George Lawrence Photographer

Chicago photographer George R. Lawrence (1868-1938) was a renowned inventor of cameras and an innovator of photographic processes. 

George Lawrence. Online photo.

In 1896, Lawrence opened a photographic studio in Chicago with the motto: "The hitherto impossible in photography is our specialty."

One day while walking along Chicago's Michigan Avenue, Lawrence observed a kite trailing an advertising banner. This inspiration led him to develop cameras which could be taken aloft by kites. (As early as 1895, another American photographer, William Eddy, experimented with this idea).

 

Lawrence with his kite camera.

Lawrence's new kite cameras were suspended below 5 to 17 kites. With his kite-flying cameras, he took aerial photos around the region including at the U.S. Army Post Fort Sheridan, North Chicago, Zion, Waukegan and Rockefeller (Mundelein).

Fort Sheridan 1908 by George Lawrence. Library of Congress.

Rockefeller (later Mundelein) about 1906 by George Lawrence. Library of Congress.

Zion parade about 1906 by George Lawrence. Library of Congress.

In 1906, he traveled to San Francisco to photograph the aftermath of the earthquake and fire.

San Francisco Ruins, May 28, 1906 by George Lawrence. Library of Congress.

The panoramic, kite-flying camera created a photograph of San Francisco so stunning in detail, clarity and objectivity of the disaster that it became famous and was reprinted many times. Sales of the photo earned Lawrence $15,000 (equivalent to $300,000 today). 

In 1909, Lawrence abandoned photography to design and build airplanes. After World War I, government contracts for airplanes declined and Lawrence turned to analyzing lenses.

Lawrence pioneered aerial photography before airplanes were able to fly high enough to capture the spectacular photographs he took with his "kite cameras." He is also known for building the world's largest camera in order to photograph the Chicago and Alton Railroad's new passenger train. To capture the entire train in one photo, Lawrence used a glass plate negative measuring 56 x 96 inches.

Fascist visits Chicago World's Fair

World's Fair poster, 1933. Source: online

"A Century of Progress International Exposition" was the name of the World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934.

The Century of Progress celebrated the city's centennial. The Fair became known for many things, including appearances by future stars Judy Garland and the Andrews Sisters, Art Deco buildings, and exhibits relating to its' theme of technological innovation.

It was likely the emphasis on innovation and the chance for publicity that lured fascist leader, and Italian Air Marshall, Italo Balbo (1896-1940), to the Century of Progress.

In 1922, Balbo was one of four men who brought Benito Mussolini to power in Italy. He served as Mussolini's general of militia and minister of aviation. Although he knew nothing about aviation when he was appointed, Balbo quickly learned to fly and set out to re-organize Italy's air force.

Balbo's flying boat from "Official Book of the Flight of General Italo Balbo and His Italian Air Armada 

to a Century of Progress Chicago 1933." Online via University of Chicago Library.  

Balbo was eager to promote advances in Italian aircraft and made a spectacular trans-Atlantic flight to Chicago for the Century of Progress in 1933. He led 24 Savoia-Marchetti S-55 double-hulled flying boats from Italy to land in Lake Michigan in just over 48 hours, setting records for speed, payload, altitude and range.

The planes maintained a tight "V" formation for the entire Atlantic crossing. To this day, pilots often refer to a large formation of aircraft as a "Balbo."

When the planes landed in Lake Michigan it was reported as one of the proudest moments for Chicago's Italian community. At the time, many Americans supported Mussolini and his fascist regime. It was not until the United States declared war on Italy in 1941 when that sentiment changed sharply.

Balbo at Fort Sheridan with Chaplain Aristeo Simoni. Dunn Museum, 92.24.688.

Balbo was charming and educated, and his adventurousness appealed to Americans. During his 5-day stay in Chicago he visited Fort Sheridan. 

The Chicago visit included mass at Holy Name Cathedral celebrated by Cardinal Mundelein, who in 1924 had a town in Lake County named in his honor.

After returning to Italy, Balbo became Mussolini's possible heir. In 1938, Balbo met with Aldolf Hitler. Two years later, Balbo was killed in an air crash in Libya. Some have claimed that his plane was shot down mistakenly by his own military.

Chicago retains two reminders of General Italo Balbo's famous visit. The most prominent one is Balbo Drive. Then Mayor Ed Kelly capitalized on the excitment of the visit by renaming 7th Street in Balbo's honor.

The second landmark was a gift from Mussolini, who donated an ancient Roman column from the temple in Ostia to the people of Chicago, to commemorate Balbo's voyage and to symbolize the greatness of Fascist Italy. The column now stands as the last remnant--in its original spot--from the Century of Progress exhibition. It is located a few feet off Chicago's lakefront bike path, and within a hundred yards of Soldier Field.

American Archives Month

October is American Archives Month which celebrates the value of archives and archivists.

