Rob wrote me that Toos was a teacher, a strict one, she lived together with her colleague and friend Nel, who rob also called aunt.
Rob never knew if auntie Toos & Nel were more than just friends, they never felt the need to explain their living circumstances to anyone.
The two aunts lived in a very modern decorated home, full of Danish furniture, a Braun stereo system and van Gogh art on the wall.
Rob liked his aunties.
When he had to move to a smaller house he realised he needed to find a new home for his aunt’s photo collection and thought of me.
I’m very happy to adopt the albums and share them with the world, there’s over a dozen of them so the following posts on this substack will all be her collection.
I try to share them sort of chronologically.
Starting with this tiny album from 1933 that has “First self-made photos” written on the cover.

Great start, the writing is in Dutch: ‘Vacation to England, 22 Aug - 5 Sept 1923’:

Usually I’m not interested in holiday albums because tourist photos of pretty views don’t tell us much, those views have rarely changed much.
But this album had a charm about it.

Cape Flamborough, North landing.
Flamborough, incoming tide.
A cave, irregularly shaped rocks:

We have our first names, unfortunately trying to find a Tommy Thompson in the UK is going to be tricky…

Scarborough bay, the Thompsons:

I love the photo of Fred and Mary in their adorable Morgan car, trip to Leeds:

Knaresborough, a new name; Horace:

Visit to Harrogate, where Horace lives, also the War Memorial days before it was unveiled, which tells us this photo was indeed taken in late August 1923:

Photo of Woodhouse Grove School:

Lovely medieval entrance to St John the Baptist Church, Adel and Austin’s house, another clue.
Does someone know where this house in Leeds is?

York cathedral, I’m starting to believe this Dutch traveller liked history as much as I do:

Exploring Ilkley and Rebecca having a drink at the White Wells

It looks like our photographer may have come to England because of a wedding or were they perhaps just in the area and got invited?
We have a few new names; the Errington family, Fred Hyde, Tom training (to be a dad) and the groom with his best man:

Gladys with Doreen, the wonderful dad, in walk-toilet… not sure what that means:

Kathleen, not sure why that’s between quotation marks, was the photographer not sure about her name or is it the dog’s name?
Also puppies!!

Some of the photos are already quite a bit faded, which is a shame, but it’s fun to see the winter scenes and with a bit of tweaking they become clearer:

A big house, a big family, a Christmas tree, a dog, harp:

A fun relaxed class photo, a scientific experiment, another musical instrument and a more serious class photo with a familiar painting on the wall:

Here’s our first clue, that’s the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the girl in the photo has gone there with her bicycle, so this album’s family might be from that city:

And then the family went to London, great photo, did they take it themselves or buy these at a tourist shop?
This is of course the Elizabeth Tower:

I’m not sure where the top photo on the next page was taken, I’m leaning towards The Strand, but much of this area has been demolished since:

The bottom photo was taken from the Victoria Embankment Gardens, our clue for this is the advertisement on the roof that identifies the Hotel Cecil:

This is roughly the spot the photo was taken from:

The statue confirms it, that’s obviously the Robert Burns statue:

Normally I’m not that interested in tourist snapshots, but these are quite well done and fun to look at:

The top photo on the next page is of course Piccadilly circus with the London Pavilion on the left:

The same spot today:

It looks like Robin Hood is playing, this could be the 1922 film with Douglas Fairbanks, if that’s the case we can date the visit to London to late 1922, early 1923:

The bottom photo shows Trafalgar Square with in the back corner the St Martin-in-the-Fields church:

That spot today:

More tourist spots, the Albert Memorial, the London Tower and Windsor Castle:

Top left could be the rock gardens at Kew or Chelsea, top right shows the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square.
Bottom left shows Piccadilly Circus but seems to have been taken from the top of the bus:

I love this photo so much:

More sight seeing shots:

Back home in the Netherlands, few clues about the family except that they liked smoking pipes:

The plane is very exciting but the photo too vague to identify it:

The album ends here.
A lovely collection of photos and a wonderful trip to 1920s London.
Sadly very little that can help us identify the family.

If you can add anything to what I’ve found out, please do.

As always, go check out the photos and let me know if you can give some more information on what’s in this album.

“International tennis matches on the M.E.T.S 1928.
Borotra - Hintern?”
M.E.T.S. stands for ‘Maatschappij tot Exploitatie Tennisbanen Scheveningen’, its a tennis complex that still exists today.
Scheveningen is the town my family came from and was very close to The Hague, the city where I grew up, I spend quite a few summers on the Scheveningen beach.
Borotra was Jean Laurent Robert Borotra, I think Hintern was Frank Hunter:

I love photos like these, just scenes of daily life.
The 2nd lady in the first photo seems a bit Indonesian, which would make sense as the Dutch at the time colonised Indonesia and many Indonesians came to the Netherlands.
The car and the neighbourhood suggests an affluent family, although not necessarily rich.
In July 1928 chocolate cost 25 cents :)

On Bluesky Michel van Duijnen located the street in the photos above, the picture was taken on the Emantsstraat in The Hague, did our family live in one of those houses?

