Donna Darling and Her Girls at the Elks’ Mardi Gras, Carlinville, IL – Week of October 12, 1925

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Don Taylor

In October 1925, my grandmother — working under her stage name, Donna Darling — played one of the more unusual dates I have found in her career. Instead of a theatre, Donna and her girls performed “Her Little Revue” under a huge circus tent at the Elks’ Mardi Gras and Auto Show in Carlinville, Illinois, a county-seat town of about 5,000 people roughly forty miles south of Springfield. A run of short items in the two Springfield dailies, the State Journal and the Illinois State Register, lets us follow the carnival from the day its tent arrived to its final night.

The Engagement

Carlinville Elks Lodge put on a week-long Mardi Gras and automobile show, billed as the “Biggest carnival in Central Illinois.” The proceeds went to charity.[2] Preparations were reported as early as October 6, when the State Journal announced that “the great circus tent for the Elks’ carnival here next week has arrived.” It also reported that the management had “booked a number of high-class vaudeville performers from the Orpheum circuit,” including “the prettiest of girls, all famed for fun and pep,” and that “one of the numbers will be a miniature musical revue.”[1] That miniature musical revue was almost certainly Donna’s act.

The carnival opened at 5 p.m. on Monday, October 12, 1925.[2][3] That morning’s State Journal named the vaudeville acts. They came through the Western Vaudeville Managers’ Association, “affiliated with the Orpheum circuit,” and included “Two Sunflowers from Dixie” and:

Donna Darling and her girls in “Her Little Revue” with a wonderful finale, “The Evolution of a Bathing Suit,” will be sure to please. These acts will cost $1,500 and are free to all who attend the carnival.

The State Journal (Springfield, IL), October 12, 1925[4]

The Mardi Gras ran through Saturday, October 17. On that day the Illinois State Register reported that “today is the last day of the Elks’ big Mardi Gras and automobile show.”[6] Donna’s own run may have been shorter than the carnival’s, though. On Wednesday, October 14, the State Journal noted that “there will be a complete change of vaudeville tomorrow night.”[5] Western Vaudeville routinely booked its acts in split weeks. Only the week before, Donna Darling and Girls and Padgett & Harmon’s “Two Sunflowers from Dixie” had shared a Monday-to-Wednesday bill at the Lincoln Theatre in Belleville, Illinois, October 5–7.[7] This suggests the same unit played the first half of the Carlinville week, Monday through Wednesday, October 12–14, and that a new bill took over on Thursday.

The Production and Cast

“Her Little Revue” was a small-girl act, with Donna leading a line of chorus girls in song and dance. The Belleville paper called it a “Song and Dance Revue.”[7] The Carlinville notices single out its finale, “The Evolution of a Bathing Suit.” The bathing-suit theme ran through much of Donna’s work in the mid-1920s. That same year she toured with the California Bathing Girls, and a fashion parade of swimwear from modest Victorian costume to the daring one-piece of 1925 would have been a natural crowd-pleaser.

The vaudeville was only part of the entertainment. Every evening the program combined:

  • Donna Darling and her girls in “Her Little Revue”
  • “Two Sunflowers from Dixie,” billed as “the funniest comedy act obtainable.” This was Padgett & Harmon, a blackface comedy duo, which was a common and now uncomfortable staple of 1920s vaudeville.[1][7]
  • Dance orchestras: Roche’s singing band, Bradley’s Favorites, Gillespie’s Golden Peacocks, and Widener’s orchestra of Gillespie[4][5]
  • Local bands: the Standard City Boys’ band, the Girard Boys’ band, and the Kincaid band[4]
  • An automobile show with exhibitors “from Springfield to St. Louis”[4]
  • A “most popular lady” contest, also called the carnival queen contest, decided by ballot[5][6]

George A. Childs of Kansas City directed the carnival.[4]

Reviews and Reception

The newspapers did not review individual acts, but their reports show the vaudeville was a real draw. Halfway through the week, the State Journal’s Carlinville correspondent wrote:

The great tent was thronged again tonight with merrymakers. The automobiles on display are attracting much attention as each car is the latest pattern its company has to offer. The entertainers attract a big crowd each performance. They are from the Orpheum circuit.