Archives provide researchers with firsthand facts and data from letters, diaries, reports, photographs, postcards, audio and video recordings, and other primary sources. You could say that archives preserve the "raw material" that is essential to understanding the past, present, and future.

When you donate your personal or family papers to an archives, your family history becomes a part of your community’s – and America’s – collective memory. Archives collect and protect the heritage of the area they serve.

In an effort to preserve history, great and small, archivists not only care for the items donated to their archive, but also do outreach to community groups to teach preservation methods. I have given lectures on preservation, including how to care for family photographs.

Here are a few tips to remember:

Do not store valuable paper or photographic collections in an attic or basement. These locations are commonly subjected to excessive heat and/or moisture. The best place to store items in a house is a room where the temperature and humidity remains the same year round (e.g. the master bedroom). Also, an interior closet (not on an outside wall) creates a relatively constant environment. It's important to remember that extreme fluctuations in temperature and humidity are damaging.

Light causes fading. Overall, it's best to keep photos in the dark. Direct sun or bright light will fade photographs. Hallways and other rooms without windows are best.

Color photos exposed to light will lose the red pigment first. The photo at right consists mostly of blue tones, having lost the red from light exposure. If you notice that damage has occurred, make a high-quality scan and display a digital print instead. Also, scanned images can be enhanced through Adobe Photoshop and other software.

Choose an archival photo album and archival photo corners.

Photo albums with "magnetic" pages (which actually contain adhesive that can stick to or react to photos) is the worst place for photos. Shown here is the condition in which the Maynard Family photo album was in when it was donated to the archives. Staff photographed each page to record the original order of the photos, since the album had to be dismantled to remove the photos from the sticky pages.

Also note that tape was used to adhere the photos to the pages. That's another problem with magnetic albums, sometimes they lose their sticking power and family's turn to tape to keep photos in place, permanently staining the originals.

Make preservation prints. By making a high-quality scan of your photos you can then make additional prints, and/or restore the image. The only way to conserve an original photograph is to take it to a photo conservator, but you can scan a photo and fix the digital image.















Here is an example of some minor restoration work on a digital scan. At left is the original photo with moisture damage, and at right the scanned image with dots removed from the subject's face.

Watch those fingers... The oil on your hands will leave an imprint on the face of a photo. You may not see the fingerprint immediately, but believe me, there are plenty of photos donated to archives with thumbprints! So, if you don't want a future detective using a photo as evidence against you, watch how you hold your photos! Remember to handle photos carefully and by the edges only.

As part of the celebration for American Archives Month, the Lake County History Archives and Curt Teich Postcard Archives are hosting behind-the-scenes tours on Thursday, October 15th (at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.). The tours are free, but registration is required by calling 847-968-3381.

The Archives Tour is a great way to see how an archives works and to view the materials available to researchers. If you can't make the tour, but have questions about preserving a family heirloom, please give us a call.

Charles E. Bairstow

Recently, while arranging photographs in the archives' files, I became re-aquainted with a series of Spanish-American War portraits featuring Charles E. Bairstow (1880-1958) of Waukegan.

The photographs were donated to the museum in 1962 by Bairstow's widow, Elsie Ferguson Bairstow, and portray a youthful Charles and his friends as they were about to head off to war.





Photo of Charles Bairstow (right standing) with Waukegan High School football, classmates Raymond Lindson, Willie Putnam and Julius Balz, 1898. This was possibly the last high school portrait of the friends.

The Spanish-American War is a blip on the radar of American history, lasting only from April to August, 1898. The outcome of the war between the United States and Spain was that the U.S. gained control of Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam.

More significantly to Lake Countians, the war was the reason for the establishment of the Naval Training Center Great Lakes in North Chicago. The U.S. Navy figured prominently in the war, and the U.S. Navy Department decided to establish a new site for training sailors. Because of the number of recruits coming from the Midwest, a site in that region was suggested. Illinois Congressman George E. Foss and Chicago businessman Graeme Stewart were key in the campaign to locate the training center, and Chicago businessmen donated the land. Construction of the base began in 1905, and the dedication was held in 1911.

This group portrait, taken on June 9, 1898, includes (standing left to right) Charles Bairstow, Philip H. Kinsley, Brown Thacker, (seated left to right) Ben Thacker and Gray Detweiler.

An informal photograph taken in 1898, possibly by Charles Bairstow, on board a ship (standing) Ben Thacker, Brown Thacker, Phil H. Kinsley, (seated) Gray Detweiler and Jackson.

This portrait (left) is one of my most favorite in the archives' collections. The composition, clarity and charm of the portrait is extremely engaging, and I believe reveals a deep friendship between Herbert Amet (seated) and Charles Bairstow.

Herbert was the younger brother of inventor, Edward Amet, who is known for his work in the early motion picture industry, and who created movies about the Spanish-American War.