I am pretty sure these photos were all taken at Scheveningen, the photo in the middle shows the famous pier:

The photo on the right made me smile because the jacket is buttoned up in a silly way, then I noticed some writing on the backside of the picture…

“On Riverside Drive, Bart has his jacket very well buttoned up: .
I reckon that’s sarcasm, poor Bart!
But at least we now have our first name:

A trip to Berlin!
Just a few years before dark clouds would gather here that would destroy so many lives.
Berlin Sept 1928
1.Siegessäule
2.Brandenburger Tor
3. Otto in front of the “Reichstag”.

Is Otto the chap in the top photo?
I only see a tiny figure in photo 3:

Otto?
Is that you?

Zoo in Berlin?
I love the wooden chair for the tigers;

Ferch: the boat, a view of the shore, in the woods.

Back home again or visiting friends in Germany?
May ‘29.
Nice quiet day reading in the garden:

Seems we’re still in Berlin.
The Funkausstellung
Siegesallee
Schloss Sans Souci

1, 2 and 4: Unter den Linden
3: Potsdamer Platz

As an 80s kid, I’d be worried about getting on a boat with that name:

Back in the Netherlands.
Nijmegen, 17 July ‘29
1, 2 and 3: Sandwichpeople on the Duivelsberg
4: A little streetbridge in H. Zelf (?)

Nijmegen, de Waag
View of the Waal
In Germany, or in Holland?
The never-ending , sunny road to familiar terrain

I’m obsessed with airships so I was extremely excited to find these two photos.
The one on the left seems to be have taken from the air, did our photographer get on a plane or was this a publicity photo they bought somewhere?
Building on the right is the Vredespaleis.

Our pear harvest in 1929
Daddy looking for lost pears
How delicious it was, and how much!

Young man in the back is wearing the Dutch military uniform, in less than 10 years he would likely be mobilised and may have seen combat during the German invasion:

Lights honouring the 59th birthday of her majesty the queen, 1930!
This is all in The Hague, my hometown!
In the photos:
Gevangenpoort
Plein 1813
Vredespaleis
Binnenhof

More photos of the Binnenhof, the Dutch seat of government.
The show looks amazing and not easy to photograph with 1930s cameras:

Bloom 1929
Mumsy
Otto
1930
We too were once young…

It looks like the last photo might be a youth photo of the people in the album, it’s starting to look like these sisters and their big brother may be who this album once belonged to.
Also, doggies!

One of the photos shows Otto hanging out of a window, it shows no buildings directly on the left of the house, which means it could indeed be Emantstraat 7:

Next page;

Christmas 1930
Robin under the Rhododendron
Snow at last! 2nd Christmas day.
Visitors for our fat-ball.

A white Christmas, real candles in the trees, a photo likely taken from the back-window od the house, can we identify these buildings?

I love this so much.
A silly day, with lots of notes;
"How the strangest photos were created in an unguarded, crazy moment!
All taken with selftimer, here Annie failed to finish the journey, the vague hairdo proves a quick arrival.
The Annie of this is somewhere in the rubbish bin, she was too pretty!
January 1931”

So the girls having fun with the camera, this seems to confirm that the album belonged to the two sisters of the family, probably Annie as she was the one who activated the timer and then was too slow to get back in the photo herself.
They must have had so much fun on this day!

I also love the sneaky photo of the couple, perhaps mum and dad, it gives us a snapshot of what the house looked like, it’s very Dutch:

More pictures of the girls being silly.
January 1931.
Another collection, the crazier the better!
Loes couldn’t fit in

This might be a clue for the other sister’s name: Loes.

I also love the postcards above the bed, so typical.
They look familiar;

Big brother (I think) joins in the merriment.
Otto as juggler
A lovely couple
January 1931

Did you spot dad (?) photobombing?

Washboard

Cat doesn’t look amused:

The building in the back is another clue:

At first I thought it said “De Merkan” but it’s of course “De Sierkan” (The Decorative jug).

It’s a sort of milk-bar, next to the Haagsche Bosch, a place I often went to, sometimes to walk my dogs.
I would have loved a nice cold glass of milk here, mind you, they have the best poffertjes in the world at the pavilion nearby.

