Those who are regulars at my Message Board will already be familiar with Ian House. He is by far the most prolific participant and the board would not be the same without his wit and his passion for the early 1900s decades.
I have corresponded with Ian for about 6 years and, in 2006, I finally got to meet him when he visited Texas during a cross country move. Last summer I met up with Ian and regular Radio Dismuke contributor Eddie The Collector in Tulsa, Oklahoma for a few days to see a 50 year old Plymouth unearthed from a time capsule and to visit the many impressive vintage buildings in that city that still survive as reminder of its incredible wealth during the 1920s oil boom.
In addition to being an interesting fellow, Ian is a talented web designer and is responsible for three web sites that I think will be of definite interest to early 1900s enthusiasts.
The American Package Museum
www.PackageMusum.com
According to the website's mission statement, the purpose of the Package Museum is to "preserve and display specimens of American package design from the early decades of the 20th Century."
The "museum" in the website's name is highly appropriate, I think, as one of the things the site does is provide a glimpse at some of the possibilities that could be open to real life brick and mortar museums in an online age.
When you access the website and get past the opening page, click on "Index" for a list of items in the museum's collection. Follow the links and you will see a photo of each item. So far so good - if you are a fan of the early 1900s, you will probably enjoy looking at the artwork on the packaging of various products that were commonplace at the time.
On some of the items in the collection, however, you will see a link to a 3-D view. (If you are on a dial-up connection, you will find 3-D views frustratingly slow and would probably be better off viewing the standard photos and bookmarking the page for viewing when you eventually upgrade your connection.) If you are on a high speed connection, the 3-D items are very interesting. With your mouse, you can "pick up" the items, spin them around and view them from any angle.
I think a great many museums with vastly greater resources than Ian has at his disposal would do well to take notes.
One of the limitations museums and archives face is a lack of space to be able to put all of the items in their collections on permanent display. As a result, a great deal of our cultural and artistic heritage that is held by museums and a vast amount of information that is stored in archives ends up being effectively warehoused and out of sight to all but museum employees and a handful of researchers who have the time to dig through them and the credentials to be allowed access.
Another limitation faced by any museum is the fact that its geographical location necessarily limits access. A fascinating exhibit by a museum on the other side of he continent or halfway around the world is of little use to those who lack the time and money to travel to it.
Online exhibits can go far in addressing both limitations.
Clearly some of the items currently warehoused by museums are easier to place online than others. For example, photographs and paper documents are very easy to digitize for online viewing. And there are some institutions that have put forth great efforts in that area. Yet, oddly enough, there are still a lot of museums, libraries and archives with important collections of historical photographs and paper documents that have shown little, if any, initiative towards making them available online. I have yet to understand why as, in the grand scheme of things, putting content online is relatively affordable. Operating a scanner is not a difficult skill to teach and is work well suited for volunteers and low-paid interns. Most museums already have at least some sort of web presence and, therefore, presumably a webmaster.
Not only would online exhibits help widen the reach and promote the mission of such institutions, I suspect that they could generate revenue via ad sales and, in the case of photos, from sales of quality prints of the low resolution images that are sufficient for online display.
How many times have you seen news stories about important discoveries turning up among items that have been warehoused away and forgotten about for decades in a museum or archive? Placing such content online - and in the case of written documents, making the contents searchable - could result in who knows what sort of new discoveries by virtue of the larger number of eyes and minds looking at it and integrating the information with other knowledge, perhaps acquired online from similar institutions with digitized collections.
Of course, there are a lot of other things on display in museums that are more problematic in terms of making them available online. For example, artworks such as statues, archaeological specimins, fossils and rocks, etc. are all three dimensional and best appreciated in person. And it is in this area that Ian's Package Museum illustrates how such items can, in fact, be displayed online.
Seeing things online is certainly not the same as viewing them in person. But it sure beats not seeing them at all. And in the case of some items, a three dimensional online exhibit actually has certain advantages. For example, a real museum holding an exhibit of vintage product packaging would never allow visitors to handle such items and inspect the various angles not easily visible in their display case. Vintage packages are way too fragile and would end up destroyed. It is far easier to view the artwork and text on all six sides of the Gillette razor blades box in Ian's virtual museum than it is likely to be when looking at the real thing in a brick and mortar museum.
Imagine if Ian's "museum" had the resources to significantly expand its collection and the staff to put it online. There are plenty of real museums out there that have wonderful and extensive collections in various areas and vast resources at their disposal. A Google search for "3-D museum" turns up a handful of other attempts in this direction, most notably this one by the UC Davis Geology Department. But it is pretty clear that the larger and better known museums have not jumped on the bandwagon - which I find a bit surprising given that the software to produce such content has been available for several years now and web storage costs and bandwidth prices these days have become very inexpensive.
Most regular Radio Dismuke listeners and fans of 1920s and 1930s popular music fans are already familiar with at least some of Lee Morse's recordings.
As a result of his enthusiasm for her recordings and his subsequent research, Ian has become, without a doubt, the world's foremost living authority and biographer on Lee Morse.