Charles Bairstow married Elsie Ferguson in November 1904 in one of the "biggest church weddings of the year."

Interestingly, Charles also served in World War I and World War II.

An Agricultural Past

One of the perks of the museum being at Lakewood Forest Preserve is that everyday I get to enjoy wildlife and the change in seasons. Today is no exception. It's a lovely autumn day here in northeastern Illinois, and I got to pet a donkey!

Okay, donkeys are not normally part of the wildlife at Lakewood, but this weekend they are! Its the annaul Farm Heritage Festival, and with all the tractors coming in to be displayed, it seemed like the perfect time to share some farming images from the archives.

This beautifully photographed threshing scene is identified only as "Trashing Lake Co." We may never know where the scene was photographed, but it is a good representation of a once familiar sight.

Many locals ran resort businesses or had jobs in town in addition to operating a family farm. This spectacular photo postcard taken by C.R. Childs in 1913 shows a harvested field, and Setler's Resort, Antioch, in the background.

The reverse side of the postcard has Childs' handwritten notes, which include a potential caption, the time of day "11:45," and date "7/20/13" the photo was taken.

Brae Burn Farm's hired man's wife, Sophie Jurovic, driving the haying team, Lake Forest, circa 1915.

Scenes like this one at the corner of Fairfield and Gilmer Road are few and far between these days. Burnett Farm, circa 1973.


Remember, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Obviously, these farm boys photographed by Bess Dunn about 1910, got the message!

Daniel Wright - County's First Non-Native Settler

Daniel Wright (1778-1873) is considered Lake County's first  permanent non-native settler. Native Americans were the original stewards of the land we call Lake County. There were also  French and British fur traders, who were seasonal inhabitants from about the mid-1600s.

Wright was born in Rutland, Vermont in 1778. He was a farmer and served in the War of 1812. Although he was known as "Captain" he served in the war as a Lieutenant with the 1st Rifle Company, 3rd Regiment of the Vermont Militia.

In 1814, he moved his family to Ohio and in 1832 began to explore land in Illinois. Rumors of good, cheap farmland led Wright to Fort Dearborn (Chicago), where trappers told him of good hunting along the Des Plaines River near what would become Half Day (later Lincolnshire).

Wright was the first of the Euro-American newcomers to stay year-round in what would become Lake County, Illinois. Though many of the county's history books note that Wright arrived in 1834, in a letter to the Waukegan Weekly Gazette in 1868, Wright stated that "the native tribe of Potawatomi... helped me raise my first rude log cabin in June 1833."

This public statement is significant when put into the context that the Spring 1833 date puts Wright's arrival before the signing of the Treaty of Chicago on September 26, 1833. In this treaty, signed between the U.S. Government and the United Nation of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians, the tribes were forced to relinquish their last tracts of Great Lakes’ land. The land was opened to non-native settlement. Accordingly, the trickle of settlers began in the spring of 1834.

Shown here is an artist's rendering of Wright's cabin. Wright stated that in the fall of 1833, a prairie fire swept through the area, burning his crop of hay and forcing his family to find shelter along the Des Plaines River bank. Fortunately, the cabin was unharmed since it had been built with green timber.

Wright never purchased the land he settled on, but his grandson, William Whigham, did. Wright farmed the land along the Des Plaines River until he died in 1873.

In 1909, the Lake County Historical Society placed a memorial rock near the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue (Route 21) and Aptakisic Road just west of the Des Plaines River where Wright had settled.

The rock was from the site of today's St. Mary's of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein. It was taken by wagon on dirt roads to Half Day by the Bairstow Company of Waukegan.

William Whigham, Wright's grandson, was photographed with the memorial rock about 1909. You will notice that the date carved into the rock to honor Wright's arrival is 1834. Hence, the continued confusion about when he arrived in Half Day.

The "X" marked in ink on the photograph on the left side of the rock, denotes the location of Wright's cabin. In his golden years, Wright lived with his grandson in a woodframe house on the southwest corner of Milwaukee Avenue and Aptakisic Road, now the site of a commercial development.

In 1996, the Illinois Department of Transporation determined that the rock needed to be removed from the road right-of-way. They contacted the Lake County Discovery Museum (now the Bess Bower Dunn Museum) to assist with finding an appropriate location. The Friends of Ryerson Woods and the Lake County Forest Preserve District agreed that the rock should be placed on public land where it could be enjoyed by all. With this in mind, and the fact that much of the land now preserved in the Ryerson Conservation Area was once owned by Wright's descendants, Ryerson Woods was chosen as the location. Photo of the Daniel Wright memorial rock at the Ryerson Conservation Area.

Beilhart's Spirit Fruit Society

During the depression of the mid-1890s, there was a rise in the number of communitarian groups throughout the United States. American utopianism was nothing new. A rash of these groups had formed in the 1830s and 1840s, and many more following the Civil War. Yet, one small group stood out at the end of the nineteenth century—Jacob Beilhart's Spirit Fruit Society—which eventually settled in Ingleside, Illinois.