Summer 1930.
These are my favourite kind of photos, snapshots of daily life, getting a peak of what life was really like back then.
On the wall seems to be an Indonesian style fabric.
We can see through to the front of the house, it’s the classical Dutch interior of the time, a dining room in on the street side, sitting room at the back by the garden, big sliding doors between the rooms.
We know there’s a big table in the front room because of the lamp hanging above it.

The last photo shows Otto with his two sisters but also two new gentlemen, one of them being rather friendly with one of the girls.
Suitors?

3 May 1931, the first summer day in this year.
Our metamorphosed room after the Big Clean.

These photos again seem to suggest it’s Emantsstraat 7, we can see that the building on the left is different, unlike others in the street:

26 Dec 1930

The church was identified by Corien Glaudemans, Eric-Jan Noomen and Michel van Duijnen (see comments below), it’s the Sint-Paschalis Baylonkerk near the Benoordenhout area of The Hague.
I’m so happy it was found, this was driving me mad, I knew where it was, I grew up in The Hague, I’ve been in that part of the city many times but somehow couldn’t find it!
https://maps.app.goo.gl/FRrC91UhF7RS754u7

Here it is today

The location of the following photo was also found by Michel van Duijnen, who recognised the building on the right as Wassenaarseweg 34:

More fun indoor photos:
July ‘31
10 min lit, ‘s even(ing), 10.30 h(our).
(I think this means it took 10 minutes to take this photo?)

10 Aug ‘31
A dress is being cut (the fabric for a dress) that will be worn on the evening of the 11th.
That’s impressive, making a dress in a day, also leaving things to the very last moment is how things were at my house.

A new page with on it a new appearance with a new sound.
13 Aug ‘31, Eindhoven
Reception day 4 Oct ‘31
Utrecht, 23 Aug ‘20
Fred

It looks like a new page in life begins as well as in the album.
A whole new group of people, I think one of the sisters has fallen in love with this gentleman, the photo on the left perhaps shows his family.
Photo below shows what appears to be work-uniforms, what soldiers wore when doing dirty jobs like cleaning, building, etc.
This page suggests our girl fell in love with Fred who lived in Eindhoven but was stationed in Utrecht when he was in the army:

Who are these people?
It’s too soon for one of our sisters to have had kids this old.

Kay and little sister in the Hague, 24-9-’31

An infamous blackmail snapshot of Loes and Fred

Now we know for sure that the man is indeed Fred and the sister whose heart he captured is Loes:

Well that’s a weird postcard…

The back of the postcard doesn’t tell us much, was it written by a doctor??

So, that’s the whole album.

I am pretty sure that they indeed lived on the Emantsstraat 7 and much to my excitement Michel van Duijnen discovered that the house is shown on a Dutch real estate website, so we can take a look inside!
You can find the full listing by clicking here.

The house seems to have been divided into apartments, there’s no upstairs and unfortunately it has been horribly ruined, I mean modernised, so there’s not much left that reminds us of our family there, still we recognise a few spots:

Seeing how it was and how it is now always makes me a bit nostalgic but also melancholic.
So many happy memories, so much happened there, but now all that remains are the old photos.

What have we learned so far?
It looks like we have a family living in The Hague, they have a son called Otto and two daughters, Loes & Annie.
Annie seems to be the one who took at least some of the photos.
Loes is the one who had a boyfriend called Fred.

They lived on the Emantsstraat 7 in the Hague… so I looked up the address in an old address book for 1938-1939, is this our family?

Of course most photos were taken in 1930-1931, so maybe our family moved, to be sure, we need a connection to the address fitting those years.
I found this in a guide for the ‘officieel orgaan van de Vereeniging tot Bevordering van het Vreemdelingenverkeer’ (official organ of the Association for the Promotion of Tourism) from 1934:

In an address book for the year 1930 I found the same name at that address:

Just to be even more certain (and because I’m addicted to doing research) I also looked at the address book for 1928 and Bingo, it looks like our album belonged to the Lappöhn family:

With the unusual name and the address the discoveries started piling up.
The family was found at Myheritage.com:

And Mirjam on bluesky found their card in the register:

So what do we know now:

The family to who this album once belonged are the Lappöhn family:

• Richard Albert Lappöhn
  Born on 20th dec 1879 in Jurvendt, Germany, died in 1948.

• Anna Soeter, Richard’s wife.
  Died in 1980

• Otto Johannes Richard Lappöhn, their son.
  Born on 12th March 1909, died on 30th september 1995
  Married to Titia Wind.
  They had a son called Richard who died in 2014.
  They also had another child who seems to be the one creating the family tree.

