Listphilia

A few months ago, we noticed an interesting resource being created with Listphile that details the local history of St. Charles, Illinois. Marlize Schiltz, creator of the list and Information Services Librarian at the St. Charles Public Library, was kind enough to answer a few of our questions with the help of Julie Bunke (Museum Director) and Natalie Gacek (Educator) at the St. Charles Heritage Center.

Please give our readers some background and context on St. Charles, Illinois., from earliest Native American inhabitants, to settlers, to the present.

Prior to the first permanent settlers in 1834, the Potawatomi lived in the area now known as St. Charles. The Potawatomi were members of the Algonquin Nation and had villages spanning parts of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. The Potawatomi were removed west of the Mississippi River after the Treaty of Chicago was signed handing over the land previously held by the Fox, Sauk, and Potawatomie tribes to the US government. While waiting for their settlement from the government some of the Potawatomi remained in the area and had interactions with the new settlers, which were friendly according to accounts by the settlers. St. Charles, originally known as Charleston, was mainly an agrarian community when it was first settled. Farms thrived due to the rich topsoil and availability of water from the river and many streams and creeks in the area. Mills also sprang up along the river in the town. St. Charles’ location between Chicago and points west made it a logical location to stop and so multiple hotels and rooming houses were built. Around the turn of the century several manufacturing businesses opened operations in St. Charles and there was a slight shift from the agrarian focus to a manufacturing focus. Between the 1920’s and 1930’s due in part to the inheritance of the Texaco fortune by two St. Charles residents, and coupled with the location of St. Charles along the river and the proximity to Chicago, St. Charles became a resort destination and was known as a cultural and recreational spot. Today, thanks in large part to venues like the Hotel Baker, Arcada Theatre, the Norris Cultural Arts Center and Pheasant Run Resort, St. Charles still maintains it reputation as a cultural and recreational destination in the Chicago-land area.

St. Charles was a stop on the Underground Railroad (Klink’s Wagon House). Can you elaborate on this a bit?

In the time leading up to and during the Civil War there were many residents in St. Charles and Kane County that held strong abolitionist feelings. As a result of this sentiment several local residents and businessmen helped in the hiding of run-away slaves from the south. While there is no absolute documentation as to the specific homes and buildings that were used there are several lists of members of the Kane County Anti-Slavery Society many of whom were from St. Charles so it can be assumed that these men would have done what they could to help.

What is the range of architectural styles represented by St. Charles’ historic buildings?

Greek Revival, Queen Anne (Victorian), Colonial Revival, and Bungalows

You mention that Abraham Lincoln may have slept in Barry House before he was President. Have any other politicians or famous people passed through St. Charles?

During his 1960’s presidential campaign John Kennedy stopped in St. Charles. A group of Nixon volunteers used the marquee at the Arcada Theatre to send him a message reading “We like you better as a Senator Mr. Kennedy”. In addition, the Rainbow Room of the Baker Hotel has drawn many famous entertainers such as Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, and Lawrence Welk, while audiences packed the Arcada Theatre for performers including Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Will Rogers, and John Philip Sousa. George Burns and Gracie Allen also performed, and actually ended their vaudeville careers at the Arcada.

What role do you think a librarian plays as we enter an age of universal access to information and increasing digitization of our history?

Librarians love new technology and discovering new methods for sharing our great resources! Many libraries have wonderful collections of local historical information and digitization gives us a new way to convert those materials into formats that can be viewed by a much wider audience.

Of course, there are many issues that have to be considered - ranging from copyright to how to protect fragile items during scanning to figuring out the best way to organize and present the data - and this is where Librarians are playing a key role. I (Marlise) was so excited when I found Listphile because it allows us to visually present a portion of our local history in a way that is so helpful! Now, even if you don’t know the official name of a building, you can locate on a map. I also love the fact that people can tag the collection and/or leave comments - facilitating this type of collaboration is another role I think Librarians are increasingly taking on. I hope that we’ll learn all sorts of new information from all those history buffs out there who visit the St. Charles Local History page on Listphile.

Listphile member traeregan recently posted a complete set of images of the fabled T206 White Border Tobacco Card Set. We couldn’t resist satisfying our curiosity for more information about this gorgeous gallery of 523 images. What follows is a brief interview with Trae.

Can you give some background about the T206 White Border Tobacco Card Set?

Please let me begin by saying I am no expert on this subject by any stretch. I am simply a T206 enthusiast who enjoys learning about all that the set has to offer. I will share what I know below, but this will only be a brief introduction. New information and discoveries are still popping up all the time!

T206 White Border Baseball Cards were produced by the American Tobacco Company over a three year period from 1909 to 1911. The T206 set is nicknamed “The Monster”, and it definitely lives up to it! Most hobbyists assume a T206 set to be “complete” at just over 520 cards. This excludes the “Big Four”, those being Wagner, Magie (Magee spelling error), Plank, and Doyle ( N.Y. Nat’l). Among these cards are 389 Major Leaguers and 134 Minor Leaguers. Taking into account the possibilities of over 520 different player poses on the fronts, and 16 different advertisement backs, there are thousands of permutations of cards to complete a “set”.

