If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 470

 National Museum of Natural History entry tickets, 2018

Today’s postcards are from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.  The entry tickets into the museum had a selection of different animals and birds on them as seen above.  Since there were just two of us, I do not know how many different ticket designs there were.  They are so pretty that I decided to share ours at the top of the post this week.  The actual postcards are shown below.

When we visited Paris in 2018 we stayed in a small hotel near Notre Dame that was close enough that it also allowed us to enjoy long walks along the River Seine.  One day we walked along the river to the Jardin des Plantes where the National Museum of Natural History is located.  While we were there the museum had a special exhibit of meteorites.  A few of them were illuminated with black light revealing sparkles and colors that in other lighting just looked like a dull rock.  For a taste of “star dust,” five postcard examples of the meteorites are shared below. 

Meteorites are fragments of rock or iron from outer space.  They usually originate from a meteoroid or asteroid like those in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and some pass through the atmosphere to land on the earth.  They can be small, less than a gram, or larger than 60 tons.  Meteorite sightings are called observed falls or shooting stars, and those pieces or fragments found on Earth are called finds. They have been occurring for thousands of years and can land randomly everywhere on Earth with most landing in the oceans.  Since most of them contain iron they deteriorate over time unless they land in places that have only occasional rain.  The cards show some of the meteorites on display during the special exhibit.

1.     This first postcard shows the Kransojarsk meteorite found in Russia in 1749.  Seen first by P.S. Pallis and then on his orders transported to Saint Petersburg.  The entire mass weighed 1,500 lbs or 700 kg.  It was the first pallasite found and studied and led to the creation of the Pallasite group named after Pallis.

2.   The second card has a picture of the Imilac meteorite found in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chili in 1822.  It is classified as a stony-iron pallasite and is highly prized by collectors for its beautiful olivine grains.  Pieces of this meteorite were found spread over about 5 miles or 8 km. 

3.    These two pieces were found in Lancé, France in 1872 and are composed of carbonaceous chondrites.  They are found in the CO3 grouping that takes its name from Ornans, France and is petrologic type 3.  [C chondrites from Ornans, type 3].
    

 4.     The fourth example is of ordinary chondrite (H4), one of the most numerous group and are about 87% of  all  finds.  It was found in 1890 and is called the Villedieu meteorite.  Villedieu is located just north of the Cộte-d’Or in France.

 5.  This last example is a 5 kg fragment of an iron meteorite discovered near Magnesia, Turkey in 1899. 

Small section of the display of animals

The National Museum of Natural History is huge and has too many different exhibits to list.  One of the ones we did enjoy was the Gallery of Evolution, a large room with what looked like hundreds if not thousands of taxidermied animals and birds on display.  Part of the museum campus includes a zoo, a botanical garden and green house, dinosaur exhibits, and many other things.  

And especially for a 4-year old grandson, who loves these guys, is this photo of one of several full-sized models of dinosaurs on display was this T-Rex in the garden.

The original Jardin des Plantes was the medicinal garden of King Louis XIII established in 1635 and was tended by royal physicians.  After the Revolution in 1793 it was reorganized and given the present title.  The museum has 14 sites throughout France including the original location.

All the cards were purchased at gift shop in the National Museum of Natural History with MNHN J.C. Domenech printed at the lower left corner on the reverse.

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordinary_chondrite
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteorite_fall
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krasnojarsk_(meteorite)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imilac
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonaceous_chondrite#CO_group
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villedieu_(Côte-d'Or)
https://www.meteorite.com/
https://www.mindat.org/loc-262736.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Natural_History

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 469

 

 

 

 

Three Brothers, chiefs of the Kagwantan, Tlingit, Southeastern Alaska, 1906

[photo:  Case and Draper]

 The Case and Draper photographic studio of Southeastern Alaska is credited with the 1906 picture of three brothers on this unused Garfinkel Publication postcard.  At the bottom center of the reverse is:  FPC28.  The card was printed in Canada.

The three brothers in the photo are not named but were chiefs of the Kagwantan, or burnt house people, one of the Tlingit clans, and are each holding a raven rattle.  Two are wearing “Chilkat blankets, highly esteemed robes of nobility,” according the blurb on the reverse of the card.  Chilkat weaving uses one of the most complex weaving techniques and a blanket like one of these could take a year to make.  Today sheep wool might be used but when these blankets were woven the primary materials would have been mountain goat wool, dog fur, and yellow cedar bark.  The designs are traditionally in ovoid, U-form, and S-form shapes, highly stylized and contain clan crests, figures from oral history, and often animals.  Dominant colors are yellow and black with blue as a secondary color.  The weavings are done on looms that have only a top frame and vertical supports.  Vertical sections are completed instead of moving horizontally from end to end.  This system tends to break the designs into vertical columns.  Northwest Coast art is mostly bilaterally symmetrical.  Fringes and buttons are sometimes added decorations.  In addition to blankets the weavings are used for robes, dance tunics, aprons, leggings shirts, vests, hats, and wall hangings.  The blankets worn in the picture would traditionally be used at potlatch ceremonies.

William Howard Case and H. Horace Draper formed a partnership in 1898 and had a photographic studio in Skagway, Alaska.  In the beginning they worked out of a tent that allowed them to travel and take photographs.  They became popular for “Documenting the unknown” and eventually had a store that sold curios, photographic equipment, and souvenirs and well as their own work.  