• Johanna Mathilde Louise Lappöhn, their daughter.
  Born July 1st, 1910,

• Louise (Loes) Catharina Lappöhn, their daughter, who seems to have been called Annie.
  Born October 4th, 1914, died in 2005
  Married to Fred (Freddij) Bruijn who died in 1949.

Annie & Fred don’t seem to have any children.

Richard seems to have managed a photography shop in the Passage, a very nice covered shopping street:

I bet his job played a role in Annie becoming interested in photography.

In the 1920s business was booming, photography was of course becoming more and more popular and available to the general public so Richard picked the right moment to start his photography shop.
In 1926 he had get another shop in the Passage:

The shop continued selling cameras during the Nazi occupation:

:

Father Richard’s death announced in 1948:

Sadly Fred died in January 1949, only 41 years old:

Poor Loes.

I’ve send Otto’s child who manages the family tree on myancestry.com a message.
If he’s indeed related to the family in the album and is interested in the album, I’ll send it them.

What else can we find out?

I don’t remember where I bought this one, it may have come as a set, but it’s quite fascinating.
The album tells the story of the German Luftwaffe in France.

Warning: there’s war damage and a dead person in the photos.

If you can add more information to the photos, please let me know.

Click on the photos and then the download icon to get a high resolution scan:

Fun photo montage of the boys with some ladies:

It seems like the owner of the album may have been in the 5th Kompanie Luftnachtrichten- Regiment 1.
Which, I believe, means they were responsible for setting up and maintaining telecommunications but also airspace monitoring, air traffic control, etc.
In a way they were the ears of the Luftwaffe.
This unit was established in 1938 in Berlin, so this group photo was taken right at the start.
More about its set-up here.

Page below, man at desk appears to be Luftwaffe Oberleutnant (1st lieutenant).

Bottom centre photo: Cologne Cathedral.

I’m pretty sure the harbour photos were taken in Ouistreham, France, you can see the lighthouse here on google maps.

The Commonwealth war graves in the photo at the top helped find the cemetery.
Hugh Williamson on Bluesky managed to find the men on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website:

1. Lance Corporal W R DEALEY

2. Rifleman F W BAIN

3. Private GEORGE FREDERICK READING

4. Private JOHN THOMPSON

5. Rifleman A E IONTTON

6. Lance Corporal HENRY GEAR

7. Private NORRIS BENJAMIN BATLEY

8. Gunner DOMINIC FRANCIS PEENEY

9. Private JAMES BRANNEN

10. Private EDWARD SWEENEY

We will remember them.

As their records show, they were all buried at Cambrai East Military Cemetery in Northern France.

I think the photo on in the middle at the top and bottom right of the following page were taken at Versailles.
We also see POWs on transport. War damage:

Destroyed planes, damaged town, dead body. Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
2nd row left appears to be the remains of Belgian Cr-42 biplane, it has a number 4 on the tail, if correctly identified this R-4 was destroyed on May 10, AD 1940, at Brustem (Landing Field No. 22), located near Sint-Truiden, Belgium, when the field was strafed by Messerschmitt Bf 109s and bombed by Stukas.
More about the fate of this plane can be found here.
The other damaged plane on this page may be the German Do-17 that was shot down just before the field was attacked.
Thanks to mac_mccaskill for the tip:

Tante Ju with damage.

More air photos, showing extensive damage. Amiens cathedral.

Very interesting discovery, either the man who owned the album took the photos and they later became public domain, or he got the photos from somewhere else and mixed them in with his own photos:
https://www.alamy.com/bombed-city-and-cathedral-of-amiens-phot-take-by-a-german-airforce-surveillance-airplane-during-german-occupation-of-france-in-1942-image261994370.html

I think those are reconstructed World War I trenches at Vimy.

What does the newspaper on the previous page say?

Enhance!

I think it says Aufruf des Führers an die Soldaten der Westfront (Appeal of the Führer to the soldiers of the Western Front).

The poster on the wall suggests this photo was taken in the French town of Lens:

The films running:

• The Shanghai Drama (1938)

• Die Stimme des Herzens (1937)

• Alexis gentleman chauffeur (1938)

• The Speed Demon (1932)

Damaged building is Sucrerie d'Eppeville.

Rough translations for the following texts:

Scout Patrol Metz

The stars usually stand high in the sky, But Korbs-Bär-Moser cause a ruckus nearby; With poker, wine, and humor’s light, The hero corps is here tonight.

The chief of this whole land Is known as “M.M.” across the strand. Name and home are hidden from view, But he is seen in every hand, it’s true. He barely follows the Council’s sign, And brings us joy from Munich’s wine!

