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Archives For November 30, 1999
Known as “Charleston’s Grandest Dame,” Gertrude celebrated New Year’s Eve with a lavish costume ball at Medway for over half a century. This post includes photos of party-goers, staff, and menus, as well as Gertie’s annual Christmas card sent to friends and family.
Gertie as a showgirl, circa 1950
Gertie and Bokara, 1955
Gertie was sure to get photos of each guest in full costume upon their arrival, 1955
Two guests, 1955
Bokara and guests, 1955
Opulent dinner in full costume, 1955
The buffet line, 1955
A full band plays the night away, 1955
Christmas dinner, circa 1929-1932
Gertie’s Christmas card, undated
Christmas, 1973
Christmas, 1972
Christmas, 1974
“The whole staff, Christmas ’56”
“Xmas Day – ’56”
Gertie’s Christmas card the year after she returned from being a German Prisoner of War during WWII.
Gertrude’s second daughter, Bokara (affectionately nicknamed “Bo” or “Bobo” for short), was born in 1940. Below are some photos of Bokara at Medway, in New York (NY), and with Landine and Gertrude.
Bokara dining with Gertrude
Young Bokara, undated 1943
Bokara with Gertrude, 1943
Bokara with Landine, undated 1943
- Bokara with actors Darryl Hickman, Monica Moran, and Kevin McCarthy, undated
Bokara in New York (NY), undated
Bokara at Medway, undated
Bokara with Landine and Gertrude in the “Trophy Room” at Medway, undated
This collection includes a large amount of scrapbooks and photo albums created with a wide variety of bindings, papers, and photo types. Some of the albums are in great shape, and others are in need of a lot of TLC.
The first scrapbook I worked with is “Around the World, 1963.” It includes ticket stubs, brochures, and 3×5 photographs chronicling Gertrude and Bokara Legendre’s mother/daughter worldwide excursion in 1963. This album has sustained significant water damage, and almost all of the materials had to be removed from the original binding and placed in chemically inert enclosures. Scroll through the photos for more details!
Original binding
Severe water damage. All pages had to be removed from original plastic page covers, and all photos and ephemera were removed and placed in archival enclosures.
Side view of album before conservation
All pages had to be kept, because each photo included a handwritten title below it! We matched each photo with its corresponding title before disassembling the album.
Original spine rusting and damage
The finished product!
This is what the album looks like now! All materials are safely cataloged and will remain preserved for future research.