A MAN'S LIFE IN PHOTOS - PHILADELPHIA to WWII GERMANY PHOTO ALBUMS
Item #843
Two photo albums in binders that tell the life of William G. Albers of Philadelphia, that were compiled when he was an older man. Each album is annotated with identified people and places and stories. One album details the early years of Albers life in Pennsylvania, while the other documents his time in the army during WWII.
Albers’ World War 2 album has 57 photographs and ephemera across 20 pages. Beginning with “Bits and Pieces” and the “Home Front”. Albers is pictured in uniform with his friends and family. The album continues with Albers in active duty. A photo labeled “The Original Sad Sack”, as described below the image, is of Albers in the barracks in Fort George G. Meade, Maryland where he worked to guard the Alien Internment Center where Japanese Americans were imprisoned. The next two photos Albers were sent home to family in order to covertly share where he was stationed in Manchester, England.
There are seven photographs of his time in France, which are postcards or commercial photos made from 1944-1945. Below each image is neatly handwritten stories regarding the depicted places; namely, the Rochefort-en-Yvelines, The Cathedral of St. Pierre and St. Paul, and 6 RPPCs of places throughout Troy photographed by Yvon.
The final section of this album WGA is in Germany. This is the most populated section with 30 photographs and 5 RPPCs. The first photo is Albers inside the concentration camp of Buchenwald, Germany after the camp was liberated. He is pictured with a cigarette in his mouth and a wooden potato masher, or “muddler”, in hand. There is also a copied image of dead bodies at the camp. The other photographs in this section are of him relaxing and his time in Regensburg.
In the final sleeve at the back of the album are three notices. One is a typewritten memorandum dated October 21, 1942 from the commanding officer, Lieutenant L.N. Chitwood in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania lists the policies of character conduct for enlisted men while riding in trains and cars. Another is the train schedule from New Cumberland, PA to Ft. George Mead, MD, March 26, 1943. As well as a postal card regarding a medical examination.
The other album follows the early life and times of William G. Albers and family. There are 32 photographs spanning across the first five decades of the twentieth century. The album begins with Grandfather David Moore, then his parents in the 1920s, and the “first studio photos” of a young WGA. The album features his extended family, classmates, and teachers. Also in this album are 7 report cards during his time at the Roxborough Senior High School of Philadelphia.
My hunch is that this album was probably put together with a grandchild helping to put it together. It appears to recently be done with notes from Albers. It’s a lovely look at a man’s life.
Price: $300.00