Glass Capitalism

Posted on February 13, 2017 by gonzalsa

Looking at broken, antique glass bottles a lot can be learned by flipping them upside down and peering into the details of the bottom. In the case of a historic bottle I analyzed for class, a company, but not just any company, a company intent on merging other companies into their own.

This aqua coloured, 16cm tall broken at the neck beer bottle had and AB logo on it with the inscription: Y12. When I first looked upon this bottle I assumed it was made in 1912 due to the number but also that, once I had researched was made by the company:The Adolphus Busch Glass Mfg. Co. But when further researching this company I found that it had been picked up by The American Bottle Company in 1905. Located in Newark, Ohio, this company had a tendency to take over other glass companies including the Adolphus Busch but also companies like The Massillon Bottle and Glass Company. Bellow is a photo of men that would have been apart of the larger American Bottle Company from one of the smaller companies.

American Bottle Co. yardmen. Provided by the Massillon Museum

The bottle itself would have been made either in Ohio or at the original site of the Adolphus Busch company in Missouri. It would have contained some type of beer and was most likely consumed within a home or at the bar in a local pub in Seattle (where it was found). Beyond the basics of what the bottle contained and where it was from, a lot can be learned about the history of its creation by looking deeper into the glass itself to uncover the company that created it. In this case the American Bottle Company.

Historic Bottles: Ozomulsion

Posted on February 13, 2017 by gonzalsa

This is an amber medical bottle which contained Ozomulsion. Ozomulsion was “considered” to have been the cure for consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis) during the time it was manufactured. In researching the glass container, I discovered the bottle was first introduced in the 1880’s. It was manufactured in London, and New York. Dr. M. Donald Blaufox states that ads for Ozomulsion appeared as late as 1948. The amber bottle has large letters embossed on the front which spell “OZOMULSION”. Since the bottle is rather large, I would presume one would need to pour the contents into a separate container prior to using it.

Here’s an ad I found when researching Ozomulsion:

I would certainly expect Ozomulsion to have been in this bottle in the time it was discovered. Considering it was assumed to have been the cure for “consumption”, I would also suspect parents purchased the product for their children. It’s likely that anyone who believed this was the cure for consumption would have purchased this product if they were able.

– Stephanie H.

Resources:

Blaufox, M. Donald M.D., PH. D. (Unknown). Museum of Historical Artifacts: 19^th Century Medicine. Creative Commons Attribution. Retrieved 12 Feb. 2017 http://www.mohma.org/instruments/category/patent_medicines/ozomulsion/

Who is loved more after death?

Posted on February 11, 2017 by gonzalsa

In researching the usage of kinship terminology in epitaphs I discovered from the data gathered by our class that: Mother is recorded 16 times, Father is recorded 14 times, Wife 5 times, Sister 3, Daughter 7, Grandmother 2, Aunt 1, Husband 3, and Son 4. The use of Father as an epitaph occurs most during the time period from 1945 to 1960. On the other hand Mother ranges from 1821 to 2006, with no discernible time period where it occurs the most. Wife seems to be used in the early 1900’s, while husband seems to be used more in the 1950s to 1960s. Daughter and son are both less frequent that Mother and Father, but seem to be used from 1821 up until 20015, at varying intervals. From comparing the data, there isn’t one set shape for any of the gravestones, although many independent of the epitaphs are block or tablet shaped. And the material composition of the gravestone and the use of particular kinship terminology don’t seem to have any strong correlations between the two. Although it can be assumed that many of the gravestones are wither made out of marble or granite, as earlier analysis showed that those two materials were used the most in making gravestones. Overall the data shows that women, especially Mothers are more likely to have epitaphs stating their relationship to those who bury them. Although Fathers are not far behind. These two kinship terminologies make up 55% of the epitaphs regarding kinship within the data collected. And terminology regarding women make up 62% of kinship related epitaphs.

Graph displaying Kinship epitaphs and the years which they were used.

The most enlightening information I gained from this project was just how absurd Excel and technology can be when trying to graph information, and attempting seriation by hand is not advisable.

From a Lumber Mill’s Grocery to a Neapolitan Pizzeria

Posted on February 7, 2017 by gonzalsa

Modern satellite image

First built in the early 1900’s Taylor Mill’s Grocery appeared along Lake Washington’s Southern shore. Built and owned by Stanford Taylor, who ran a lumber mill around present day Rainier Avenue, the small grocery store supplied food and other goods for the 100 mill workers and their families which lived in the surrounding area. Taylor Mill’s Grocery, located at “the corner of 68th and Rainier,” served the community not just as a grocery store but also “as [a] post office, watering hole, and unofficial community center.” It was a surprisingly successful grocery store in the developing Rainier Beach region, and managed to stay open into the 1930’s.

