Jim Nolan's Blog

Lt. John Curry's WWI Army Trunk

Eddie Nolan, Bobby and Bob Corcoran, George Nolan, and the trunk.

Detail of the trunk's top. Click to enlarge and see detail.

Written on the inside trunk lid. 

Received an amazing e-mail just before Christmas. It reads:

"Dear Jim,
 I have been looking for you for years.  I have some memorabilia from the Curry family who once owned our home and I wish to share to with you.
 I have as much intrigue about your uncle as you may have.  There were two young men from Plains killed in France, Lt. Michael Duddy and Lt. John V. Curry.
 My father, Patrick J. Corcoran, was a teacher in the Plains schools and a friend of the Curry family.  In 1939 My father bought the house from your grandmother Sara Curry.  We still live in the home on 102 Henry Street.
 I noticed on your site that you once visited the house as evidenced by a youngster standing in front of the home.  I called to my wife, Rose, to look at the picture.  I commented that they should have come in for a visit, to which she replied, "Maybe they did, but our cars were not in the driveway."
 I know where your gravestone is located in the Sacred Heart Cemetery.  Our family stones are not far from there.
 Give me a call so we can arrange for you to receive the items we had preserved for years.
 I am a former Marine and retired administrator from the Wilkes-Barre Area School District.  Rose is a retired educator from then Scranton City School District.
 With great expectations, I am waiting to hear from you.

Respectfully yours,
Bob Corcoran

I was so excited talking to Bob on my commute home that I got off Metro North one stop earlier than I should have. Today, the boys and I drove to 102 Henry Street in Plains, PA to visit Bob and Rose and also met Bob's son Bobby. We had a delicious lunch and a tour of Plains (including Sacred Heart Cemetery). And then we took my great uncle's Army trunk back with us to Westchester. I'm so grateful to the Corcorans for keeping it all these years and for searching for us. And I'm really glad to know that 93 years after he was killed in action, John is still remembered in his hometown.

Published in Funny Times

I'm delighted to report that I had a piece run in the January, 2012 issue of the Funny Times, a monthly humor newspaper. It has over 75,000 subscribers. The editor, Ray Lesser, writes a terrific humor piece every issue and many of my favorite writers appear regularly, including Roz Warren, Lenore Skenazy and Dave Barry. My wife, Isabella Bannerman, has had cartoons run in the FT for many years. A yearly subscription is just $25 for 12 issues and every issue will make you laugh out loud many times.

January, 2012 cover.

Christmas Seal, 1924

From my grandmother's scrapbook: "Designed by George V. Curtis. $4,500,00 realized." A sheet of 100 of these sells for fifty bucks today. 

Part of a page from the scrapbook. The years 1907-1913 are left blank. You can see 1912 and 1913 at the top left. Click to enlarge.

Christmas Seal, 1947

From my grandmother's scrapbook.

4,004 Unique Blog Visitors in 2011

A few days still to go, and jimnolansblog.com just passed 4,000 absolute unique visitors for the calendar year, according to Google Analytics. And over 10,540 pageviews. Thanks for reading, everyone.

Christmas Seal, 1933

From my grandmother's scrapbook.

Christmas Seals, 1914 & 1915

"The Executive Committee of the American Red Cross has just officially approved the design for the 1914 Red Cross Christmas Seal, shown in the accompanying picture. Here you see the reproduction of the little stamp, which will be sold throughout the United States during the coming Christmas season to help in the unrelenting campaign which is being waged in this country against the white plague [tuberculosis]… The 1914 stamp is brightly colored with red and green predominating. It is taken up almost entirely by the laughing, ruddy, applecheeked face of Santa Claus. The background in vivid green represents part of a Christmas tree. Instead of the oblong design as used during the 1913 Christmas season, the 1914 stamp is square-practically the size of an ordinary postage stamp."

From The American Red Cross Magazine, July 1914

"It was interesting to note that the purity of the conventional design appealed more to the artist than to the popular fancy. The public likes better the seal which arouses its imagination by the face of the merry Santa Claus, or the laden boughs of a Christmas tree. The earlier stamp designs were composed of a red cross surrounded by holly in conventional form. But the seals of the last few years have depended upon the benevolent face or form of Santa Claus to enhance their popularity."

Mabel Boardman, Secretary of the American Red Cross, from her book Under the Red Cross Flag, 1915. Both quotes found at: http://www.redcross.org/museum/tour/page_8.html

1923 Christmas Seal

From a page collecting Christmas Seals in my grandmother's scrapbook. It is captioned: "Designed by Rudolph Ruzicka NY, $4,258,000 realized." For more info on Christmas Seals, see this article in Wednesday's NY Times.

1960s Swedish Christmas Card

Sent by my Uncle Heye and Aunt Maria to my mother and father. I love the simplicity of the design. 

An Elven Revolt by Isabella Bannerman

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah everyone!