The 16 different tobacco manufacturers that advertised on the back of the cards, in alphabetical order, are: American Beauty, Broad Leaf, Carolina Brights, Cycle, Drum, El Principe De Gales, Hindu, Lenox, Old Mill, Piedmont, Polar Bear, Sovereign, Sweet Caporal, Tolstoi, Ty Cobb, and Uzit. Piedmont and Sweet Caporal are by far the most common back advertisers, with the remaining backs ranging from semi-scarce to extremely scarce.

For many collectors, vintage and otherwise, there is 1909-11 T206 White Border set, and there are all other sets. The set is one of only a handful that is recognizable to those outside the “hobby”, as it contains the most valuable of all cards: the legendary Honus Wagner, of which the finest example known last traded hands at $2.8 million. Several things draw collectors to T206. First and foremost, it can be a challenge to both the novice and the experienced collector alike. Whether collecting “fronts”, “backs”, Hall-of-Famers, team sets or otherwise, the possibilities are endless.

How did you come to be interested in the T206 set to the degree that you set up a website devoted to it, as well as this large gallery on Listphile? Do you personally own any T206 cards, or know anyone who does?

I had an interest in baseball as a kid. I played as a pitcher until I was 13. I also collected 70’s, 80’s and 90’s cards during that time. I am not really into any mainstream sports anymore. I was aware of T206 as a kid (only because of the Honus Wagner card), but couldn’t afford them. I was through my first year of college in 2001 when I decided to start collecting again. I was just looking for a hobby to keep me busy outside of school and work. I started out on eBay buying a few 50’s and 60’s cards. To broaden my knowledge I began searching for websites on the subject of vintage baseball cards. I came across a site fittingly titled “Net 54 Vintage Baseball Card Forum” where I posted a few questions about some cards I had picked up. What I didn’t know is that the cards these collectors considered vintage were much older than the ones I had. They were into what are referred to as “pre-war”, or cards issued primarily Pre-WWII. One fella sent me a scan of a T206 card he had for sale (image at bottom) and it was the first time I had ever really payed attention to them, the artwork on the T206 cards just captivated me. I bought the card from him, soon after sold all of the post-war cards I had and dove head first into the T206 set.

I have been collecting them for around 6 years at the time of this writing. I have bought and sold or traded approximately 600 cards since 2001. I currently own a few, including the first one I ever purchased, but seem to always shift my collecting focus to the point where the cards come and go quite often. It’s very easy to lose sight of your goals with the set because of it’s huge scope outlined above.

Through my ongoing efforts to organize the set online, I have met and know many T206 collectors. Although one man, Mr. Ted Zanidakis, really sticks out in my mind. He has the largest T206 collection I know of. In recent years he has been tackling a “master set” one tobacco advertiser at a time. He has already completed a couple of them, but there’s no telling how many cards he has overall. I believe he’s been collecting T206 for more than 30 years now, with some amazing hobby achievements along the way.

Can you shed some light on the printing and coloring process that makes these early baseball cards so vibrant and unique-looking?

This is one of the more mysterious topics about the set. Unfortunately, I have not formed my own theory, nor do I know enough to speak intelligently about it.

Please point us to a few of your personal favorites.

Ty Cobb (red portrait)
Wildfire Schulte (front view)
John Titus (The only guy with facial hair in the entire set!)

If you would like to learn more about the T206 set please visit Trae’s website at http://www.t206.org Trae also has a Flickr set that shows his T206 displays. This includes a 24″x36″ framed litho of Honus Wagner, and number framed and matted fronts and backs that look great when they are displayed in a matrix.

I can’t say one way or another if oysters experience terror. Though perhaps at the hand of a rabid oyster lover, an individual oyster might experience a form of oyster-terror. I can say, however, that oysters have terroir. Wikipedia tells us, in its quiet Wikipedia-esque-authority-esque way that terroir

“…was originally a French term in wine and coffee used to denote the special characteristics that geography bestowed upon them. It can be very loosely translated as “a sense of place” which is embodied in certain qualities, and the sum of the effects that the local environment has had on the manufacture of the product.”

The concept of terroir is used more often to discuss wines and coffee, but oysters have terroir, too. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of oysters eaten worldwide are one of three species. Their uniqueness comes from their terroir. Local salinity, nutrients, temperature and trace minerals all contribute to an oyster’s flavor, firmness, size and shape. Some terms that are employed to describe an individual oysters taste and texture include “tannic”, “buttery”, “sweet”, “salty”, “firm”, and “briny.” And all of these stem from terroir. And there you have it.

Oh, and if you’re interested in oysters, check out this list-in-progress: Oyster Varieties on Listphile. Time to finish blogging and - yes - track down a fresh oyster or twelve.