Steve, Author at Nomadic Research Labs

Here is a little glimpse of the nautical dreams of 75 years ago… this was in the October, 1943 issue of YACHTING. The little sheaf of pages saved by my father, who was sailing a Star named Dabih in Lake Erie at the time, are a treasure… and this boat ad from World War II…

My father, Edward H. Roberts, carried his trusty 8mm movie camera all through the forties, and I have had the pleasure of digitizing much of his history from the decade before I came into existence. This one is a treasure… about three minutes of film from the Swarthmore alumni weekend, 5 years after his graduation.…

scanned by Steven K. Roberts from family archives on Oct 6, 2016 When my mother was living at the Barbizon in 1939-40 (read this wonderful letter of recommendation), she took the test required by the state of New York under Section 166 of the Election Law… and received this certificate (click to embiggen): This is posted…

My father, Edward Roberts, was aboard the maiden voyage of the liner America, which left New York on August 10, 1940. Here is his amazing 37-minute home movie of the adventure, including details of ship and passengers as well as shore excursions in St. Thomas, San Juan, Port-au-Prince, and Havana. Here he is with fellow…

In the late 1930s, my mother, Phyllis McCarthy, was working for the Powers Agency in New York City and living a high society lifestyle as a model. Six years before she met my father on a Lake Superior cruise, she did a photo shoot for this catalog by Stern & Company of Philadelphia. Timed for…

My mother worked for the Powers Agency as a fashion model in New York back in the 1930s, and it was fascinating, while working through the old family papers, to discover a wealth of photos and other archives from this epoch of her life. My favorite, by far, is this gem… in which St. Clair…

My father, third-from-left at rear, in the Phi Psi fraternity paper while graduating from Swarthmore (Mechanical Engineering). Below is his Phi Kappa Psi membership card from 1935 (Pennsylvania Kappa chapter). He was an avid photographer, and his old albums contain a few Swarthmorean treasures. Here are some faculty members he photographed for the yearbook (I…

My father was a DIY’er all the way, even back in his college days. In his old shop I found the wood-carving tools and blocks that he used to create these Christmas greetings in 1933 and 1934. The first celebrated his love for his first car, a 1910 Hupmobile: And the second carries images from…

From the Philadelphia Public LedgerOctober 17, 1932 My father was Edward H. Roberts, and his dad was Chester Roberts… seated in the front of this quad cycle… This “quad” of long ago careened madly at yesterday’s reunion of the Veteran Wheelmen’s Association at the William Penn Inn at Gwynedd, propelled by (from left to right)…

My mother was in this class, and this program was in our family archives. I am parking it here in my timeline to help those looking for history of the Worcester High School of Commerce. (These are just scanned images, alas, not derived from searchable PDF… I didn’t want to have to edit all those…

Posts by Steve

Command your own Chris-Craft – 1943

Swarthmore College 1941 Reunion

New York Election – 1940 Certificate of Literacy

1940 – Liner America maiden voyage

Stern 1939 Appliance Catalog

St. Clair McKelway Recommends Phyllis McCarthy to Barbizon

Edward Roberts graduates Swarthmore – Phi Psi 1936

Edward Roberts block-printed Christmas cards 1930s

Veterans Pedal Bicycle Built for Four

Worcester High School – 1931 Graduation