Mutall is very popular today, Because Zehfuss’ leave was granted right away. He leaves Zehfuss on the big barge, Counting down the leave days, large. Zehfuss collects moss throughout the land, With us, Zehfuss is the Adjutant.

Wherever the chief always looks, That was rejected by one of the cooks. Who looks so shyly toward the glass? Who turns pale when the schnapps does pass? Who’s afraid of the rim of the cup? The “proud Wing Adjutant” is up!

“To my breast I’d like to take many,” Is what someone said, known by many. If Pietzsch can give a good “squeeze,” Then he is the right man for us, with ease.

The man for everything that comes along Makes everything perfect and prompt and strong. In Gestalt a fat piece of work: That is the Oberfeldwebel Bork.

Who is so consistent when taking flight? On the Korp-lengths, superior in might? Lefebvre is a small flame, Compared to him, von Zorn has a brave name.

An organizer with talent rare Is Krauss, whom thirst often does ensnare.

The Auerbach-farm, that is high, It has a technical office nearby; It is masked in any case, If you don’t know it, you’ll think it’s a stable place.

Who makes the Unruhe (unrest) so far? Who has done the good food, our star? Who always feels well at the skat game? That is the Obermüller Rose, by name.

Güttner, drink with your peasant strength, With rest, much more is achieved at length!

Hannes, don’t be so solid and stay, The time of youth runs quickly away!

Moritz has at any time Love and lust ready in their prime.

At Zehfuss’s it often goes too far— There the guest’s politeness takes a scar.

The Henkel is a good man, If he can handle the cards, he can.

The Hauptmann comes to us so raw, As if he’d just seen the capital’s law!

When I see the proud Schindelwig, Then I think: “Mustard-girl—oh, what a rig!”

The Reimes is in our band, The musicus with the golden hand.

A girl-slayer from Berne Is Pfeil, whom one sees there and then in turn.

The Köhne needs so much time For his initial speed to reach its prime.

The Althoff is in town and land Well known as a heavy bomber’s hand.

That is the whole great corps With poker, wine, and humor’s lore. They make every cup empty and dry, Even if ten liters were coming by; The thirst, that is good with them all, Even if the unknown is otherwise in thrall. So today we want to drink merrily And sink into the alcohol, cheerily!

Mokoge

Second text:

Scout Patrol Metz Made a Collective »Jump«

At eight o’clock, right on the dot, The merry group arrived on the spot For drinks, for dancing, and for cheer, With lovely women, liqueur, and beer. The organizer felt a sense of dread: Too few women, he feared instead. But more and more kept coming in, Making the distribution a struggle to win. At last, so many ladies were there, With blonde, brown, and raven hair. The patrol had great worries, it’s true, They had to borrow reinforcements for the crew. Despite that, everything went just fine, In the dance, happy couples began to align. Many a cup was drained with a smile, The reveler enjoyed himself all the while. At one o’clock the crowd then swarmed Into the “Mokoge-Bar,” newly formed.

Many a beautiful bar in the land Is known to us as interesting and grand. But soon it was clear to everyone there: The most beautiful is “Mokoge-Bar,” beyond compare! In that deep dark-red light, Love soon becomes a duty of the night. There is no need to feel any shame, One can riot freely in the game. The mixers stir up great “flips” and wine, The whole patrol has a tipsy shine. Our patrol captain, quite the sight, Could see no chairs in the dim light; He sat himself in the dark corner’s gloom; The red light hides the hiding room.

One carried his wife in his arms with pride, Turning toward the darkroom to hide. The stretchers suddenly became quite few, Everyone wanted the dark cupboard, too. If everyone were like Brohammer, it’s clear, Ten darkrooms would have to be here. Moser also vanished quite often from view; No one found his camouflage, through and through. Even with the Aide-de-camp so grand, All sense of solidness left his hand. He was always lively while dancing around, And many a glass went happily down. He stayed with the very last pair— Behind them, the bar was empty and bare.

The stools were smashed into wood on the floor, The glasses didn’t need washing anymore. On the ground lay only shards and glass, They just need to be swept as the hours pass. The two mixers didn’t feel very well, Defeated by alcohol, as far as one could tell. One can no longer enjoy “drinks” today; We must go off to the “hare-shoot” away. They closed Mokoge’s proud bar so fine, Which was rare, but truly divine.

The building top centre is the Château Saint-Georges-Motel, identified by Zorg the Conqueror on Bluesky.

Here’s a photo of Churchill at the Château:

Who are these men? What are they discussing? Those aren't German uniforms I reckon.
They seem Soviet to me, but that would make their place in this album very peculiar.
If the uniforms are Soviet, NR 13 is a Major General (2 stars)

On the first page we find a clue that possibly tells us the original owner of the album:

The album is full of names, which is brilliant and will help us with our research.
Even the animals are named!
Here we have Theo Williams playing with Terry:

Aloin, Dick Dixon, Wi Waka, trotting race?

