TERWILLIGER SOUVENIR ALBUM - One Year Blogiversary!!

Well, this is it - my ONE-YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!  I've only done 11 pages so far.  Sigh.  So many pages to go, and some of them are very challenging or frustrating in one fashion or another.  But it is a start at least - one page by one page...







My maternal greatgrandfather, James Grover "Grove" TERWILLIGER, put together a Souvenir Album in the 1890s, including many items from his parents' lives.  The Album is 16.5" tall, 11" wide, and 5" thick.  I refuse to count the number of pages but it's more than 120 - I think.  I keep being distracted by items on the pages, and the pages are quite heavy, as well. One day. Here is the cover on the right:



The Album is quite thick, made of very heavy paper, with items 100% tightly-permanently-glued down on each sheet.  It includes symbols cut out of paper/letterheads, tickets, menus, political buttons, wedding invitations, calling cards, and more.  I'm determined to inventory the entire album, to record it.  Some of the earliest items seem to be from about 1840.

Above is a photo of the book from the side - the bookmark [business card] shows where I'm at right now! The next page will be Page 12.

I hope all of you are enjoying some of the pages - there's something here for everybody.  I'd love to dash ahead and show you the menu for a dinner party they had.  Or to show you the pages with a very few very old photographs - not labelled of course!  And the obituaries which helped me learn about his wife's mother - the ORMSBEE line.  Oh, and the page of political buttons and other oddities in the middle of the Album.  Fascinating items.

If you would like more information about this Album, or any of the pages detailed to date, please contact me at calewis at telus dot com, or Comment below.  Cheers (clink!)...

PAGE 11 - 4 Fanciful NY Tickets, 2 Small Ones, 1882-1897

My last post on my greatgrandfather TERWILLIGER's photo album, showed 3 large decorated tickets to music events.  The next page in the album has 4 similar tickets, plus two small tickets.  These ones are more varied, ranging from an Elks Society Annual Reception, to a Symphony ticket.
This is the full page, showing the placement of these fanciful tickets to events in New York (mainly):

Here are the two small tickets on the left side:  [Blue]  Nov. 12, 1892, First Evening Concert, Symphony Society of N.Y., at 8:15, Music Hall, New York  
[White] Mar. 20, 1897, Fifth Evening Concert, Symphony Society of N.Y., at 8:15, Carnegie Hall, New York    

The large ticket on the left side has no identifying information on the event being staged, but it is very attractive and complex. I searched through Google Images, and didn't find any reference to this very interesting image - I'm certain there is a 'story' here, don't you?
The Top Middle ticket appears to be a fund-raiser for the Renner's Dancing Academy:  a Grand Masquerade Ball, Tuesday Eve'g, February 14th, 1882, at Walhalla, 48-52 Orchard Street.

The Bottom Middle "Ladies Ticket" is for the 13th Annual Reception of New York Lodge No. 1, the B.P.O. Elks, at Madison Square Garden, Monday, Feb. 9th, 1880.  This would be the original Madison Square Garden building [1879-1890].


Finally, the Right side Ticket: the Bal Masque de L'Opera, Thursday January 26th, 1882.  No place is described, however a quick search through my favourite NY newspaper website, http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html  showed me the Evening Telegram NY newspaper [p.3,right side], states it was held at Madison Square Garden.

I hope you enjoyed these fanciful tickets providing insight into the variety of cultural events happening in New York city, in the 1880s.  If you have more information or details of any of these items, do let me know - I love learning more.  The links add a bit of history or additional details, for your pleasure!

Contact me at calewis at telus dot net, and/or leave a Comment below!

PAGE 10 - CARNIVAL & BALL TICKETS, 1882 and 1883

The next two pages are of fanciful Tickets of Masquerade Balls and Carnivals.  The TERWILLIGER family apparently loved anything to do with music, dance, and concerts of all kinds.


Here is the full page with three large souvenier Tickets, on the left.  You can see that the top and bottom tickets are the same format/design, with different fonts for the details on the 'card'.





The top ticket:
The Grand Masquerade Ball of the New York Maennerchor, Wednesday February 21st, 1883
held at Terrace Garden, 58th Street, near 3rd Avenue.   The New York Maennerchor [men's chorus] celebrated German and American choral singing.  There are a number of Maennerchor societies continuing to sing in communities such as Utica Maennerchor, which has been going strong for over 145 years!

The middle ticket:
The Grand Carnival de L'Opera, Madison Square Garden, Thursday January 26th, 1882.  The New York Metropolitan Opera did not open until almost 2 years after this date, so this ticket may be to a gala fund-raiser.  Do let me know if you have additional details.  This is the first Madison Square Garden building, which was used for a number of sporting events at the time.

The bottom ticket:
Prospect Ass'n Grand Masquerade Ball, Academy of Music, February 1st, 1883
held at the Academy of Music & Nilsson Hall.  Apparently the Prospect Association held annual Grand Balls, but I have yet to find details of the purpose of the Association.  Another small mystery to be solved.

The next page, Page 11, has 4 large tickets similar to these, plus two small tickets as well.  I hope you enjoyed seeing these 130 year old tickets.  As always, if you have questions or information to offer, please do not hesitate to contact me at calewis at telus dot com, or leave a Comment below!