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Hobbies and
Pastimes Hobby:"Curios from the Orient" This pastime by James Cooper of the Research Division was begun on June 8, 1946 when he went to Shanghai, China to work for a subsidiary of the International General Electric Company as head of sales and engineering of their textile machinery division. He and Mrs. Cooper traveled on weekends and holidays, while sightseeing and looking especially for Chinese curio cabinets. Indeed, they had found many valuable pieces in remote areas of China, accessible only by river rafts and sedan chairs. But in addition to collecting curios, the Coopers also collected a jade laughing Buddha, ancient white jade dress ornaments, including belt buckles and pendants, snuff bottles, and cloisonné opium tins. The tins were inlaid with ground up precious and semi-precious stones of various colors. Quite old, then, the tins were considered extremely valuable. During their very lengthy stay in China, including Peiping to the North, the Coopers knew that opium smoking was banned except in some of the western province. But Jim reported and emphasized that this was one of a few Chinese customs that he refused to try. The Coopers began to collect many Chinese figures. They owned 8 laughing Buddhas and a Chinese lady figurine made of ivory. Other items included Chinese scrolls dating back over 500 years, opium smoking kits with ivory pipes, small cloisonné cooking lamps, and cloisonné tin in which ashes were emptied! Jim also mentioned that he had a fossilized reptile he found near Hankow, that was thought to be thousands of years old. When the Coopers were advised to leave China due to the proximity of threats by Communist Red Chinese, they had crated and had shipped back to the States, 10 cases of curio cabinets which they had accrued and collected during their stay of three years in China. It had cost them around $1,000 to have their items shipped then, but it had proved to be well worth the expense. Hobby:"Photographing Old New England Churches" Herman Brewster of Border Street in Whitinsville used to hang around churches, but only with a 4X5 corona-view camera, and his ideal subject was an old majestic New England church in order for him to photograph the type of quality picture he wanted. He became interested in admiring churches because of their unlike spires. The First Unitarian Church in Lancaster was one of his favorites. It had been designed in 1816 by Charles Bullfinch, who was a great American architect. It is considered to be a prized landmark even today. Herman had over 30 photos of churches from Central Massachusetts. He worked from his own darkroom in his home’s cellar. He developed his own negatives and prints, and had his own large and mixed supply of developing and painting solutions. Herman’s film developers were self-mixed and his paper developers were also already prepared. Herman had one other camera that
he used for general work. It was an Ihagee hand-held camera with a
special Zeis F 3-5 lens. One of Herman Brewster’s most famous
photographs was done for the Whitin Hobby Show in 1951---it was the
image of the Whitin Social Library and it was on public display for
many months. Hobby: "Making Friends with Dolls" Louise Bedford started her hobby when she bought a Dutch-made doll in Baker’s Department Store on a wintry Saturday afternoon. But the most interesting and amazing thing about it was that she never had to purchase any of her dolls again. All of her collection consisted of dolls that her friends got for her over the years, or little girls left for her when they visited. Louise’s favorite doll was a little flower-seller from France. She had one also from Guadalajara, N. Mexico, an unusually red-fezzed boy doll from Turkey, and a tiny Japanese girl doll. But perhaps her most fascinating doll was one of the smallest dolls ever in the world: mounted on a pin, it measure 3/8 of an inch and was very detailed. Louise also had 6 little dolls that stayed in a straw box. Measuring only an inch long and 1½ inches high. Each of the 6 dolls represented a different leading industry in Guatemala. And Louise was not the only one to have a collection in her family. Her husband collected bells which he kept from all of his trips made around the world. Louise reflected about her hobby and said it certainly added happiness to her life! She wished it would do the same for others. |