Case was born in Iowa in 1868 and lived in South Dakota and Oregon before going to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898.  His partnership with Draper was dissolved in 1907.  Case moved to Juneau where he opened his own studio.  He died in 1920 and was survived by his three children.  Case’s studio was taken over by E.C. Adams.  

Herbert Horace Draper was born 1855 in Rockford, Illinois.  His family moved from Michigan to Oregon when he was 19.  He also went to Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush.  He married a local school teacher.   After the partnership with Case was dissolved, he continued to run the studio under the name Draper and Co. until his death in 1913.  Draper’s studio was acquired by Keller Brothers Drug Company.

Digital images of their work can be found at Orbis Cascade Alliance and the Alaska State Library.  

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Case_&_Draper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilkat_weaving

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 468

Alaskan dog sled, ca 1930s

This unused Lantern Press edition postcard has a photograph of an Alaskan dog sled team.  The image is numbered 31635 and looks to date from the 1930s.  The card was purchased at a gift shop in Ketchikan, Alaska in 2019.

Dog sleds with one or more dog pulling a sled or sleigh can be used to travel over ice and through snow and also to pull logs and other cargo.  Sleds pulled by dogs have been used for thousands of years.  French Canadian trappers used dog sleds for their own transportation as well as hauling the fur hides.  Rural people used dog sleds to haul logs for wood and fuel.  They have been used in Alaska, Greenland, and Siberia as well as other cold snowy places.  One dog or several, called a team, is used for pulling the sleds.  Dogs can pull side by side in pairs as shown in the picture, or as in Greenland, they can pull in a fan shape in front of the sled. 

The dog team pulling the sled in the photo has nine members.  Each dog or pair of dogs has a specific job.  The musher gives the command and the lead dog’s duty is to give the signals to the other dogs. There can be a pair of lead dogs or just one as shown in this example. If point dogs are used, they are located just behind the leader(s).  Swing dogs come next, then team dogs, and the strong wheel dogs are found closest to the sled.  Wheel dogs need to be especially powerful as they are used to pull the sled out from the snow if it slows or gets stuck.  In general, the dogs selected are chosen for their strength, health, endurance, and speed.  The dogs in the picture do not have “booties” on their feet for protection from the ice and snow; however, most long-distance sled dogs today wear protection on their feet.  Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes and Alaskan Huskies are the typical breeds used in dog sledding.  Faster, short-haired hounds are sometimes used for sprint races but are more difficult to train to pull a sled and do not have the endurance for the longer distances.  Puppies, at about 6 months of age, start training by pulling a small log behind them.

The annual Alaskan Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, established in 1973, is a long-distance race of 938 miles or 1,510 km.  The race is run in March and goes from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska.  This very popular sporting event brings the top mushers and their dog teams from all over the globe.  With more than 50 mushers and about 1,000 dogs from 14 countries competing, the dogs and the mushers become local celebrities. The course record of 8 days 3 hours 40 minutes and 13 seconds was set by Mitch Seavey in 2017. 

Why are the sled drivers called mushers?  It turns out the words “mush” and “musher” are English language corruptions of a sort from the French Canadian “marche” used by trappers to start the dogs pulling the sled. 

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_sled
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iditarod_Trail_Sled_Dog_Race
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2016/02/say-mush-make-sled-dogs-go/

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 467

Rättvik Church, Dalarna, Sweden, ca 1950s

The message printed on the reverse, left corner, “581-10 Välkommen till Rättvik, semesterplatsen året runt” (or approximately in English:  Welcome to Rättvik vacation year round).  This is an unused card I found in a shoebox of jumbled cards in an antique mall.  The card has the edging common in the 1930s through about 1950.  Because it is a color photograph and not a tinted picture it probably dates from the 1950s.  The card was produced and distributed by Sörlins AB, Rättvik.

Darlana County is located in central Sweden and the town of Rättvik is found on the eastern shore of the lake Siljan.  Darlana means the dales or valleys and is a popular vacation destination for Swedes.  The town of Rättvik is small, population 4,686 in 2010, but offers tourists good fishing, campgrounds, and forests.  Many Swedes have a second home or summer cabin in Dalarna.  Vegetables and apples grow here in the summer. 

The Rättvik Church shown in the background of the photograph dates from around 1300.  As might be expected there have been alterations, renovations, and enlargements made to the original building.  The present shape dates from 1793.  Inside there are medieval frescoes of St. Olav and St. Stephen; the pulpit and an altar piece made that features the Resurrection of Christ both date from the 17th century; and, a triumphal crucifix said to have been made in Germany in the 14th century.  Outside are 87 wooden church stables, some dating from the 15th century.  The stables were used for the horses of the people when they attended services at the church.

The picture on the postcard shared this week also shows a young woman in the Dalarna folk costume sitting in a boat.  That solved a small mystery.  The Axel Eliassons postcard below, dated around 1900, and shared in 2011, shows three Swedish girls playing a game.  Their folk costumes match the one worn by the woman in the boat on today’s card; therefore, it is now possible to say that the three girls represent Dalarna, Sweden.

Three Swedish girls in the Dalarna folk costume, ca 1900

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalarna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rättvik
https://www.spottinghistory.com/view/2252/rattvik-church/