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 11
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
A cover of the novel Wieland or, The Transformation: An American Tale by Charles Brockden Brown. The text for the title and author is yellow on a brown background, with some red elements. Centered within the brown border is a painting of a yellowish moon shining through the divided limbs of a dark tree. (This is a section of a painting called "Siegfried and the Handmaidens" by the American artist Albert Pinkham Ryder.)
November 18, 2024 at 2:49 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 10
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
Book cover for The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne. A man is leading a horse and two oxen through the snow. Near the man is a boy holding a stick and a black dog. In the distance is a red barn, leafless trees, and snow-filled clearings edged by forest.
November 17, 2024 at 2:46 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 9
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
Cover for The Borrowers by Mary Norton. Three very little people, about the height of mice, are looking up through floorboards that have been removed with a nearby screwdriver. They are all dressed in bed clothes. A man is standing and holding a candle, a woman is in bed under covers, and a girl is near them in an open doorway. Around them are objects like a safety pin and a clock on the wall, all of which look slightly large and disproportionate.
November 16, 2024 at 12:37 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 8
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
A book cover for Middlemarch by George Eliot. It shows a portion of a painting in which a woman is standing on a stone step located in front of a fence. The fence is between two trees. In the distance is a clearing on a hill, with a blue sky above. The woman is facing away from the viewer. Her skirt is white and her jacket is dark, possibly black.
November 15, 2024 at 4:01 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 7
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
The cover of Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders. The illustration shows a vista of trees and low hills, all in tints of bluish green. Towards the horizon is what may be a tower or a tall monument.
November 14, 2024 at 2:26 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 6
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
The book cover for Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. A bird with an orange breast, blue head, and blue wings is on a perch. The image is reversed so the bird is upside-down. In the center of the bird is a round cut out that encircles a cloud in a blue sky.
November 13, 2024 at 2:40 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 5
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
Cover of The Secret of the Old Clock, from Carolyn Keene's Nancy Drew mystery series. A young woman sits in a clearing in the woods, under a leafless tree. She is holding a wood clock. Its front glass is open and she is holding a screwdriver next to it. The sky color is that of twilight in autumn.
November 12, 2024 at 12:41 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
dlaur.bsky.social
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Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 4
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
November 11, 2024 at 2:41 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 3
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
November 10, 2024 at 1:46 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
November 10, 2024 at 3:25 AM
dlaur.bsky.social
November 9, 2024 at 11:51 PM
dlaur.bsky.social
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.

Day 2
#BookSky #BookChallenge #Books 💙📚
November 9, 2024 at 2:13 PM