The Story In The Picture
The Picture In the Story
An old photograph hung on the wall of the Moloski home in Kansas for decades, its origins steeped in family history. The image was of Pulaskifield; of Sts. Peter & Paul Church, the parsonage across the street and the nunnery next-door, taken from the hillside of grandfather Adam and Grandmother Julianna’s farm. The beloved scene allowing the boy who was raised there to return home in a moment.
The picture was taken by a traveling photographer whose mission it was to create content so as to offer Real Picture Post Cards (RPPCs) of off-the-beaten-path towns and burgs. Sold to travelers and locals alike, small runs of these penny and nickel cards were made and mailed for over a decade. Few survive.
The Society was grateful to locate an example at a local estate auction from 1906. Another was found on eBay From the Wichita area recently, dated 1914.
We later acquired an old workbook: the writings of Fred Gasser, 12, attending St. Mary’s School in the spring of 1904. Each semester required a workbook to hand-in for grading, which included arithmetic, dictation, spelling and writing skills. Fred’s writings included letters to cousins near Joplin, descriptions of his family’s farm layout (with distances in rods!) and to Adam Landoll’s farm next door.
We were amazed to find that the RPPC was actually sent to Fred by older brother Peter Gasser 10 years later!
Fred married Mary Ellen Sweeney from Wentworth at St. Mary’s in 1917, and went on to be Dr. Fred, practicing in Cherryvale, Kansas after WWII. His Find A Grave Memorial can be found here.