The State Journal, “Vote on Carnival Queen,” Carlinville, October 14, 1925[5]

By the end of the week the Register judged the event a success:

Many of the best features have been saved for the last night and the big tent is expected to be filled to overflowing with visitors. The carnival has been a decided asset to the life of the city during the last week.

Illinois State Register, October 17, 1925[6]

Venue Profile: The Great Tent

This engagement had no theatre. The Elks rented a circus tent 80 feet wide and 200 feet long and pitched it “on the land owned by Dr. Conley on North Broad street just off the square.”[1] The tent sheltered the vaudeville stage, the automobile display, and a “big dance platform” that was “erected for the pleasure of those who enjoy dancing.”[2][3] The auto show opened at 7 o’clock each evening, and the features followed “in rapid succession, assuring the public of a continuous good time.”[4]

Playing under canvas was a different job from playing a theatre. There was no proscenium, no fly loft, and no dressing rooms in the usual sense. The audience had not bought tickets and drifted between the cars, the dance floor, and the stage. For a girl act built around costume changes, ending with a parade of bathing suits, it must have taken some improvising.

History of the Venue: Carlinville and Its Elks

Carlinville was founded in 1829 and is the county seat of Macoupin County. The 1920 census counted 5,212 residents.[8] The town is dominated by the Macoupin County Courthouse, built from 1867 to 1870 at a cost of more than $1.5 million and known ever since as the “Million Dollar Courthouse.”[9] Its square was lined with businesses and the 1870 Loomis House hotel.[11] By the 1920s the town also had a new neighborhood of Sears catalog homes that Standard Oil of Indiana had built in 1918 for its coal miners. This connects to the Standard City Boys’ band that played at the carnival.[8]

The host was Carlinville Lodge No. 1412 of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. The lodge is still active and still raises funds for “educational, patriotic, and community-minded programs.”[12] A week-long Mardi Gras with hired vaudeville, a car show, dancing, and a popularity contest was a typical Elks fundraiser of the 1920s. The committee had “worked for months for its perfection,” and the profits went “for charities.”[2]

Location Today

The tent stood on North Broad Street just off the public square in Carlinville, Illinois 62626.[1] The exact lot owned by “Dr. Conley” has not been identified. The setting has its own historical footnote. A year later, in 1926, North Broad Street became part of the original alignment of U.S. Route 66, which entered town on Broad Street and circled the square until the highway was moved east to Litchfield in 1929–30.[10][11] A historical marker titled “Circling the Square” now stands on the north side of the square at North Broad Street, a short walk from where Donna and her girls performed.[10] The square, the courthouse, and the Loomis House survive today within the Carlinville Historic District.

Venue Specifications

  • Venue: Circus tent (temporary), Elks’ Mardi Gras and Auto Show
  • Dimensions: 80 x 200 ft.[1]
  • Site: Land of Dr. Conley, North Broad Street, just off the public square, Carlinville, IL[1]
  • Host: Carlinville Lodge No. 1412, B.P.O.E.
  • Director: George A. Childs, Kansas City[4]
  • Booking office: Western Vaudeville Managers’ Association (Orpheum affiliate)[4]
  • Admission to vaudeville: Free with carnival attendance[1][4]
  • Cost of vaudeville acts: “over $1,000” (Oct. 6 estimate); $1,500 (Oct. 12)[1][4]
  • Features: Vaudeville stage, dance platform, automobile show
  • Carnival dates: Monday, October 12 – Saturday, October 17, 1925

Significance

Most of Donna’s documented dates were in theatres, from big-city picture palaces to small-town vaudeville houses. Carlinville shows another side of a 1920s vaudeville career. Small-time acts filled their routes with fairs, carnivals, and lodge benefits that the circuits booked alongside regular theatre time. Here Donna performed for free to the crowds at a small-town charity carnival, sharing a tent with new automobiles, dance bands, and a popularity contest.