I love that the original owner of the album photographed himself and tells us this is him, it’s nice to know for sure what he looked like:

Life on the farm, all the dogs and the sheep have a name, I love that our photographer put them in the album.
And there’s little Jock Williams, is he still alive today?

No idea what a Glomage is, but Jinks is a good boy:

More names.
Ornie Smith & Kathleen Kerr:

I love that even the cars have a name:

A special event!
The South Canterbury Federation of W.I. (probably stands for Women’s Institute).
Folk dancing festival, January 1934.
Temuka Domain
Lady Spellor?

Woodbury B. Open Greenwood
Childgrove?

Grenadier Guards Band, they were doing a tour in New Zealand in January 1935:

Our photographer and Kathleen Kerr again:

In January 1935 the Duke of Gloucester did an extensive tour of Australia and New Zealand and he stopped in Geraldine!
Our photographer was there.
Mr. Williams is 3rd from the left, was he the husband of Theo and dad of Jock we saw earlier?
He appears to be standing in a line with other veterans:

St Andrews Gymkhana 1935.
And another name: Joyce Edgar-Jones on her horse Ealing Bun.

Were they wearing masks?
I hope so:

Atoin caught a big fish, Frankie has his own play field:

Special day for the young ladies, all wearing their best dress for some sort of event.
The Smith family:

A few new names from the “badmington” club.
McColl, Dr. Curtis (?), Bradshaw & Thorp:

Who or what is Sammy??

My guess is that it is some sort of swimming wind-up doll?

Pets in clothes:

A type of harvesting that was about to disappear;

A Toi-Toi Bush, Māori name is Toetoe bush, and a giant puffball:

There’s Sammy again, yes, now we can clearly see it’s a sort of toy.
Where was this house called Wynnwood?

A new name: Alec Curtis.
The Rata Peaks:

Our chap did good at the Badmington tournament!
And a bunch of new names from the group photo.
Sylvia Powell, Mrs Glen, Mr. & Mrs. Maddox

Jubilee procession, the girl scouts:

I love costume party photos, maybe this was also for the jubilee celebrations:

The Midway house in Upper Riccarton in a suburb located in the western part of Christchurch is quite distinctive, can we locate it?

Winter has arrived in Pendeen, a significant homestead and estate located near Geraldine:

Someone has won a few prizes!
Point-to-Point Cups won by Harkaway 1935 in Timaru, Waimate & Ashburton.
And we have another new name: Ethel Rogers:

Two more names, Dolly Rogers & Iris Taylor:

Our photographer ends the album with something quite special, photos of the night sky, capturing the Constellation of Great Dog, not that easy with an 1930s camera.
He was experimenting with exposure times, as he wrote below the images:

That was the complete album.

Now the research starts, what can we find out about the images and people?

The names Kerr, Godfrey, Taylor, Williams, Rogers & Smith appear on the Geraldine war memorial.

We can’t (yet) be sure, but it looks like several of the people in our album has lost someone in one of the world wars.

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/memorial/geraldine-war-memorial

Med Rest/Kath on Twitter identified the Midway house in the album.
The house is in Midway, Upper Riccarton, 7 Middleton Road, Christchurch.
You can compare these photos yourself:

William and Jennie Lovell-Smith lived in the house in the 1930s, maybe that’s the connection with the Smiths in our album?
There’s also a connection with famous suffragist Kate Sheppard.

Oh what fun!
Bluesky user Becky found out that our man won a photography contest at the Women’s Institute annual exhibition in 1934!
I wish we knew which photo won, was he too modest to mention it in his album?

Oh by the way, if there’s are relatives of Mr. Godfrey or other families involved with this album or if there’s a New Zealand archive, museum or historical institute or something that has interest in this album to add to their collection, get in touch.
I’d love to help the album find a home where it belongs.
The Godfrey family gets priority of course.

“In the tram”. Mum with kids, an innocent trip. But these kids would have heard air raid sirens and seen German soldiers march through their streets.

“Lime-nade” Tommy likes it, Tinus likes it and mummy likes it too! In the place on the Laan van Meerdervoort, near Meer en Bosch, you can still get real lemonade. It costs a lot expensive but that doesn’t matter because daddy is buying” Real lemonade, a rare treat in 1942.

Little portraits.

Daddy, mummy. I used to call my mum moesje too.

