Junior Birdmen, UNITE!
We are still messing with the walls of the bedrooms on the second floor.
Stuff falls out of them. Generally, this is stuff you don't want to keep. Like...um...the petrified raccoon party favors which made it from the attic into the walls (courtesy of balloon framing!) And lots of sawdust from the Balsa Wood insulation. And broken plaster keys.
And then we find things like this...(Click to enlarge)
In the wall between the built-in and the plaster, we found:
-A cast metal sword, about 7 inches long
-A small leather change purse (empty)
-A Membership Card to the Junior Birdmen of America!!!
This membership card is the most exciting part. It reads:
Junior Birdmen of America
Membership Card
Eugene Palm
is a member of the Chicago Herald Examiner Wing
and is entitled to all privileges
No. 15504
Signed: George Hearst
National Committee
What was a Junior Birdman? I have no idea. But they had a SONG! And a special identification SIGN (scroll down after you click...!
WOW! A Junior Birdman lived in THIS VERY HOUSE! That is absolutely historic!
Especially since we know that the Palm's rented from the previous owners twice, during the 1930's and left in 1941. The membership card would have had to have been left here between 1931 and 1939. (When the Chicago Herald Examiner coincided with the existance of the Jr. Birdmen)
After much oo'ing and ah'ing is was back to work.
Look Ma! No walls!
p.s. I know. I am already crying about losing our plaster. It has been the saddest, saddest thing ever. We went back and forth on this...so please don't send us notes that say, "but what you could have done was..." We consulted so many old house lovers on this one. It came down to moldy wooden lathe due to years of uncorrected water damage and other issues that would have created an enormous expense. We aren't using drywall though! So don't hate us. We are going with blueboard and a plaster skim coat. More about that in an upcoming issue. And we are going to try to save the plaster on the first floor.
p.s.s. I think this would be SO especially cool if we could find Eugene Palm, son of Ehrenfrid and Anna Palm. Gotta keep at it.
(5)
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Comments
neat link on the blue board, I'll be looking into that...
Posted by: john m | June 21, 2004 12:42 AM
I learned that song at Girl Scout Camp! But nobody ever explained what a Junior Birdman was... we just liked making the silly mask with our hands.
Posted by: Lisa | June 21, 2004 10:55 AM
My friends did the blueboard-and-skim-coat thing in their house, which had to be completely gutted, and it looks fantastic. I'm amazed at how smoothly the paint just glides over it (as opposed to my walls, which I call my English muffins because of all the nooks and crannies). Sad to lose the plaster, but moldy lathe can't be healthy and now you can insulate the heck out of the walls, too.
Posted by: Kristen | June 21, 2004 4:59 PM
:( Sad to see the plaster go, but I'm glad you've found a viable alternative. Actually, I'm jealous that you'll have insulation. Our plaster and block outside walls have absolutely no insulation, and offer no hope for adding any.
Posted by: Kitschywoman | June 22, 2004 6:39 AM
You might try a genealogy site such as genealogy.com to find your missing man.
Posted by: Jenna | June 28, 2004 10:23 AM