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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 28, 2015)
3C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2015 Flavels: Most of the photos date to the mid-1890s Continued from Page 1C “I don’t even know if it belonged to her ... can I see some of the photographs?” He snapped a picture of a few pages and rocked my world. There was Nellie, Flavel’s daughter, sitting at the piano in the m usic r oom! +HUHZDVGDXJKWHU.DWLH¶VEHGURRP¿OOHGZLWK knick knacks on the mantel! The photograph of the l ibrary distinctly showed how the room was decorated! Out of reach I indicated that we had seen many of the photos, or had seen similar images, but how many interior photos were there? Of the 140- plus photographs, there were about 15 interiors. “How much?” I asked with trepidation. 7KH¿JXUHZDVIDUEH\RQGRXUPHDQVHYHQIRU something so coveted and precious. I told him the request was unrealistic and made a much smaller, more reasonable offer. A week later, I received a call from our friends at the Columbia River Maritime Muse- um. “Did you know there is a Flavel photo al- bum in South America? We told him the Clatsop County Historical Society would be the only ones interested,” plus his price was unrealistic. A week or so later, I received a call from our friends at the Oregon Historical Society. “Did you know there is a Flavel photo album in South America? We told him the Clatsop County Historical Society would be the only ones interested,” plus his price was unrealistic. A week or so later, I got another email from the would-be seller, but the price was still high. ,KHOG¿UPWRP\LQLWLDORIIHUDQGFRPPXQLFD WLRQFHDVHG$VDQRQSUR¿WRUJDQL]DWLRQHYHU\ dollar is precious and as much as we would have loved to have had the album, it would KDYHEHHQGLI¿FXOWWRPHHWHYHQP\RIIHU,UH signed myself to having lost this potential trea- A page from Nellie Flavel’s photograph album shows her handwriting under some of the photos. sure of information. Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian An unexpected benefactor More than a year passed and Greg Newenhof of City Lumber purchased the “other” Flavel h ouse, built by the c aptain’s son at 15th Street and Franklin Avenue. In one of our many con- versations about the family, the photo album came up. He was curious enough to offer to fund the purchase, if it was still available. I scoured my old email and contacted the owner of the al- bum. He replied that a deal could still be done. After a few anxious moments of wiring money across national borders and a week of waiting for the delivery, we were rewarded by the excitement of paging through what could only be Nellie Flavel’s photograph album. Our best guess is that most of the photographs date to the mid-1890s. We’ve selected a few for your enjoyment. After a long, strange, circuitous route, the album was home! It just makes you wonder, what other treasures are waiting to come back? Submitted Photo McAndrew Burns is executive director of the Clatsop County Historical Society, which over- sees the Flavel House Museum. The Carriage House exterior. Note the seat cushion to the left of the doors. The ornate fence that surrounded three sides of the property went clear to the Carriage House. Submitted Photo Delivery man with vegetables. It is interesting to note that the album contains two different photographs of this man. Submitted Photo South side of the house, taken before or after some lawn tennis and croquet. Unidentified people. W hile other n ew spa pers give you less, The D a ily Astoria n GIVES YOU M ORE O u r n ew C APITAL B UREAU covers the sta te for you From left: Peter W on g, H illa ry Borru d , M a teu sz Perk ow sk i
