Hotels and Motels

Luggage label.

"Hotel Moderne, Paris. Les Ateliers D'Art, Paris."

"Hotel Bristol, das klassische Haus im zentrum Salzburg, Austria." Google's translation: "Hotel Bristol, the classic house in the center of Salzburg, Austria."

"Hotel Adriatic. Nice."

"The Penn Harris, Harrisburg, Pa. Five distinctive restaurants."

"Social Party. Yourself and lady are respectfully invited to attend a social party at the Lansingville Hotel, Friday evening, February 22, 1884 . Music by Jacob's Full Band. Bill, $1.50. W. DeCamp, proprietor."

The men of the Marion Hose and Steam Fire Engine Company, No. 10, of Reading, Pennsylvania, sponsored a trip, probably as a fundraiser, to Springfield, Massachusetts, where they dined on beef and turkey at the Hotel Gilmore on October 7, 1909. This keepsake menu for the meal was printed in portrait orientation over a postcard of The Connecticut River at Springfield, Mass., Mt. Tom in the Distance, 1909 (see below for the original landscape version). Hotel Gilmore, A. E. Smith, mgr., Springfield, Mass. Marion Hose and Steam Fire Engine Co. No. 10 of Reading, Pennsylvania. Dinner. Consommé Printiniere. Baked bluefish, parsley sauce. Catsup, pickles, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish. Fillet of beef larded, mushroom sauce. Roast young turkey, giblet sauce. Lettuce-celery salad. Mashed potatoes. Mashed turnips. Green peas. Rice pudding. Pies: apple, mince, peach. Coffee, milk, tea. October 7, 1909. Allied Printing Trades Council, Union Label, Springfield.

"The Connecticut at Springfield, Mass., Mt. Tom in the Distance." For additional information about this postcard, which was overprinted with a menu, see Marion Hose and Steam Fire Engine Company No. 10, Menu, Reading, Pa., 1909 (below).

Menu from page 3 of the program for the "Fourteenth Annual Watch and Wait of the Slumbering Ground Hog Lodge of Quarryville, in Pennsylvania," February 2, 1921 (see below for a transcription of the text). For additional information about the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge, see an enlargement of the groundhog illustration on the front cover of the program for the lodge's 1963 celebration, the full front cover of the program , and the back cover of the program . Ground Hog Day, Nineteen Twenty-One Ground Hog Feast Hotel Weber, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in the Garden Spot of America. To sleep or not to sleep? That is the question. Whether 'tis weather-wise thus to suffer The stings and arrows of a Borean Winter, Or, by retreating to a cozy corner, burrow, and end them, To sleep, to hibernate and by a six-week nap To say we end the backache and the rheumatism And the hundred ills woodchucks are heir to, To hibernate! To sleep! Perchance to dream-- Aye, there's the rub! For in that death-like sleep What dreams may come, eke make me suck my paws, For who would prophesy and shake and shiver In an advancing cold wave and storm When he at once might rest and comfort take By getting in out of the wet. Menu Celery, Olives, Oysters on the Half Shelf, Vegetable Soup Stuffed Turkey, grown in Colerain Township Turkey Giblet Sauce Mashed Potatoes, raised in East Drumore Candied Sweet Potatoes, product of Beggar Row Cranberry Sauce, as sassy as can be made Quarryville Peas Salads, a la Eden Township Ice Cream, frozen in Lancaster Cakes Coffee, direct from Brazil, grown especially for ground hogs

A nineteenth-century sale bill announcing an auction of livestock, vehicles, and agricultural equipment. A Positive Sale! Third monthly sale at the Bazaar! Cross Keys Hotel, Marietta, Pa., on Thursday, December 29, 1887. The following will be sold, to wit: One horse, a fine Jersey bull calf that drew first premium at the Lancaster County Fair. Also a full Alderney cow and calf, two fat hogs, weighing about 200 pounds each. One new shifting top buggy, one new Cortland road cart, one market wagon (second-hand), a few sleighs (Albany cutters). One Root corn planter with fertilizer attachment, good as new. One Perry spring tooth harrow (new), two Princess plows, two double harpoon hay forks, sleigh bells, and other valuable articles. Sale to commence at 2 o'clock p.m. Terms 60 days. Simon L. Brandt, secretary. N.B. No articles will be withdrawn. Marietta Times Print.

Notice! On account of bad weather and roads the New Year's Party at Hotel Curtis, Barnes Corners, N.Y., was postponed until Friday evening, Jan. 10th, 1896. All are cordially invited to attend. G. S. Curtis, prop'r.