The Barlows-Lakeside Tavern

After officially closing in 1937, the building remained mostly unused. In the 1950’s the building was converted into the Lakeside Tavern, becoming an official ‘watering hole’ for the Rainier Beach community. During the years between the 1930’s and 50’s, the building switched ownership and by the time the tavern was opened by the Barlow family the building was owned by the Punsala family. The tavern remained in operation for over 40 years, and was a well-known bar in the Rainier beach region, if the number of patrons returning to the now Pizzeria recounting stories of drunken absurdity is anything to go by. The tavern was also well known due to the fact that the sign hanging outside on the side of the building was upside down. Vince Mottola, current owner of Pizzeria Pulcinella, recounts the disagreement between the owner of the Lakeside Tavern, Mr. Barlow, and the man installing the sign, stating that the two came to a disagreement over payment and in protest over receiving only half of the agreed payment the man installing the sign flipped one side of it upside down and refused to correct it unless he was paid the other half. Exhausted by the repeated exchanges between the sign company and himself, the owner left the sign upside down and from then on it was known throughout the community as the tavern with the upside-down sign, a tradition that Pizzeria Pulcinella’s owners honor and they continue the tradition with their own sign.

The building remained vacant for over 10 years slowly deteriorating away, until the Mottola Family, which have owned and operated the Vince’s Italian restaurant chain for around 60 years, chose to expand their business and open an authentic and verified, Neapolitan style Pizzeria in December of 2008. Surprising many in the community as it was rumored that the Punsala family who owned the building (also known as Kamagon Associate LLC), were going to have the building torn down. But luckily Vince convinced
the owners to allow him and his other business partners, Fred Martichuski and David Dorough, to open a restaurant instead. Not only have they preserved the building itself, but also, they have managed to install the previous Lakeside Tavern’s sign inside of their restaurant preserving its history as well. Pizzeria Pulcinella has now been in operation for over 8 years and “has been ‘certified Neapolitan’ by the Verace Pizza Napolitana Association since 2009.” And hopefully it will be open for many more!

Parrington Hall

Posted on February 6, 2017 by gonzalsa

Thanks to the University of Washington’s Special Collections.

Parrington Hall was build 6 years after Denny hall making it apart of the original campus (see map below). The building was finished in 1902 and was called the Science Hall. A contract, now within University of Washington’s Special Collections, shows that the owner of the land at the time, Auton Bereus Witnesseth, agreed to let the University of Washington build the Science hall on his land. The document was very hard for me to understand but I interpreted that Witnesseth was going to pay for the building and if he could not the land would go to the University.

Thanks to the University of Washington’s Special Collections.

UW1 <– map from 1909, thanks to the University of Washington’s microfilm collections.

Both the department of Botany and department of Electrical Engineering started in this building and eventually moved to other buildings The Department of Electrical Engineering moved there operations in 1910 and the Department of Botany moved later in 1930’s. Now the building is a center for Daniel J. Evans School of public police and governance. In 1931 the building was remodeled by John Graham Architect. They installed a new sewer, re-shingled the roof, waterproofed the building and many more. I have read other resources that state it was remolded another time but could not find any documentation of the remodel.

Remembering Our Relatives

Posted on February 5, 2017 by gonzalsa

I looked at the frequency of different terms of kinship in the Calvary Cemetery this week, tracking when and how often different terms were used. Below are the total occurrences of each term, followed by a graph track when the 6 most common terms were used:

Mother- 18
Father-16
Daughter- 6
Son- 4
Husband- 4
Wife- 3
Sister- 3
Grandmother-2
Grandfather-1
Granddaughter-1
Aunt-1

It’s interesting to see spikes in the term “Father” yet observe that “Mother” is still used more often. The spikes are between 1945-1949 and 1955-1959. Seeing that almost half of the occurrences of the term “Father” occur in these specific times, it may indicate that either more fathers were being interred, or it was more popular to emphasize this kinship at those times, whereas mother is a more constant term being associated with the deceased.

It was particularly interesting to see how few extended male family members had those relationship named on their tombstones– specifically, there was one occurrence of the term “aunt” but not one “uncle,” and there was one “granddaughter” but no “grandson.”

I wonder what this means in regards to how we see women in our lives, and women in our family history. Is there really that much more emphasis on how they’re related to the living, or does this sample skew society’s view of women?

Grave markers, Gender, Style, and Age

Posted on February 5, 2017 by gonzalsa

In our current lab project we are evaluating grave markers with data that we have collected within a group of 3. The section of the cemetery that I collected data from was mostly infant grave markers which is very sad but I thought it would be interesting to see the differences in style between my section and my other group member’s sections which are mostly adults. I choose to focus on style using only two characteristics: grave marker shape and material of grave marker. When evaluating the data I discovered that Infant gravestones where less diverse in style. The only gave marker shape that infants had where block shaped where as the grave markers for adults where either block, tablet and obelisk shaped. The Infant grave markers where also made with cheaper material usually granite where as adults where mostly made of marble. Next I separated the data based on gender and found that the majority of diversity came from female grave markers. Females had more tablet and obelisk shaped grave markers while also using a larger verily of materials within there grave markers. This trend is less prevalent within the infant grave markers but still present. Overall, infant grave markers have less style than adult grave markers and male grave markers have less diversity in style than female grave markers.

note: some grave stones where excluded from my data because I could not find figure out the gender or grave marker shape/material of grave marker was not listed.