Tinus walks on clogs, simpe, sample, sompe. Through the puddles, make it splatter. Trousers and socks get wet Mummy shouts: “Don’t you dare!” Tinus keeps stampoing. Tinus is a naughty boy! Winter 42-43

.Christmas 1942

Come Leepie, we’re going for a walk!

Again Tinus! Look... a hole... for my little finger... bye likkepot (nickname for a finger in a nursery rhyme)... and he’s off again

Under the sun-lamp (this was very popular then, getting some extra UV during the winter months.)

“Wat little Tom experienced when mum was away to Haarlem. Along with dad, in de tram to the deer, riding a goat cart, then to Cineac (cinema), lemonade, dining at Heck, when evening fell, to bed and dreaming of a lovely day” I know all those places, been there too!

21 March, winter has passed! For the first time spring again in Meer & Bosch (a park, much of it was destroyed by the Germans for the Atlantikwall).

One day on uncle Ben’s farm. By now you’ve probably noticed the high quality of the photos, not just technically but also the way the scenes are set up and recreated here in the album. The parents may be more than just talented hobbyists.

“Sunday afternoon.” No tv, no internet, no computer games, almost all shops and places of entertainment closed. Just toys and mum’s attention. I remember such Sunday afternoons, I miss them. You were so bored, you had to make your own entertainment.

“Guilt and punishment” Dramatic filmwork after the russian novel of the same name by Dostojefsky.
cast:
Boy 1: Tom Bouman Jr.
Boy 2: Dicky Keuris
Police officer: Nic. Govers
A Leica production.
Director: Caro J.F. Wortman
Camera: Tom Bouman Sr.
Decor: Copernicus-Bidloo

We just got a lot of information about our family, full names! So dad is called Tom Bouman, Tom Bouman jr

.is Tommy, the oldest boy in the album. Leica is a great camera, again suggesting dad might be an actual photographer. I wonder what the police officer did during the war...

Decor by Copernicus & Bidloo? Doesn’t mean anything to most people but this is/was my city, so I know that this is a location! Photos were taken near the Copernicuslaan & Govert Bidloostraat. And right there on the corner...

The attack When daddy sleeps.... then they attack unexpectedly, but after a fierce fight, they have to capitulate.

Mother’s day, 9 May 1943

May 1943, happy holiday! I wonder if the large V has special meaning, it did for many during the war.

“Southern Park, re-enactment of the Trojan Horse” Tom seems to have been a fun dad

Criminal opportunity Did mummy go? Go on then. Have a swallow but keep your mouth shut!

“When little brothers go for a walk” Those are shoes with wooden soles, one of the few signs of a war going on.

“Holiday pictures.” These are great photos. Ah back when waiters were still properly dressed, behaved in a formal manner and were polite in stead of acting like they’ve know you since childhood.

“Mum and the contax First lessons. See... That’s how it’s done And while mum takes snapshots the boys have a party. Thread breaks here, look for continuation below.

Tom & Tinus Bouman

Mum with the Leica, to Groenendael

Tommy to the Kindergarten!

That teacher looks familiar... I am NOT a time traveller!

The final sprin

t

And then finally, the last couple of loose photos... I look on the back and there’s the biggest clue!

So we just checked out this album in my collection, now the fun detective work begins! What can we find out about this family?

The biggest clue was of course that the previous owners were nice enough to write their full names in the album but one of the photos also had this on the back, confirming what we already suspected: dad was a professional photographer:

Unless the numbering has changed, this is where the family lived, the house is still there;

With the address I had a look on

https://delpher.nl

, where you can search newspapers, magazines, books, etc. To my surprise no ads for mr. Bouman the photographer. Nothing at all till 1956 when Martien Bouman on that address wants to swap stamps, cars, etc for dinkey toys!

I found this in the album as well, so we know Martien is related. Was he the third son? Tom & Tinus their younger brother?

We know these names of the family members:
Dad: Tom Bouman Sr.
Mum:
Son: Tom Bouman Jr.
Son: Tinus Bouman
(later born?) son Martien Bouman

The names get too many hits to be useful but in 1960 we find this:

plutonaut over at Bluesky found a mention of Tom on an archive site and there almost 600 photos pop up when I search for his name! Photos made in The Hague and some in the neighbourhood we know he took other photos in!

https://beeldbank.nimh.nl

Maybe its wishful thinking, but doesn’t she look a bit like mum from the album?

This lady at this address also shows up a few times in these online photos. My eyes tells me that door sign says Bouman, my brain tells me that’s nonsense and wishful thinking.

Source: https://beeldbank.nimh.nl/foto-s/detail/7ac31ec9-0f87-cfe2-4658-c58bbd2a866c/media/dad8b979-15b3-5a11-2474-47b1359cc94f

Source: https://beeldbank.nimh.nl/foto-s/detail/43c95b3f-99f4-48a3-2999-fbca02b7778b/media/6cf6ec82-9cf3-4195-6798-2f40a576a59f

But the door looks familiar...