Lee Morse had a vocal style that was highly unusual and unique even during the peak of her popularity. Her deep voice, along with the name "Lee," led her to be sometimes billed on records as "Miss Lee Morse" just so that there would be no confusion. And sometimes, in the middle of a song, she would break out into a yodel - her answer to the scat singing popular with certain other jazz vocalists of the period.
Ian has been researching Morse's life and career for several years now and has even met with some of her surviving relatives.
Morse's career went into a slow decline starting in 1930 when excessive drinking resulted in her being fired and replaced by Ruth Etting as the lead in the Broadway production Simple Simon. It was in that role that Etting introduced the hit song "Ten Cents A Dance" that she is best remembered for.
In the mid-1930s Morse contracted a very severe case of strep throat and was told that her singing career was over. She then moved to Texas for a stay with relatives. Her voice, however, recovered and she was soon performing at various nightspots, hotels and on radio broadcasts here in Fort Worth and in nearby Dallas. For a few years, she and her common law husband Bob Downey called the Fort Worth area home.
When Ian made his visit to Texas in 2006, I accompanied him as he visited Palo Pinto, Texas where Morse's ancestors were prominent pioneer settlers and as he researched the archives at the local library for information about her time in the area.
Ian's website is a tribute to Morse's life and career and features a biographical time line, a photo gallery and a "media room" where you can view three early 1930s musical short film features she appeared in.
Also check out the "Her Songbook" section of the site where you can listen to audio streams of most of her 78 rpm recordings - all from Ian's personal collection. Some of these records from Ian's collection were used in the 2-CD set issued in 2005 by the Jasmine label called Lee Morse: Echoes of a Songbird which can be purchased at Amazon.com
and elsewhere. For the CD reissue, the records were processed through very expensive and top of the line CEDAR audio restoration equipment. If you enjoy the recordings on Ian's site, you will definitely want to get the CD - which he also did the graphics and liner notes for - as the sound quality is significantly better.
Ian also maintains a Lee Morse profile on myspace.com which, like all of his online endeavors, is very attractive and well done. It is definitely worth a "friends request" from early 1900s enthusiasts on myspace.
Ian also has a commercial website which sells reproduction tin signs of nostalgic advertisements, trademarks and products. He has 674 different signs to choose from.
Similar reproduction signs are not too difficult to find at various retail shops in tourist trap towns, at flea markets and online. However, it is rare to find as many choices in one place. Nor does one usually find them for as low a price as Ian is offering them for - $8.99 each with free shipping within the USA if you purchase more 8 or more.
I have a similar reproduction tin sign which I purchased a few years ago for $12 at a large second-hand and close out bookstore chain here in Texas where everything is usually significantly discounted. At the time, I thought the $12 they were asking was cheap. So what Ian is offering them for is definitely a good price. His signs are an attractive and inexpensive option for someone wishing to add a retro feel to a casual room in one's house or business. The fact that such signs do not need to be framed makes them even more of a bargain.
www.PackageMusum.com
According to the website's mission statement, the purpose of the Package Museum is to "preserve and display specimens of American package design from the early decades of the 20th Century."
The "museum" in the website's name is highly appropriate, I think, as one of the things the site does is provide a glimpse at some of the possibilities that could be open to real life brick and mortar museums in an online age.
When you access the website and get past the opening page, click on "Index" for a list of items in the museum's collection. Follow the links and you will see a photo of each item. So far so good - if you are a fan of the early 1900s, you will probably enjoy looking at the artwork on the packaging of various products that were commonplace at the time.
On some of the items in the collection, however, you will see a link to a 3-D view. (If you are on a dial-up connection, you will find 3-D views frustratingly slow and would probably be better off viewing the standard photos and bookmarking the page for viewing when you eventually upgrade your connection.) If you are on a high speed connection, the 3-D items are very interesting. With your mouse, you can "pick up" the items, spin them around and view them from any angle.
I think a great many museums with vastly greater resources than Ian has at his disposal would do well to take notes.
One of the limitations museums and archives face is a lack of space to be able to put all of the items in their collections on permanent display. As a result, a great deal of our cultural and artistic heritage that is held by museums and a vast amount of information that is stored in archives ends up being effectively warehoused and out of sight to all but museum employees and a handful of researchers who have the time to dig through them and the credentials to be allowed access.
Another limitation faced by any museum is the fact that its geographical location necessarily limits access. A fascinating exhibit by a museum on the other side of he continent or halfway around the world is of little use to those who lack the time and money to travel to it.
Online exhibits can go far in addressing both limitations.
Clearly some of the items currently warehoused by museums are easier to place online than others. For example, photographs and paper documents are very easy to digitize for online viewing. And there are some institutions that have put forth great efforts in that area. Yet, oddly enough, there are still a lot of museums, libraries and archives with important collections of historical photographs and paper documents that have shown little, if any, initiative towards making them available online. I have yet to understand why as, in the grand scheme of things, putting content online is relatively affordable. Operating a scanner is not a difficult skill to teach and is work well suited for volunteers and low-paid interns. Most museums already have at least some sort of web presence and, therefore, presumably a webmaster.