The engagement also links to her October 1925 route. The same pairing of Donna Darling and Girls with “Two Sunflowers from Dixie” appeared at Belleville’s Lincoln Theatre on October 5–7 and at the Carlinville Elks’ Mardi Gras the following week. That suggests Western Vaudeville was sending the two acts around southern and central Illinois as a package. And the State Journal’s mention of a finale called “The Evolution of a Bathing Suit” tells us something new about the act itself.

Sources

  1. “Elks Secure Orpheum Acts for Carnival.” The State Journal (Springfield, Illinois), Oct 7, 1925, page 8 – “Dateline Carlinville, Oct. 6, 1925.” Accessed via Newspapers.com.
  2. “Carlinville Is Set for Elks’ Big Carnival.” The State Journal (Springfield, Illinois), Oct. 10, 1925, page 8. “Dateline Carlinville, Oct. 9, 1925. Accessed via Newspapers.com.
  3. “Elks’ Carnival at Carlinville Opens Monday.” Illinois State Register (Springfield, Illinois), Oct 10, 1925, page 10. “Dateline Carlinville, Oct. 10, 1925. Accessed via Newspapers.com.
  4. “Elks’ Carnival to Hold Stage in Carlinville.” The State Journal (Springfield, Illinois), October 12, 1925, p. 4. Accessed via Newspapers.com (image no. 1328144927).
  5. “Vote on Carnival Queen.” The State Journal Register (Springfield, Illinois), Oct 15, page 20, “Dateline Carlinville, Oct. 14, 1925. Accessed via Newspapers.com.
  6. “Elks’ Carnival Beauty Contest Closes Tonight.” Illinois State Register (Springfield, Illinois), October 17, 1925, p. 10. Accessed via Newspapers.com.
  7. Belleville Daily News-Democrat (Belleville, Illinois), October 6, 1925. See “Donna Darling – Lincoln Theatre, Belleville, IL – 6 October 1925,” dontaylorgenealogy.com. https://dontaylorgenealogy.com/2022/07/donna-darling-lincoln-theatre-belleville-il-6-october-1925/
  8. “Carlinville, Illinois.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlinville,_Illinois
  9. “Macoupin County Courthouse.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macoupin_County_Courthouse
  10. “Circling the Square” Historical Marker. The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org). https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=144482
  11. “Carlinville, Route 66 Illinois.” TheRoute-66.com. https://www.theroute-66.com/carlinville.html
  12. Carlinville, IL Lodge No. 1412, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. https://www.elks.org/1412
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“Actress, Detroit Girl, Here This Month”: When the Newspaper Gets It Wrong

Posted on October 9, 2026 by Don Taylor
Profile portrait of actress Donna Montran with full curly hair, from The Detroit News, 1920.
Miss Donna Montran, The Detroit News, February 8, 1920, p. 61 (contrast enhanced).

Sometimes the newspaper gets it wrong. But even when it does, it can still hand us some wonderful information.

On Sunday, February 8, 1920, The Detroit News ran a small feature on page 61 under the headline “Actress, Detroit Girl, Here This Month.” It included a striking profile photograph of Donna. The original newspaper image was very dark, but a little gentle editing brought out a lovely portrait.

The caption reads:

Miss Donna Montran, a former Detroit girl, will appear here some time this month in Chin Chin. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Knight, 628 Lawndale avenue.

Calling her a “Detroit girl” was fair enough. Although Donna grew up in Albion, Michigan, she lived at various times in Detroit, Rochester and several other places, and more than one city was happy to claim her.

Where was Chin Chin in February 1920?

