Two Calves for Father – Corinth, NY (1911)

In August of 1911, Allie wrote to her father from Gloversville, NY., a small city in the Mohawk Valley of central NY.

Gliversville was the center of glove-making in the United States; at the time this postcard was mailed, 90% of gloves sold in the US came from Gloversville. (Nearby hemlock forests provided an abundant source of tannin for curing leather.)

Father, Mr. William Gray, lived in Corinth NY, a town in Saratoga County, north of Saratoga Springs.

Corinth is about 36 miles northeast of Gloversville.

Allie reports that Eugene (whom I assume is her husband) is not “threw haying” and asks her father to come and help complete the work.

Eugene also has two calves for William, and Allie encourages him to come and get them soon.

(I am not sure that this is a sign of impatience; it may be that the calves were growing rapidly and would be harder to transport as they became larger.)

I picked up this postcard from a bin of old paper because the quality of the printing is exceptional.

The unusual artistry is demonstrated in reproducing the metallic sheen of copper, which I have seldom seen before. Alas, the rich coppery hue is not captured well by the scanned image.

One hopes that father was able to pick up the calves and help complete the haying, and that Eugene and Allie enjoyed the fruit of their labor on the farm.

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