They kept everything.

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My Grandparents kept everything, and it all ended up in my lap. This collection of stuff ranged from the cool (WWII V-Mail from my Uncle Frank) to the "you've got to be kidding me" (receipts from a trip taken in the 50s). I've weeded out a lot of the nonsense and kept the more interesting (at least what was interesting to me). In turn I decided to create this site to not only post some items, but also as a research exercise. Most items are from Chicago and Detroit, but of course family trips expanded their reach of hoarding. I hope you enjoy this very random collection. Frank Kownacki

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This was my Grandma Gen’s camera.  To be completely honest, it wasn’t really handed down to me; I found it in her garage in Chicago while we were cleaning out her house.  Before I had found this I never really knew my Grandma liked photography so much.  As a matter of fact, on that same trip I found hundreds of old photos that she shot starting in the 1920s along with stacks of negatives.  (I’ve been posting those photos on a sister site.)   Ansco was an interesting company.  The company got into the photography business as the E. Anthony & Co. in 1842, which predates Kodak’s jump into the photo world by over 40 years.  As a matter of fact, Ansco sued Kodak at one point and won a patent infringement case against them.  Anyway, the company was bought by Agfa of Germany in 1928 and became known as Agfa-Ansco.  During WWII Agfa’s U.S. operations were seized by the government and sold as enemy assets.  From there they manufactured various cameras over the years, were eventually bought by GAF, but were forced to close their doors for good in the early 1980s.  I have to wonder if the government hadn’t seized their U.S. factories (or at least gave them back to Agfa to run), would they still be cranking out goods made in America today?  Agfa still exists so the possibility is a shur shot, ho ho. 

This was my Grandma Gen’s camera.  To be completely honest, it wasn’t really handed down to me; I found it in her garage in Chicago while we were cleaning out her house.  Before I had found this I never really knew my Grandma liked photography so much.  As a matter of fact, on that same trip I found hundreds of old photos that she shot starting in the 1920s along with stacks of negatives.  (I’ve been posting those photos on a sister site.)  

Ansco was an interesting company.  The company got into the photography business as the E. Anthony & Co. in 1842, which predates Kodak’s jump into the photo world by over 40 years.  As a matter of fact, Ansco sued Kodak at one point and won a patent infringement case against them.  Anyway, the company was bought by Agfa of Germany in 1928 and became known as Agfa-Ansco.  During WWII Agfa’s U.S. operations were seized by the government and sold as enemy assets.  From there they manufactured various cameras over the years, were eventually bought by GAF, but were forced to close their doors for good in the early 1980s.  I have to wonder if the government hadn’t seized their U.S. factories (or at least gave them back to Agfa to run), would they still be cranking out goods made in America today?  Agfa still exists so the possibility is a shur shot, ho ho. 

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