In early February 1920, Donna and the Chin Chin company were touring Wisconsin and Indiana. They crossed into Michigan later in the month and spent the rest of February touring the state:

  • February 21–22: Grand Rapids, MI, at the Powers Theater
  • February 23: Muskegon, MI, at the Regent Theater
  • February 24: Unknown
  • February 25: Bay City, MI, at the Washington Theater
  • February 26: Saginaw, MI, at the Auditorium Theatre, where Donna was singled out for her role in the show
  • February 27: Unknown
  • February 28: Ann Arbor, MI, at the Whitney Theater
  • February 29: Sunday, with no performance (1920 was a leap year)

From Michigan, the show moved on to a run of engagements in New York.

Did Donna play Detroit?

When Chin Chin played larger cities, it usually stayed at least two days and often longer. Grand Rapids, the largest Michigan city on the route, got two days. After that the company made one-night stands in smaller cities, with only February 24 and 27 unaccounted for. Neither open day leaves room for a Detroit engagement of the usual length. So although The Detroit News announced that Donna would appear “some time this month,” I don’t believe she ever did.

What the paper got right

The caption’s real gift is the family detail. “Mr. and Mrs. H. Knight” were Donna’s mother, Ida Mae Barber, and her stepfather, Harvey Watson Knight. The 1920 census confirms that they were living at 628 Lawndale Avenue in Detroit’s Ward 20. So a brief notice that got the engagement wrong still places Donna’s mother and stepfather at a specific address at a specific time, and gives us a beautiful portrait of Donna besides.

Sources

  1. “Actress, Detroit Girl, Here This Month.” The Detroit News (Detroit, Michigan), Sunday, February 8, 1920, p. 61.
  2. “United States Census, 1920,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZWK-739 : accessed 12 May 2019), Harvey Knight, Detroit Ward 20, Wayne, Michigan, United States; citing ED 613, sheet 19B, line 89, family 434, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1992), roll 812; FHL microfilm 1,820,812.
  3. Donna Montran, Vaudeville page, dontaylorgenealogy.com (Chin Chin 1919–20 tour route).
Posted in 1919-20 - Chin Chin, Donna Montran, In the news, Vaudeville | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Donna, Sammy & Hal — Worcester, Massachusetts (July 1927)

Posted on September 19, 2026 by Don Taylor

In the News
by Don Taylor

Palace Theatre, Worcester, Massachusetts

Evening Gazette, July 7, 1927, page 19.

During the second week of July 1927, Donna Darling brought her own touring company — the Donna Darling Revue, featuring Sammy Clark and Hal Dixon — to the Palace Theatre in Worcester, Massachusetts, for a three-day run on the second half of the week’s bill, sharing the program with C. B. Maddock’s headline act “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp” and the Buffalo Bill, Jr. comedy “The Galloping Gobs.” Coverage in the Worcester Evening Gazette ran on three consecutive days, July 7 through 9, 1927.

Thursday’s opening-day notice described Donna Darling as “a recent recruit from screen and beauty contests,” naming Sammy Clark and Hal Dixon as members of her company alongside fellow bill members Harry Adler and Rose Dunbar, William Peel and Paul Corvin, and Marshall and LaRue; a same-day display ad billed the act simply as the “Donna Darling Revue with Sammy Clark and Hal Dixon.”¹²

Friday’s more detailed feature — published on the house’s traditional “Amateurs Tonight” evening — reported that “two men and a girl offer the Donna Darling revue,” praising the “lively exchange of comedy” and noting it was “liberally applauded by the audience”; that evening’s ad carried the same billing as Thursday’s.³⁴

Saturday’s closing-day piece — built around a photograph of visiting Monday headliner Franklyn Farnum and previewing Sunday’s screening of “Faust” and Monday’s all-new vaudeville bill — confirmed that among the outgoing week’s acts, “the Donna Darling Revue scores easily.”⁵

This Worcester stop slots neatly into a documented one-week New England swing: Donna, Sammy, and Hal had played Poli’s Palace in Springfield earlier that same week, and would move on to the Olympia Theatre in New Bedford immediately after. For me, seeing all three engagements line up back-to-back across a single week is the real payoff — it turns three separate archival finds into one continuous, dated itinerary of exactly where my grandmother’s company was standing, night by night, in July 1927.