This portrait was taken in 1904 for the Cincinnati Enquirer. Collections of the Lisbon (Ohio) Historical Society.

The Spirit Fruit Society is considered by some to be the longest-lived utopian society in the United States, existing from 1899 to 1930.

Jacob Beilhart (1867-1908) was born on a farm in Columbiana County, Ohio. Though raised as a "fire and brimstone" Lutheran, Jacob's search for truth led him to faith healing and the possibilities of mental suggestion and self-sacrifice. "Spirit Fruit" was Jacob's view of "true life" for the "tangible fruit of the Universal Spirit."

Jacob's message included the importance of doing good works, the teachings of Jesus, who represented the perfect, unselfish man, the glorification of "female qualities," and the need for marriage reform. Unlike other founders of communitarian groups, Jacob made no attempt to attract converts. He also allowed his members to come and go as they pleased—some staying permanently while others only for days or months.

Jacob's promotion of "free love" gave him the most trouble and was decades ahead of what Americans were ready to accept. His "free love" philosophy included the right for consenting adults to change partners but not have more than one partner at a time, and he was tolerant of homosexuality. The intent was to create an atmosphere of tolerance, not one of promiscuity. However, this lifestyle brought negative attention to the Society and forced Jacob out of Lisbon, Ohio, and into the big city of Chicago, where his message was more tolerated.

 

View of Wooster Lake from the steps of the Society's former Temple. Photo taken in 1947. Dunn Museum 91.20.10

By 1905, the Spirit Fruit Society was able to buy property near Ingleside along Wooster Lake. The 90-acre site was perfect for farming, beautifully situated on the lake, and was close enough to Chicago that Jacob could preach there, and interested individuals (including journalists) could ride the train out to visit the Society's farm.

There were never more than two dozen members at a time. They were very devoted to Jacob's beliefs, especially the notion that the human spirit could attain health and peace called "Universal Life" through a strong work ethic.

Photo of original members of the Spirit Fruit Society, circa 1898. Left to right: Virginia Moore (Jacob Beilhart's lover), Lou Beilhart (Jacob's wife), Mary Beilhart (Jacob's sister), and an unidentified woman. Photo courtesy of H. Roger Grant. 

 
Jacob's wife, Lou, seemingly tolerated his affair with Virginia Moore (see photo above). Lou eventually left him, but they were never legally divorced. 

The members built by hand their home along Wooster Lake, which they called the "Spirit Fruit Temple." It was a 60 x 80-foot cement block structure complete with personal space for each member. Both men and women members dug tons of gravel from the west bank of the lake and hauled 500 loads of it "across the ice on sleds in very cold weather" to build their dream.

In 1908, the unthinkable happened. Jacob "took sick" with acute appendicitis. Though a doctor from Waukegan was brought in to operate, peritonitis set in, and Jacob died three days later. In keeping with the simplicity of "Universal Life," his followers placed his body in a homemade oak casket and buried him in an unmarked grave. The site of Jacob's grave is now inaccessible on private property.

Despite this great loss, the colony continued. Perhaps this fact, more than any other, makes the Spirit Fruit group unique. Historically, communitarian experiments headed by a single individual dissolved if anything happened to that leader. 

The Spirit Fruit Society remained in Ingleside until 1914. For unclear reasons, they headed west to California, where they bought an abandoned olive grove property near Los Gatos. The Society's membership dwindled, and the final blow came when Virginia Moore died of cancer in 1930.

Spirit Fruit Society's former Temple after renovations in the 1940s by the Wooster Lake Health Resort. Dunn Museum 91.20.9.

Shortly after the Society's departure for California, the Society's Temple became the Wooster Lake Health Resort. The Health Resort was a non-sectarian health clinic which, according to a circa 1945 booklet, offered "the profession and the public the most accepted and approved hospital equipment." 

Sunroom featured in the Health Resort's promotional booklet from circa 1945. Dunn Museum 91.20.1

In 1995, the former Temple and sanitarium burned to the ground. It had been vacant for years. The site has since been developed as a residential subdivision.

Physically, very little remains of the Spirit Fruit Society. Remnants of the Temple in Ingleside were collected by the Bess Bower Dunn Museum (formerly Lake County Discovery Museum), and photographs and other documentation were donated to the museum by the former caretakers of the site.

The utopian Society's success is evident in terms of its longevity, the personal growth of its members, and that the group achieved its goal of "practicing goodness and thoughtfulness and turning the other cheek."

For an in-depth look at Jacob Beilhart and his Spirit Fruit Society, read H. Roger Grant's book Spirit Fruit: A Gentle Utopia.

~ Diana Dretske ddretske@lcfpd.org