Not only would online exhibits help widen the reach and promote the mission of such institutions, I suspect that they could generate revenue via ad sales and, in the case of photos, from sales of quality prints of the low resolution images that are sufficient for online display.
How many times have you seen news stories about important discoveries turning up among items that have been warehoused away and forgotten about for decades in a museum or archive? Placing such content online - and in the case of written documents, making the contents searchable - could result in who knows what sort of new discoveries by virtue of the larger number of eyes and minds looking at it and integrating the information with other knowledge, perhaps acquired online from similar institutions with digitized collections.
Of course, there are a lot of other things on display in museums that are more problematic in terms of making them available online. For example, artworks such as statues, archaeological specimins, fossils and rocks, etc. are all three dimensional and best appreciated in person. And it is in this area that Ian's Package Museum illustrates how such items can, in fact, be displayed online.
Seeing things online is certainly not the same as viewing them in person. But it sure beats not seeing them at all. And in the case of some items, a three dimensional online exhibit actually has certain advantages. For example, a real museum holding an exhibit of vintage product packaging would never allow visitors to handle such items and inspect the various angles not easily visible in their display case. Vintage packages are way too fragile and would end up destroyed. It is far easier to view the artwork and text on all six sides of the Gillette razor blades box in Ian's virtual museum than it is likely to be when looking at the real thing in a brick and mortar museum.
Imagine if Ian's "museum" had the resources to significantly expand its collection and the staff to put it online. There are plenty of real museums out there that have wonderful and extensive collections in various areas and vast resources at their disposal. A Google search for "3-D museum" turns up a handful of other attempts in this direction, most notably this one by the UC Davis Geology Department. But it is pretty clear that the larger and better known museums have not jumped on the bandwagon - which I find a bit surprising given that the software to produce such content has been available for several years now and web storage costs and bandwidth prices these days have become very inexpensive.
Lee Morse - Echoes of a Songbird
www.LeeMorse.com
www.LeeMorse.com
Most regular Radio Dismuke listeners and fans of 1920s and 1930s popular music fans are already familiar with at least some of Lee Morse's recordings.As a result of his enthusiasm for her recordings and his subsequent research, Ian has become, without a doubt, the world's foremost living authority and biographer on Lee Morse.
Lee Morse had a vocal style that was highly unusual and unique even during the peak of her popularity. Her deep voice, along with the name "Lee," led her to be sometimes billed on records as "Miss Lee Morse" just so that there would be no confusion. And sometimes, in the middle of a song, she would break out into a yodel - her answer to the scat singing popular with certain other jazz vocalists of the period.
Ian has been researching Morse's life and career for several years now and has even met with some of her surviving relatives.
Morse's career went into a slow decline starting in 1930 when excessive drinking resulted in her being fired and replaced by Ruth Etting as the lead in the Broadway production Simple Simon. It was in that role that Etting introduced the hit song "Ten Cents A Dance" that she is best remembered for.
In the mid-1930s Morse contracted a very severe case of strep throat and was told that her singing career was over. She then moved to Texas for a stay with relatives. Her voice, however, recovered and she was soon performing at various nightspots, hotels and on radio broadcasts here in Fort Worth and in nearby Dallas. For a few years, she and her common law husband Bob Downey called the Fort Worth area home.
When Ian made his visit to Texas in 2006, I accompanied him as he visited Palo Pinto, Texas where Morse's ancestors were prominent pioneer settlers and as he researched the archives at the local library for information about her time in the area.
Ian's website is a tribute to Morse's life and career and features a biographical time line, a photo gallery and a "media room" where you can view three early 1930s musical short film features she appeared in.
Also check out the "Her Songbook" section of the site where you can listen to audio streams of most of her 78 rpm recordings - all from Ian's personal collection. Some of these records from Ian's collection were used in the 2-CD set issued in 2005 by the Jasmine label called Lee Morse: Echoes of a Songbird which can be purchased at Amazon.com
and elsewhere. For the CD reissue, the records were processed through very expensive and top of the line CEDAR audio restoration equipment. If you enjoy the recordings on Ian's site, you will definitely want to get the CD - which he also did the graphics and liner notes for - as the sound quality is significantly better.Ian also maintains a Lee Morse profile on myspace.com which, like all of his online endeavors, is very attractive and well done. It is definitely worth a "friends request" from early 1900s enthusiasts on myspace.
Ian also has a commercial website which sells reproduction tin signs of nostalgic advertisements, trademarks and products. He has 674 different signs to choose from.
Similar reproduction signs are not too difficult to find at various retail shops in tourist trap towns, at flea markets and online. However, it is rare to find as many choices in one place. Nor does one usually find them for as low a price as Ian is offering them for - $8.99 each with free shipping within the USA if you purchase more 8 or more.
I have a similar reproduction tin sign which I purchased a few years ago for $12 at a large second-hand and close out bookstore chain here in Texas where everything is usually significantly discounted. At the time, I thought the $12 they were asking was cheap. So what Ian is offering them for is definitely a good price. His signs are an attractive and inexpensive option for someone wishing to add a retro feel to a casual room in one's house or business. The fact that such signs do not need to be framed makes them even more of a bargain.
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