august1913

I want that dollhouse!

I want that dollhouse too. Hard to believe that was in a playground for public use. Wow!

I'm salivating!! I want that house for MY dolls! LOL Some girls were just so lucky back then!

I think the point is that this dollhouse did not belong to any one girl. 1) You could put something like this out in public without "protection" and it would still be there months later. 2) I'm guessing that if any child broke a piece, the parents would see that it was replaced - probably making the replacement by hand. 3) Kids knew how to SHARE, meaning that kids did not personally own more than a handful of toys at any given time...probably not much more than they could physically carry around with them.

No way was this left outside without protection. The dollhouse was part of a supervised playground activity, and the supervisor (an adult, of at least high school age, who may have been a volunteer, but probably was paid) would have locked it and its contents inside the shed at day's end.

In August 1913, three men were killed and 62 others trapped in a tunnel in Harlem, part of the Catskill Aqueduct, when a fire started in a blacksmith's shop at the head of the shaft. It was especially dangerous because 900 pounds of dynamite were stored in the tunnel. There was no light, no fresh air, and a lot of smoke, but eventually the trapped men were rescued.

See NYT of August 21, 1913 query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00E4DE123FE633A... "Three men were hurt mortally and sixty-two others were penned in the tunnel at the foot of Shaft 9 of the Catskill Aqueduct at 149th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, from which the air had been cut off by a fire which started in the blacksmith's shop at the head of the shaft at 5:20 o'clock yesterday afternoon."

pennylrichards and swanq: Thanks for the additional information. We'll include the event and date next time we update the record.

Edward E. McCall, former Justice of the Supreme Court [of New York] and later Chairman of the Public Service Commission. He ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic party candidate for the Mayor of New York City in 1913. The New York Times in 1916: Supreme Court Justice Giegerich yesterday appointed Edward E. McCall, former Justice of the Supreme Court and later Chairman of the Public Service Commission, receiver for the Madison Square Garden. Bond was furnished in $200,000. Source: query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E03E7DD1131E733A... I added him to Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Everett_McCall

There's a calendar on the wall behind him, but the month on it is inscrutable. I think it is safe to assume that the photo was circulated in connection with the announcement of his mayoralty candidacy in August, 1913.

Thanks Richard. We'll fill in his name the next time we update the record.

LOC: Keep in mind that in New York, the Supreme Courts (each county has one) are trial courts of general jurisdiction, like the Superior Courts in other jurisdictions. Referring to the subject by his early-career (1903-13) judicial post isn't really accurate, especially since this picture, and the others in the Bain Collection, show him in his post as Chairman of the New York State Public Services Commission, a higher statewide post. I think referring to him as a judge and politician is a better general description.