Endnotes

  1. “Palace,” Evening Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts), 7 July 1927, p. 11.
  2. Display advertisement, Evening Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts), 7 July 1927, p. 19.
  3. “Dance and Song Palace Features,” Evening Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts), 8 July 1927, p. 4.
  4. Display advertisement (“Amateurs Tonight”), Evening Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts), 8 July 1927, p. 23.
  5. “Franklyn Farnum on Palace Bill,” Evening Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts), 9 July 1927, p. 5.
Disclaimer: This article was researched and written by the author. Claude (Anthropic) was used as a research and drafting aid, and Grammarly was used for editorial review and copy editing.
Posted in In the news, Donna Darling Revue, Donna Montran, Vaudeville | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Donna & Sammy — Worcester, Massachusetts (Dec. 1928)

Posted on September 16, 2026 by Don Taylor

In the News
by Don Taylor

Plymouth Theatre, Worcester, Massachusetts

During the second week of December 1928, Donna Darling and her stage partner (and husband), Sammy Clark (Samson Amsterdam), appeared at the Plymouth Theatre in Worcester, Massachusetts, as featured players in Paul Specht’s stage revue “Syncopation,” backing the screen feature “Ramona” starring Dolores Del Rio. Coverage in the Worcester Evening Gazette ran across four separate issues that week, tracking the engagement from its Monday opening through its Saturday close — an unusually complete week-by-week record for a single house bill.¹

The paper’s Monday feature introduced Specht’s company — fresh off a world tour and soon to lead the orchestra for President-elect Herbert Hoover’s inaugural social functions — and singled out Sammy Clark as master of ceremonies, noting his “King for a Day” bit as the original version of the routine later popularized by “Butch” McDevitt as “Millionaire for a Day.” Donna Darling is named as appearing with Clark “in the fun-making,” alongside fellow specialty performers Billy Richmond, Al Ray, and Fred Morton.²

A review published the following day confirmed the opening had been a “banner show,” again naming Sammy Clark, now billed plainly as “comedian,” together with Donna Darling and Al Ray among the “talented artists introduced.”³ A mid-week notice on Thursday grouped Clark and Darling specifically as the production’s “specialty artists,” setting them apart from the show’s other named performers — a small but telling sign that the paper, and presumably the house, treated them as a paired act.⁴ By Friday, the Gazette confirmed the “Syncopation” company would continue “until Saturday,” with a new Sunday program — built around Buster Keaton’s “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” and the stage number “Christmas Tree Lane Rambles” — taking its place; Sammy and Donna are absent from that new bill, marking Saturday, December 15, as the likely close of their run.⁵

Taken together, these four notices document Donna Darling’s continued professional partnership with Sammy Clark two years after their previously documented pairing in Rockford, Illinois (December 1926), and place them squarely within the presentation-house circuit of the late 1920s — sharing a bill with a nationally touring recording orchestra and a major studio picture. For me, the real find here is the density of the coverage: four separate mentions of one week-long engagement gives an unusually granular look at exactly how my grandmother’s act moved through a single house, day by day.

Endnotes

  1. “Specht Orchestra Plymouth Feature,” Evening Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts), 10 December 1928, p. 22.
  2. “Plymouth,” Evening Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts), 11 December 1928, p. 23.
  3. “Plymouth,” Evening Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts), 13 December 1928, p. 25.
  4. “Plymouth,” Evening Gazette (Worcester, Massachusetts), 14 December 1928, p. 37.
Disclaimer: This article was researched and written by the author. Claude (Anthropic) was used as a research and drafting aid, and Grammarly was used for editorial review and copy editing.
Posted in Donna Darling and Sammy Clark Revue, In the news, Donna Montran, Vaudeville | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Faces from the Past – Eddy, Pélissier, WWI Memorial, & Oak Hill Students

Posted on September 5, 2026 by Don Taylor

SHS Photo Collection – Part 13
By Don Taylor

The Scarborough Historical Society holds many photographs of Scarborough families, students, and community events. To preserve these important images, many have been digitized and are shared here. But this digitization project isn’t just about preserving history — it’s about reconnecting families with the visual legacy of their ancestors, many for the first time. Join me as I share these remarkable images and the stories behind them, bridging more than a century of memory and heritage.