It proves nothing of course, but someone was selling what appears to be serious photography equipment from this address, Govert Bidloostraat 107, in 1942:

Mirjam on the bluesky thread about this album has found a marriage certificate of Anton Bouman and Carolina Wortman, he was a advertisement designer, that sort of fits don’t you think? And Anton Bouman lived on the Gov. Bidloostraat 107 in 1939!

@TheGoldOtter has found a whole treasure trove of photos taken by our Tom! And shocking news, one of the characters in the album has a criminal record!!! ;)

Yes it’s poor old Leepie, he got into serious trouble!

The photos come from the National Archive, there’s about 100 of them! There are even some of the photos from the album, I can now go tell the archive when the photos were taken :)

https://www.nationaalarchief.nl

And here’s Martien, probably Tinus in the album, full name probably Martinus.

We even got a signed photo!

Shortly after the war the family went to the zoo, nice to see them in colour!

But there’s more... in the 1950s-60s Tom & his wife (still not named) went on holiday to France and Spain and of course took photos. Yes this is them, without the boys. Mum looks very fashionable!

Finally we have this photo, described as “Portrait of the son of The Hague children’s photographer Tom Bouman”. I don’t know if this is Martien or Tom jr. But it’s touching that he inherited the photography gene. Is one of the sons dying how the album ended up for sale?

Oh I’m such an eejit! Caro Wortman is of course Carolina Wortman! It’s mum! She directed the famous crime scene :)

She may have gone by the name Anna, here’s a certain A. Bouman, maiden name Wortman, recorded as having given birth on February 18th 1941. And who had his birthday on February 17th 1949? Martien!

Another part of the puzzle solved, Anneke on Facebook recognised Tommy’s school. Today a company called 2samen uses the building, my mum used to work for them.

Martien’s grave, he died in 2010. It looks like he was loved.
www.online-begraafplaatsen.nl

Social media threads are the best for active research that anyone can get involved with but eventually it all becomes a bit unclear and chaotic, so that’s why I wrote it all down here.
If something new is discovered I’ll add to this article.

Update October 26th:
I’ve been contacted by Tinus/Martien’s widow, she confirmed that he was born on February 17th 1941 and his brother Tom on 29th of September 1939 and that they died quite a while ago.

Tom became a gardener, he died in 2002.
Martien hated being called Tinus, became a teacher of electrical engineering, he was treated for war related PTSD later in life.
He died in France in 1974 and was buried there.
His wife died in 2000.

A girlfriend of Tom inherited the album, there must have been many, many more.
But she either sold them or passed away herself and that’s how the albums ended up on the market.
I checked with her if she didn’t want the album but she declined.
If I find still living relatives or descendants of the people in albums I find I always offer to give the photos to them but in this case the album will remain in my collection unless a museum has interest.

Yes, that V sign. Let's check the album out together.

The album starts in Dresden, April 10th 1941.
Less then 4 years after the photo was taken this church would be a ruin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden_Cathedral

The Dresden Zwinger, a palatial complex with gardens. Also a ruin just a few years later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwinger_%28Dresden%29

The famous Frauenkirche in the background, completely ruined during the war:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frauenkirche%2C_Dresden

A clue about the previous owner of the album, a self portrait.
”Beckeweg, self”:

He’s not alone:

From another photo we learn that her name is Ingeborg.
So far not that interesting an album, but that's about to change:

This is the Prisoner's Gate, in my hometown of The Hague.
During the war, this apparently German man travelled to the occupied Netherlands. Suddenly even a typical tourist photo becomes a lot more interesting.
This could be the perspective of the occupier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gevangenpoort

The Mauritshuis, a wonderful museum. I walked through these streets many times. The only clue that there's a war going on are the white lines on the street light, so cars can see them better during the blackout:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritshuis

The Binnenhof, the traditional seat of our government, during the occupation used by the Nazis. I wonder whose car that is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binnenhof

The courtyard of this complex of buildings, nice isn't it?
September 1941.
People are being interrogated & tortured here.
In less than 2 years resistance member Gerrit Kastein will jump from a window and kills himself, probably to avoid giving up names.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrit_Kastein

But for our photographer this seems to be just a fun holiday. We will never knew if he had any idea about what was happening in the building complex he just visited:

And this is the photo that first made me realise this was a war album.
The V stuck on the traffic pole there was a famous Nazi propaganda campaign that involved them trying to steal the allied V for Victory sign.
They plastered the V all over the place. The Dutch defaced some...