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Thursday, April 01, 2010

Images of America - Roseburg
By Diane L. Goeres-Gardner
and the Douglas County Museum

"Roseburg," part of Arcadia Publishing's Images in America series, was released on March 15.
It showcases the wonderful photos housed at the Douglas County Museum in Oregon. The oldest image, dating back to 1858, is a daguerreotype of Capt. Jack Nicholson and two-year old John Hedden sharing a bottle of whiskey.
While pictures of old buildings and homes are numerous, it is the images of children that enthrall the reader. Goeres-Gardner has packed the captions full of little known information. She includes the price of prunes sold in 1919, the cost of groceries in 1914, the cost of installing a phone in 1887, the cost of a Ford Tonneau touring car in 1904, and the cost of registering a car with the state in 1905. Images of the Strawberry Carnivals held from 1909-1929 and the The Blast in 1959 are intriguing and striking.

Published by Arcadia Publishing

Visit Diane L. Goeres-Gardner at www.frontierjustice.net

The book can be purchased at all bookstores and on the Internet



1 comment:

mscriver said...

I wish my mother were alive to see this book! She was living in a prune orchard in 1919 (her dad had to hire out as a contractor to keep the family fed because the price of prunes was so low). She was a wild strawberry princess one year, which meant she stood at a table to serve the strawberries with cream over them, and the local Indian tribal chief came to her table in preference to the tables of the other princesses. It was a great compliment that she cherished all her life! She said that in those days, if a white horse rolled in a field, he was likely to rise up with red spots from the crushed berries.

When I was small (the forties) I thought Roseburg was heaven on earth. Now? I prefer Montana.

Prairie Mary