Calvary Cemetery, a place of history

Posted on February 4, 2017 by gonzalsa

I happened to find myself in Calvary Cemetery on a crisp cold January morning, tasked with recording data of gravestones, I finished scribbling down some notes before taking a moment to enjoy the golden rays of the sunrise fall over the view of U-Village. Cemeteries can be some of the most peaceful, beautiful places in our sprawling metal and glass cities. They are very much tied into human antiquity, while the city is built up and torn down around, the heavy stones stand strong in the cemetery, every one a signature of a life passed on.

After reviewing the compiled data, it is evident that human life ebbs and flows throughout time. No one period of time had the same style or type of stone, each stone holds information of who is buried there, who they loved and who loved them, what was going on in the world at the time, and so much more. The spike of deaths from 1920 to 1950 stands out very clearly in the histogram below, why this influx of burials during this time? Well, WWII and the adverse effect it had on the world is the clear answer, however other leading factors may have included; influenza, tuberculosis and a number of other diseases. It is quite interesting the way local graveyards show signs of world wide events.

The following chart accounts for frequency of gravestone material types compiled from our class data. It reflects the frequency of death as well. During the 1940s it is interesting that there is a small spike in cement, which might account for the large amounts of burials happening in the 1940s and possibly the inability to afford higher-end stones for a portion of the population.

Frequency of gravestone material types at Calvary Cemetery

Studying the Past through Stones

Posted on February 4, 2017 by gonzalsa

Cemeteries are a fascinating way to view the changes in a city, cultures, and belief systems. As the focus of our class project, Calvary Cemetery in Seattle is not only a peaceful and beautifully kept place, but also a wealth of information from an academic perspective. While it certainly doesn’t reflect the entire story of Seattle from the late 19^thcentury to the present, recording information from nearly 200 graves out of thousands still presented patterns in the cemetery’s history.

Focusing on the number of burials per year within our records, this information could represent a number of events in Seattle’s history. The numbers of burials rose after the Great War and in the early 1920’s, spiking from 1925-1930 and again in 1945-1950. While the rise in deaths could be associated with the WWI or II, the Stock Market crash of 1929, or the subsequent Great Depression, it also could reflect the rising population of Seattle in these periods. The layout and numbers of burials in the cemetery could also reflect this rising population, and the tapering off of burials in the latter half of the 20^th century more as a question of limited space. I did find it interesting that large portions of the cemetery did not adhere to east-facing gravestones, which can be found in some Christian burials.

On the other hand, the data collection could also be more suggestive of stylistic elements of the gravestones chosen for recording. Inscriptions, unusual design features, age, or intricate carvings on markers could have all influenced the recorders’ choices. Like many aspects of cemeteries, sometimes burials and our continued interest in them is more telling of the living than it is of the dead.

Gender Differences in Gravestones

Posted on February 3, 2017 by gonzalsa

In later dates, gravestones of women were somewhat lacking permanent adorn or design, such as a cross or other religious motif in comparison to male gravestones, which are more detailed and descriptive. For instance, a gravestone in St. Matthew says, “Beloved Marie” and unfortunately doesn’t have her last name on it. She passed in 1926, and the gravestone is somewhat small. In St. James, one large cenotaph reads, “In loving memory of William Chochrane” who passed away in 1911. Near the cenotaph, there’s one footstone with William and his wife’s name, as well as three other headstones. Two are female, and one is male. The male headstone has his name almost fully spelt out, except for his middle name: “William F. Cochrane Jr.”. Birth and death dates are also shown on William Cochrane’s footstone. The females’ footstones simply say, “Mary E.” and “Sue E.” with their birth and death dates. While the male footstone is more descriptive, the three footstones are similar in size and shape. In St. Matthew, one gravestone of a single male “Albert. A. Amodel” has a cross design to the left of the name, and is a little bit larger than the “Beloved Marie” footstone. The rest of the female’s footstone reads, “Died Mar. 5, 1911. Aged 28 YRS”, while the male’s footstone reads, “Nov. 9, 1921 – June 25, 1972 In the Lord, I put my trust”. The male footstone here is much more detailed, and implies religious beliefs. A possible explanation is that the female footstone is from 1911, and the male footstone is from 1972. Her family might not have been able to afford a more descriptive gravestone. There’s also a large tablet in the St. Joseph’s section for a male who passed in 1900. It reads, “In memory of Thomas Mathew Corbett Born Feb. 22, 1889 Died Aug. 3, 1900”. This is not only a tablet which is seen without walking directly up to it, but it is written in remembrance of the male who passed away. The dates are written out, and not simply years. His name is also fully spelt out. Looking at these gravestones, it appears female gravestones lacked permanent adorn or design, while male gravestone are more detailed and descriptive.