Today is the 96th Anniversary of the Great Salem Fire!

Today is 96th anniversary of the Great Salem Fire.

You can see post cards of the damage here: click here or see the collections copies of the definitive book on the fire The Salem Fire by Arthur B Jones: here

Memorial Day Parade in Salem

If you couldn't be in Salem for the holiday or just missed the parade then your in luck. We have pictures up on the web. The photos are of almost every group in the parade. Also there is another set from the Catholic Mass the day before at St. John the Baptist church. Here is a link to Flickr for the photos. Either click the link below or cut and paste the link.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13213131@N06/sets/72157624058025721/

Naumkeag Trust Company Money Box Bank

After a few emails a generous person from Pennsylvania sent me this Bank. It was manufactured by Banthrico of Chicago, Illinois. It was a promotional piece from the Naumkeag Trust Co. in the 1960's or 1970's.

Thanks donor!

USS Salem Pennant Brought Back to Salem!

I recently got this from eBay! It's obviously a pennant of the USS Salem. I'm not sure just which USS Salem it's from. There were three different USS Salem ships. The first is from early 1900's and was hull no. CL-3, second was from WWII number CM-11 and last was the CA-139 from the 1950's which is a ship museum in Quincy, Mass. If you can help date this pennant, post something in the comments section of this post.

New Commemorative Button

This is a button from the 50th anniversary of Ste. Anne Catholic Church. It's interesting because it features a photograph of what the church used to look like. As some might not know the structure depicted on the button burned down in 1982. This button mas made in 1951 by a novelty company from Boston.

Second Corps of Cadets Cap Badge

The latest addition to the collection is a 19th century cap badge from the Second Corps of Cadets of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. They served in the city of Salem from 1785 until 1892 after the armory fire. Upon quick look it is believed that the badge dates to the Spanish American War period. Any more information will be posted in a further post.

Lates addition to the collection

The latest addition to the collection came on Christmas day, I got a collection of VFW Witch City Post 1524 items. The collection includes the four caps shown which are a regular Life member style, Post commander 1976-77, National Aide-de-camp, and all state team Post Commanders 1977. As you can see the caps are chocked full of pins. Also but not shown are two VFW medals one for past post commander and one for state color guard. As well as a window decal and two clip on ties with medals on them.

I've had some research done by checking at the VFW post and The cap for post commander belonged to Lou LeBlanc, If anyone know's any more information about these items drop me a line here.