Several weeks ago I posted about gallery walls and showed some photos of the one I've been assembling in my own home.
I have so many wonderful and meaningful things I've collected over the years but a space can only showcase so much and it can be quite challenging to create a pleasing composition.
One of the things I displayed that garnered a lot of attention was this hat!
Several people wanted to know the story behind it.
Well, I wish it were my story to tell, but alas it is simply a treasure I found at a wonderful estate sale I attended several months ago.
Obviously it was used to commemorate a very special trip.
Perhaps, the trip of a lifetime!
I guess what makes me such an inveterate treasure huntress is that these types of treasures truly speak to me.
I am so glad that it was there waiting for me...
I consider myself a caretaker of sorts.
It resonates with me.
I love the fact so many of you were curious about it too!
It is such a creative way to remember something so special, isn't it?
Another treasure I found and blogged about a while ago were a bunch of old letters that were stuck behind one of the drawers of a dresser I bought at The Salvation Army.
My husband and son discovered them as they were moving it into our master bedroom!
It was all very exciting!
I immediately noticed the strange writing and couldn't figure out what language it was.
Someone told me they thought it was the old Russian language called Cyrillic.
I googled "Cyrillic" and this is what I learned...
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School.
It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, past and present, in Eastern Europe and Asia, especially those of Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian.
]
As of 2011 around 252 million people in Europe and Asia use it as official alphabet for their national languages. About half of them are in Russia.
I initially tried to find someone to show them to and perhaps translate them for me, but had no luck finding that person.
I eventually gave up and packed them away...
I forgot where I had put them until I discovered them anew in a box of old photos I had stored up in our attic.
So now, I am wondering if any of you might know how to go about deciphering these intriguing letters from the past...
What I can decipher is the name and Los Angeles address they were sent to.
There is also this "document/letter" with a photo attached.
And it is written in Spanish.
It seems to be "official" in nature.
I don't believe in coincidences and feel that I must somehow figure out who this man was and what he was about!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Can anyone translate this for me?
These are definitely treasures that tell a story!
I just need to dig deeper to discover this one!
Have you found any treasures that have a story to tell?
One of the things I displayed that garnered a lot of attention was this hat!
Several people wanted to know the story behind it.
Well, I wish it were my story to tell, but alas it is simply a treasure I found at a wonderful estate sale I attended several months ago.
Obviously it was used to commemorate a very special trip.
Perhaps, the trip of a lifetime!
I guess what makes me such an inveterate treasure huntress is that these types of treasures truly speak to me.
This was one of the few things left when I arrived on the second day of the sale.
I am so glad that it was there waiting for me...
I consider myself a caretaker of sorts.
It resonates with me.
I love the fact so many of you were curious about it too!
It is such a creative way to remember something so special, isn't it?
Another treasure I found and blogged about a while ago were a bunch of old letters that were stuck behind one of the drawers of a dresser I bought at The Salvation Army.
My husband and son discovered them as they were moving it into our master bedroom!
It was all very exciting!
I immediately noticed the strange writing and couldn't figure out what language it was.
Someone told me they thought it was the old Russian language called Cyrillic.
I googled "Cyrillic" and this is what I learned...
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School.
It is the basis of alphabets used in various languages, past and present, in Eastern Europe and Asia, especially those of Slavic origin, and non-Slavic languages influenced by Russian.
As of 2011 around 252 million people in Europe and Asia use it as official alphabet for their national languages. About half of them are in Russia.
I initially tried to find someone to show them to and perhaps translate them for me, but had no luck finding that person.
I eventually gave up and packed them away...
I forgot where I had put them until I discovered them anew in a box of old photos I had stored up in our attic.
So now, I am wondering if any of you might know how to go about deciphering these intriguing letters from the past...
What I can decipher is the name and Los Angeles address they were sent to.
There is also this "document/letter" with a photo attached.
And it is written in Spanish.
It seems to be "official" in nature.
I don't believe in coincidences and feel that I must somehow figure out who this man was and what he was about!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Can anyone translate this for me?
These are definitely treasures that tell a story!
I just need to dig deeper to discover this one!
Have you found any treasures that have a story to tell?
Posts
18 comments:
Wow! What amazing treasures..... so intriguing and special.
Wow. This is fascinating. I'm going to show this post to Don as he's got a lot of knowledge of genealogy. I'm wondering if it may be a situation where countries were taking Jews prior to the war. I'm wondering if perhaps the person emigrated through Mexico. Interesting. I'll let you know what Don says. Take care!!!!
Mona
Terri you have some amazing treasures! That hat is fabulous and so well made but those letters are wonderful! I wish I could read them for you but I only read Italian and some French. Good lck in translating them that would be so cool!