A ticket for the Pennsilfaanisch Deitsch Fersommling (Pennsylvania Dutch gathering) held at Haag's Hotel in Shartlesville, Berks County, Pa., on May 4, 1990, by the Grundsow Lodsch Nummer 12 on da Dulpehocka Pawd (Groundhog Lodge No. 12 on the Tulpehocken Path). As Wikipedia indicates, "A Fersommling (plural, Fersommlinge) (also spelled Versammling or Fersammling) is a Pennsylvania Dutch social event in which food is served, speeches are made, and one or more g'spiel (plays or skits) are performed for entertainment." Check out the wonderfully amusing photo of King Groundhog arriving at the Fersommling held on February 2, 1968, by Grundsow Lodge Nummer Ains on da Lechaw (Groundhog Lodge Number One on the Lehigh). Folklorist Don Yoder points out in his book Groundhog Day (Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Stackpole Books, 2003), p. xii, that the groundhog is "a vital if tongue-in-cheek symbol of the Pennsylvania Dutch. This identity is celebrated in the all-dialect Grundsow Lodges (Groundhog Lodges) of Southeastern Pennsylvania, where every February hundreds of Dutchmen meet to spend the evening feasting and frolicking, with pledges of allegiance, the sacred Groundhog Oath, and lots of harmless revelry--all in Pennsylvania Dutch." Although some Groundhog Lodges do hold Fersommlinge on Groundhog Day or later in February, other gatherings--like this one on May 4, 1990--are scheduled at different times. -------- (Not yet translated from the Pennsylvania Dutch.) Grundsow Lodge No. 12 on da Dulpehocka Pawd Des baweiss'd das da ________ fon ________ 'n fol shtandich lead iss fon da Grundsow Lodsch No. 12 on da Dulpehockae Pawd, und fershprocha hut die yarlich 1990 Fersommling ei tzunemma om 7:13 ovets, da 4't Moi onn, Haaga Watshaus, Shartlesville, Pa. Harvey A. Hill, Jr., Hauptmann William H. Keener, Shreiver Sei so gute und halt ken sitzplatz zurick. Please do not reserve any seats. Seating is available as members arrive. No. 0255 -------- Dierra Tzettle Des beweiss'd das da ________ fon ________. Mir Zwelf Daller Batzawled hut fer ein Glead tzu, werra bleiva fon da Grundsow Lodsch No. 12 on da Dulpehocka Pawd. Fohr g'shloga fom Glead Tox $12.00 RAWD No. 0255

"Oh! You Lobster. / It's all very fine to wine and dine / A pretty dear sweet little miss / It looks very swell, but will you tell / How it's done on a salary llike this ($10 per)." This vinegar valentine has been personalized with the initials "F.F." for the man, "J.V." for the woman, and "The Biltmore" hotel as the setting for the wining and dining. The early twentieth-century meaning of "lobster" was similar to today's "sugar daddy." For a similar valentine, see Ye Gilded Boob .

"Silver Belle, Ephrata, Penna. Nationally renowned. 1932-1976. Ephrata Mountain Springs, Lancaster Co., Pa. Historically famous, 1753-1976. Silver Belle Association presents an outstanding array of internationally known lecturers, teachers, world famous psychics." For information about Camp Silver Belle, a Spiritualist group, see Spirit Photo, Camp Silver Belle, Mountain Springs Hotel, Ephrata, Pa.

Something "mysterious" for the the Vintage Photos Theme Park . This photo was identified as a " spirit photograph " when I bought it at an antique co-op in 1994. Handwritten on the back of the photo is the following: "Camp Silver Bell, Mountain Springs Hotel, Ephrata, Pa." Camp Silver Belle was a Spiritualist group founded by Ethel Post-Parrish , a medium whose Indian spirit guide was named Silver Belle. The group held lectures and meetings at the Mountain Springs Hotel in Ephrata, Pa., and published a schedule of programs as late as 1976 (see Silver Belle Presents Lecturers, Teachers, World-Famous Psychics, 1976 ). Eventually, however, the group became inactive, and the hotel fell into disrepair. Today, the facade of the old hotel remains , but the rest of the hotel site was demolished in 2004 to make way for a Hampton Inn hotel and an Applebee's restaurant. So what is that strange haziness hovering above the audience? An ectoplasmic manifestation from another spiritual realm? Hokum conjured up by sleight of hand and camera? Or just an odd yet coincidental defect in the film or developing?

A hold it photo (people holding something) for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . Caption: "By durn, Samenthy, this beats the old pump all holler. Push jest a leetle harder and she'll be here." Sign on wall: "Hotel Astorf-Waldoria. Ring once for bell boy, twice [for] ice water, three [times for] hot water." Name on trunk: "Silas Green, Wayback, O." Printed along the sides: "The 'Perfec' Stereograph. (Trade mark.) Patented April 14, 1903. Other patents pending. H. C. White Co., Publishers. General offices and works, North Bennington, Vt., U.S.A. Copyright 1903 by H. C. White Co. 5587 (2)." This comic stereoscopic card (see the full card below) shows two country bumpkins who are visting the city and staying at the highfalutin Hotel Astorf-Waldoria (a thinly veiled reference, of course, to the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City). Unfamiliar with big-city ways and new-fangled technology, Samantha (or "Samenthy," as her husband Silas pronounces it) is pushing the call button (normally used to summon hotel staff) while Silas holds a water pitcher below the mouthpiece of the wall-mounted telephone. In their naivety, Samantha and Silas have misunderstood the sign ("Ring twice for ice water") and have mistaken the phone for a pump that will provide water once the button is pushed. In 1903, at a time when indoor plumbing and telephones were less common in rural areas, viewers of this stereographic photo could laugh at the silly antics of this foolish backwoods couple from Wayback, Ohio. Looking at the image a hundred years later, we can catch a glimpse of the different styles of clothing, wallpaper, carpet, and furniture that were popular back then, and we can also consider how the modern technology that we take for granted today--faucets with running water and mobile phones--has made the humor here obsolete.

A comic stereoscopic card. For additional information, see Silas and Samantha at the Astorf-Waldoria, 1903 .

Text of the sign that the two men at the front are holding: "Suvretta House Été 1919! [Suvretta House summer of 1919!]" (mouse over the image to see an enlargement of the sign ). A real photo postcard showing the chef staff of a luxury hotel, the Suvretta House, in St. Moritz, Switzerland, in 1919. The hotel celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012.