Josephine & Blanche Eddy, circa 1901

Description

Photo of Josephine and Blanch Eddy
Josephine & Blanche Eddy, circa 1901
  • Image Type: Formal studio portrait, 3½” x 5” oval.
  • Two young women photographed together, both dressed in turn-of-the-century blouses with high collars and full, gathered sleeves.

Identifying Information

  • The Scarborough Historical Society accessioned the photo as 95.27.526.
  • The back of the photo identifies the girls as “Josephine” and “Blanche.”

Research

  • The Butterfield Bible –Births included the sisters Josephine and Blanche Eddy:
    • Josephine Eddy (Wideman), born September 27, 1882.
    • Blanche Eddy (Britton), born August 29, 1884.
  • FamilySearch profile M1M2-KTD for Josephine Eddy indicates she was born September 27, 1882, in Marseilles, LaSalle, Illinois; married James Blackie Wideman on November 26, 1903, in Chicago, Cook, Illinois; and died August 11, 1977, in Bryson City, Swain, North Carolina.
  • FamilySearch profile 9D7T-J94 for Blanche Eddy indicates she was born August 29, 1884; married Hugh Herbert Britton on February 27, 1914; and died October 17, 1953, in Los Angeles, California.
  • I added this photo to Josephine’s and Blanche’s profiles on FamilySearch.

Gabrielle Pélissier (1898–1952), circa 1908

Photo of Gabrielle Pélissier.
Gabrielle Pélissier, circa 1908

Description

  • Image Type: Formal studio portrait, 5” x 7”.
  • A young girl, approximately 9 to 11 years old, wearing a large Edwardian hat and a dark coat with a high neckline. The soft lighting and dark, plain background are typical of early-twentieth-century studio portraiture.

Identifying Information

  • Handprinted on the back of the photo: “Gabrielle Pélissier Contesse de Gouzilion de Kerméno | 1898-1952 | Buried Black Point Cemetery | Lived on Pinewood Circle.”

Research

  • Find A Grave memorial 107504716 is for Gabrielle Rachel Cécile Pélissier de Kerméno, born February 19, 1898, in Montréal, died December 12, 1952.
  • Ancestry family trees suggest her parents were Louis Jean Baptiste Ernest Pélissier and M. Rose Alma Paquette.
  • The 1940 U.S. Census lists Gabrielle Kermeno De Gonzilliody living on Prouts Neck Road, Scarborough. She is recorded as a widow who had lived in New York City in 1935.
  • The 1943 Portland City Directory lists Gabrielle DeKermeno operating a gift shop at 690 Congress Street, Portland.
  • I added this photo of Gabrielle to my SHS Photos collection on Ancestry.

World War I Memorial Dedication, AmVets’ Hall (circa 1931)

Photo of the WWI Memorial installation at the AmVet's Post, West Scarborough
WWI Memorial installation at the AmVet’s Post, West Scarborough, c. 1931.

Description

  • Image Type: Snapshot print, 4½” x 3”.
  • The photo shows, from behind, Harry Welch in a Navy-style uniform and Ralph Sargent in an Army campaign hat, along with Rev. Colby — whose face is partially cut off — in civilian clothing, at the unveiling of a WWI memorial stone. The buildings visible in the background do not match the Scarborough Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument location in Dunstan, suggesting this photo was taken at the memorial’s earlier location at the AmVets’ Hall, also in Dunstan.

Identifying Information

  • On back: “Harry Welch back to, Ralph Sargent – facing, Rev. Rensel Colby, unveiling W.W. 1 Memorial at Dunstan.”