XX
Debra~
Hi Terri,
It looks like the Yugoslavian my father in law writes. I'll be curious to see what it really is! If I were you, I'd try faxing a page or two to a Serbian Orthodox church and asking them if anyone can read them! St Sava's in LA or St. Stephens maybe?
http://www.saintsavachurchla.org/
Nothing as fascinating as you find.
Have you tried translating the official letter via Google?
Hi there, I love the idea of being a care taker of the things we've found or had passed down to us. We've all been to enough estate sales to know our treasures won't necessarily be our children's treasures, but that's not for me to worry about. :)
Terri,
I so wish I could help. I know that you will somehow find a connection to this person's family.
I have a treasured birth announcement and it's envelope that was mailed in 1919 to my great-grandmother. Two things made it special enough for me to frame. 1) the style was eerily similar to the birth announcement I chose for my 1st son. 2) The town the child was born in was the same as where my grandfather was born. Only....my grandparents had not met yet.
I also feel I am a caretaker. I even feel that way about our house. It is "mine" yet I believe I am basically caring for it until the next family takes over. And, by my estimation, it is probably going to a young family that moves out from the city....and the husband and wife may not even have met yet. Wild, right?! I just keep taking pictures thinking some day I will hand them over and give the new family a "history" of their home.
Good luck on your search!
xoxo Elizabeth
Go over to UC Berkeley and
stop by all the various language departments.
The other UCB departments you should
try are history and european or russian
studies.
And also talk with the Bancroft Library staff.
They are AMAZING!
I adore the hat and what a great way to remember such a special trip. The letters are so intriguing. Wish I could help with the translation - know someone would love to get these after all of these years!!
So sorry I can't help you.Though these both hat and letters are very intriguing for sure, best of luck.The writing is beautiful~Cheers Kim
Terri, you find the most amazing treasures. The hat is interesting and fabulous but the letters are true treasures. You definitely should try to find a translation, it would be so interesting. Just the thought of knowing the origin and translation is magical. I can't wait to hear more about the letters.
I scrolled back to take a look at the oyster shell lamp you made. It is fantastic!!! You are very creative! You really do have an amazing eye for treasures and creativity. XO
Hi, Wow! this is such an interesting post. While that hat is definitely a cool find what really blew my pants off (well, almost ;) ) was that bundle of letters. The first few u posted are actually Yiddish written in Hebrew script letters. Although I didn't read through all of it I made out enough of the words to confirm my suspicions. The letterhead on the "official letter" is for an community organization for Ashkenazi (basically Eastern-European) Jews based in Mexico that seems to have later merged with an Argentinian organization sometime in the 1960's. Those letters have intrigued me so much that I definitely plan to do some more digging around and see what i come up with. I would love to hear if you find any new info as well, maybe see some more of the letters?!
Im not an avid blog follower (unless of course u ask my hubby who thinks I totally spend too much time on line!) but boy am I glad to have seen this post and u can totally count me in a your newest fan!
Happy hunting- can't wait to see what other treasures you run into!
KIKI
OMG Kiki!!!
Thank you so much for commenting on this post! How do you know so much?
Should I send you the letters?
Please email me and I will give you my phone # and we can talk if you want.. this is so exciting!!!!
Gotta love the world wide web!!
AMAZING
Great post Terri. Great finds. Dig the hat. The inside of it is in perfecto condition, and the fact a story is written on it is amazing. Now the other amazing thing is how objects magically appear, as if you were meant to find them.. That is an act of God. A drawer full of letters- waiting to be unearthed with a story that was waiting for you to share...
Hello Terri
This is all so exciting. The mystery of the hat and now the letters. Well, I think there is definitely a book here. What a great foundation for a story.
I will be keeping my eyes peeled for a follow up post on this exciting find.
Helenxx
Terry, I want to talk to you. Email us! I have some ideas for a blog posting and I have three delicious books that you could do a give away!
infoatelierdc@gmail.com
Trinidad
The spanish letter reads as follows
The directive committee of the benefit Israeli society “NIDCHE ISRAEL” from Mexico city, making ( the committee) of your knowledge that the holder of the present letter Mr. Chewel Olozoroff is our delegate for the affairs concerning the Israelite cemetery, property of our institution. We deeply thank to all the people whom might (concern and be involved) give him the proper attention (facilitate).
The letter is in written and presented in conformity to our regulations established by our institution
(Signed by)
The secretary (and) the president
In fewer workd is a proper presentation letter to facilitate the carrier of the letter the business concerning the cementery property of Israeli society.
By the way, many israeli families emmigrated and were assimilated in Mexico, as a matter of fact after the WWII when the creation of the Israel state was in progress the zionist movement considered to buy property to stablish the state in Mexico. Mexico was one of the first contries to recognized the israeli state that allow legitimization to Israel as a country ( nation/state)
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