HIS MASTER’S VOICE AND ALICE:
Eldridge Johnson’s Adventure with Lewis Carroll’s Alice Manuscript

A talk by August A. Imholtz, Jr. to mark the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Tuesday, December 1, 2015 4:30 p.m. Class of 1941 Lecture Room Morris Library, University of Delaware 181 South College Avenue, Newark, Delaware Light refreshments
RSVP via email at libraryrsvp@winsor.lib.udel.edu or call 302-831-2231

Born in Delaware in 1867 and a long-time resident of the First State, Eldridge Johnson rose from humble origin as a machine shop apprentice to perfect and patent, with Emile Berliner, the early gramophone, the Victor Talking Machine. Selling 1,696,000 phonograph records in 1902, Johnson became one of the wealthiest Americans in the first decades of the twentieth century. This talk is about not only Eldridge Johnson himself, but also about his love of Lewis Carroll’s Alice books leading to his purchase in 1928 of the manuscript of Carroll’s first draft of his famous Wonderland book, originally called Alice’s Adventures Under Ground. The talk will also address his meeting with the real Alice, not the 10-year-old girl of the book, but the 8o-year-old Alice Hargreaves (nee Liddell), when she visited the U.S. in 1932 and the interesting fate of the Under Ground manuscript while in Johnson’s possession and what happened to it after his death in 1945.

August A. Imholtz, Jr. was the Government Documents Vice President of Readex, a digital publishing company. A former president of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, he is also a past president of the Baltimore Bibliophiles, a member of the American Library Association’s Rare and Endangered Government Publications Committee, and a member of the Lewis Carroll Societies of Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. He has written or edited several books and published more than 100 articles on Greek and Latin philology, Lewis Carroll, and other subjects. He has lectured at Cambridge University, the Smithsonian Institution, Princeton University, the Foreign Language Library in Moscow, and other institutions.

This talk is associated with ‘“We are all Mad’: The 150th Anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” an exhibition (November 20-December 18) in the Guenschel Case, located in the University of Delaware Morris Library’s Information Room. The display includes a copy of the facsimile of the Alice manuscript Eldridge Johnson had printed in Vienna in 1936.


illustration: Lewis Carroll, 1832-1898, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. New York: D. Appleton, 1866.
(Special Collections, University of Delaware Library)

University of Delaware Library 

Special Offer!

VALUE PACK – Books For Genealogists

Skeletons in Your Closet – what to do with family secrets, 40 pages, $12
Proof Before You Publish – checklists for proofreading genealogy publications, 40 pages, $12
Kids and Kin – packed full of family history activities for children, 88 pages, $12
What Shall I Write Handbook – article ideas for editors of genealogy newsletters, 80 pages, $12
Indexing Genealogy Publications – making editorial decisions for creating indexes, 48 pages, $12

PLUS, as a bonus, one copy of Our Family Diary – a great Christmas gift for families wanting to document their thoughts and yearly activities. 128 pages. (Retails for $10/ea.)

A $70 value for only $49.95 We pay shipping. No tax necessary.

To order, simply send your name and mailing address with a check in the amount of $49.95 made payable to:
Russell D. Earnest Associates.
Send to:
Russell D. Earnest Associates, Publishers,
P. O. Box 1132,
Clayton DE 19938.

or click here

 
The sheet of mugshots from which this picture of George Sonnenleiter was taken, clearly demonstrates the importance of primary sources. Yet, as a primary source its future was once tenuous. Its owner relayed a story about his purchase of the page. As he was buying the sheet of mugshots (the book from which it came is probably long gone), another fellow approached with the intent to acquire it, but realized he was too late. The buyer noticed the disappointment evident in the other person's demeanor and asked about his interest, thinking the latecomer had a family connection to the sheet. As they talked, it was revealed the prospective buyer wanted to use some of the photographs in a collage. The only reason he had not bought it immediately was because his girlfriend had the money and was elsewhere in the building. Yikes! Just think about information that might have disappeared had that particular art project taken off. 

    For instance, the location of the arrests, and those who were arrested, might have been forever lost. Although every mugshot on the page is labeled with some biographical information, no city or state is included. The arresting police knew their location and they probably never imagined mugshots would have genealogical relevance. However, the imprint (a printer's name and location printed on a document) reveals the sheet was patented by "Jones Eureka Leaf" on Feb. 7, 1905 and produced by Lucas Bros. in Balto. Maryland. This information provides a hint as to where to look for the men in the mugshots. In this particular case, the city of Baltimore, Maryland proved out.

   A couple of entries for persons named George Sonnenleiter (Sounenleiter) are found online. Dismissing the possiblity that online sources are talking about different men, confusion exists over Sonnenleiter's birth date.* Each of these online sources claims a different date of birth.  As a primary source, Sonnenleiter's mugshot lends creedance to one of the claims. 

Click on the board to play Jeopardy Game

    Long ago when Passed Time first began on 4 June 2015, we identified one of Passed Time's founders as a military veteran.

    This veteran belongs to an under-appreciated and often completely ignored group known as "maintainers." These personnel keep the military up and running. Maintainers are the reason planes fly, hummers and tanks run, and helicopters hover. Yet, they are not wrong in thinking few notice their efforts. Those in vaunted occupations, such as pilots, are often credited with repairing, maintaining and flying aircraft (often all at the same time).

   In all seriousness, letters recently surfaced that were written by Dover, Delaware schoolchildren to a maintainer in 2004 (click the "read more" button to see all of the letters). These letters will disabuse everyone of the notion that no one cares about maintainers (whether you are a pointy head, a knuckle-dragger, a booger hooker, a bubble chaser, a jet, or a spark chaser)  and their contributions.

    In the letters, the school students thank "Mr." for his service. Mr. was stationed in Italy at the time, and one of the students hoped Mr. was "not actualy [sic] hurting any Italians." Many commented on the sacrifices made by Mr.'s family during Mr.'s separation.

     One child called Mr. "dad." Instead of wishing for school to be over, he simply hoped his father would come home on that last day of school.    Please do not forget America's Veterans.   Contributing Author for Passed Time, 7 October 2015. Delaware                       

In homage to those who chronicle and share history, Passed Timed will have a yearly In Memoriam dedicated to those who preserved or taught their love of history. Often, behind-the-scenes people are given little recognition for their efforts--Passed Time aims to remedy that oversight. Should you have knowledge of a "History Keeper" who passed in 2015, please let us know a little about them and their endeavors to keep memories alive--pictures please, our audience loves pictures! I've already received the question, can it be a grandparent or mentor who was not recognized scholastically? You bet, just let us know how they contributed. Email questions or contributions to: pcsuter@hotmail.com or pcsuter@passedtime.com Best, Pat Earnest for Passed Time in Dover, Delaware 7 October 2015 

Here is the link to the "Sensational Find"  It is an AFP article. Author Unknown. 

Haunting Chalkboard Drawings Frozen in Time  

We hope to have other websites insert the "Passed Time" link on their own social media dashboards, until then some articles are just too good to not share. This was one of them. Click the link above to be taken to the Washington Post Article about Haunting Chalkboard Photos, but don't forget to come back to Passed Time. New developments are happening quickly.