Research

  • Harry Welch is probably Harry E. Welch (1881–1959) of Pine Point Road, a veteran of both World War I and World War II.
  • Ralph D. Sargent’s obituary indicates he died on January 14, 1970. He was born in 1894 and served in World War I.
  • Scarborough Historical Society records identify Rev. Rensel Harold Colby (1882–1952), who was ordained in Scarborough in 1913 and served as minister of the First Congregational Church, Black Point. He served as a chaplain during World War II and died on September 26, 1952.
  • These three World War I veterans were involved in the memorial’s original dedication at the AmVets’ Hall (Sullivan Scamman Post) at Old Blue Point Road and Route 1. The memorial was installed at AmVets’ Hall in 1931 (although I haven’t found confirming sources).
  • A Portland Evening Express article dated October 16, 1963, page 20, reported that the stone honoring World War I veterans was moved from the AmVets’ Hall (Sullivan Scamman Post) to the Dunstan lot near the “Civil War Monument” (officially the “Scarborough Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument”). A separate stone was also purchased for World War II veterans at that time.
  • Today, the WWI monument is located at Monument Park, off Sawyer Road near U.S. Route 1.

Oak Hill Primary Class Photo, 89.9.2009 (circa 1941)

Photo of the Oak Hill Primary Class circa 1941.
Oak Hill Primary Class, circa 1941.

Description

  • Image Type: School class photograph, studio portrait, 8” x 6”.
  • The group is arranged in two rows: the front row, seated, includes the teacher at the far left and 12 girls; the back row includes 13 boys, all standing.
  • The clothing, hairstyles, and photographic style suggest the photo was taken around the 1930s or early 1940s.
  • Handwritten near the lower-left corner is “612,” likely the photographer’s reference number.

Identifying Information

  • Scarborough Historical Society accession number 89.9.2009 is written on the back, indicating it was donated by Dorothy Libby in 1989 and described as “School Picture.”
  • A separate sheet of paper attached to the photo carries the same accession number and three names: (2) Sarah Wyman?, (11) Nancy Libbey, (12) Margaret Wright.

Research

  • Based on my past research of school photos, this photo is similar in style and background to other photos taken of Oak Hill students during the 1930s and 40s.
  • Nancy Libbey: The 1954 Four Corners lists Nancy Libbey in the class of 1956; the 7th grade class of the 1947 Oak Hill Grammar School also included Nancy Libbey. The 1940 U.S. Census lists Nancy Libby, the 5-year-old daughter of Albert and Abbie Libby, with a sister, Evangeline, in the household.
  • Margaret Wright: The 1954 Four Corners indicates Margaret Wright graduated in 1954, and a photo of Margaret Wright appears with other Oak Hill students in 1946. The 1940 U.S. Census lists Margaret F. Wright, age 3, living on Libby Road with her parents, Percy and Elinor Wright, and sisters Anna and Mary.
  • Sarah Wyman?: The 1940 U.S. Census lists Sarah B. Wyman, age 4, living on Prouts Neck Road (now Black Point Road) with her parents, Clarence and Gladys Wyman, and siblings Elinor, Richard, and Warren.
  • If you recognize any of the other children, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Conclusion

I’d love to hear from you if you recognize any of these individuals as family members — especially if one of these photos is of a loved one.

Feel free to use these photos in your own genealogical research. The Scarborough Historical Society holds the originals in this collection; please credit “Photo Courtesy: Scarborough Historical Society” when you use them.

Disclaimer: The research presented in this post represents my current findings and conclusions based on the sources cited. This article was researched and written by the author. ChatGPT was used to create an archival photo restoration of the WWI Memorial photograph, Claude was used as a research and drafting aid, and Grammarly was used for editorial review and copyediting. Where evidence is incomplete, I have drawn careful inferences and have endeavored to distinguish clearly between documented fact and reasoned interpretation.
Posted in Photo Identification, Maine Genealogy, SHS Photo Collection | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment