Amy Elliott Bragg

@amyelliottbragg

I work at a cemetery, I write about Detroit history, I’m in it for the quips. littledetroithistoryletter.substack.com

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Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir amyelliottbragg.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 16h

It’s my lucky day !!!!

A newly emerged cicada is hanging from its shell drying its wings. The shell is attached to the bark of a beech tree. Out of focus in the background is a cemetery monument with an urn on top

Close up of a newly emerged cicada still clinging to its shell on the bark of a tree

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 3d

I love the backdrop the huge old George W. Young Post Office gives the huge new Ralph C. Wilson Park

Kid with her back to the camera sitting on grass, she’s wearing a pink shirt, a neon green string backpack and a frozen-themed helmet with sequins. Bikes in a pile on the grass next to her. On the other side of the sidewalk is a parked ice cream truck with hand painted lettering. across the street is a big modern tan brick post office building with a sign on top that reads UNITED STATES

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 9d

productive team meeting today

big snapping turtle suns by a boulder next to a pond. there are geese landing in the water by a fountain. mausoleum in the hillside in the background bc it’s a cemetery

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 12d

didnt find what I was looking for in the other files I pulled today but I did find this cute illo of a cow on a stock certificate for Metcalf Bros. & Co., a Detroit dry goods store that installed the city’s first electric lights in 1883.

Cute illustration of a cow on a lavishly illustrated 1880s stock certificate

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 12d

I don’t go camping most summers but I do look up historic collections about camps most summers

Brochure for YWCA Camp Norcom shows a black and white photograph of girls on a raft in a lake. One is diving into the water. Red banner at the bottom shows name of camp in bod letters and reads “School girls 10 to 18,” “July 7 to August 11,” “$14.00 per week”

Two brochures for Camp Norcom from the 1940s. One is off white with green lettering shows the camp’s name in a woodsy font. One is red with white lettering and shows a black and white photograph of a swimming area on a lake

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 14d

Yew report

Big yew tree in a cemetery at golden hour

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 15d

A gift from the elm tree next door

a kid in hello kitty pajamas holds a huge green elm leaf in two hands

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 17d

forgot I saw a good cemetery cat today

gray and white cat sitting in front of a jumble of tumbledown Gothic tombstones

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 20d

good news: we found the tree with the lights in it

a child in a light pink hoodie and hot pink shorts reaches up the trunk of a massive old beech tree. golden hour sunlight is glowing through its dark green and purple leaves.

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 23d

the EUPHORIA of finding out your trail is taking you over a boardwalk or bridge

POV approaching a boardwalk on a trail through leafy deciduous woods

a narrow dirt trail approaches a concrete bridge over a river in lush green woods

selfie of a a slightly sunburned woman wearing a baseball cap, large sunglasses and a hiking backpack, she is smiling because she is delighted to be on a bridge

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· 28d

Found a good letter in the lot files today, in which the cemetery’s board secretary awkwardly but with good humor congratulates a new lot owner on his recent purchase. November 10, 1953.

Typewritten letter reads: “Dear George … I don’t know whether you will construe it as a complement for me to welcome you, prospectively, to Elmwood Cemetery. Be all that as it may, it will be nice for us to have you as one of our neighbors over the longer period ahead.”

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Jul 4

blew my mind to find photos of the actual gas tank under construction. part two! open.substack.com/pub/littlede...

Black and white photo dated 1912 shows a huge circular foundation for a gas holding tank taking up most of a city block

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Jul 4

I wrote about a house built before the British left Detroit that survived into the 20th Century before it was torn down unceremoniously to make way for a gas tank. A preservation ballad in two parts (so far): open.substack.com/pub/littlede...

Sepia toned matted photograph of a log cabin with two half-moon wings and a steeply sloped roof with a dormer window. The house is on top of a hill and there’s a huge tree in the front yard. Two figures stand outside of the lawn and maybe also a little dog but it’s hard to tell. “The Labadie House” is written on the mat.

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Jun 23

Strait forever, problems for now

View of the Ambassador Bridge span across the Detroit River. Detroit shore with tiny Ren Cen and skyline on the left and Canadian shore on the right. Sunny day, blue sky, twinkling water.

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Jun 13

downloaded a core design memory for them today

two kids with backs to the camera and arms astride the handrails ascend the Detroit Science Center’s iconic neon-lit rainbow escalator

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Jun 9

What time is it? Catalpa time

Catalpa in bloom on a cemetery hillside next to an impressive Celtic cross

Huge mature catalpa in bloom shades the headstones and monument of an old family lot at a cemetery. White blossoms on the grass

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Jun 5

What’s happening

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· May 27

Letter to the editor of the Detroit Free Press, Sept. 3, 1876, clarifying which tannery owned by a guy named parker is revolting

Scanned newspaper excerpt titled "The President Explains," clarifying a misunderstanding about Mr. Parker's establishment.

Transcribed Text:

The President Explains.
Detroit, Sept. 2, 1876.
To the Editor of The Detroit Free Press:
Please publish this communication in order to correct any misunderstanding. In my remarks to the Board of Health I spoke about Mr. Parker’s establishment on Twentieth street, near the Michigan Central Railroad, but neglecting to give initials, some people thought I referred to Mr. Geo. H. Parker's tannery on Woodbridge street, near Twenty-fourth. I have not heard any complaints about the latter place and desire herewith to place Mr. Geo. H. Parker right before the people. I referred to Mr. Willard Parker’s establishment, where offal of various kinds is steamed, boiled, etc. J. H. Carstens.

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· May 16

told my husband this morning I’m in my minimalist era. this evening I entered my collecting cute antique editions of Washington Irving books era

Petite antique book, cream-colored with a floral motif and inset pastel portrait of a damsel with a ruffled blue top and a fluffy auburn updo tied in a pink bow. Title in a gold embossed Gothic font reads “Rip Van Winkle and Christmas Eve by Washington Irving.”

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· May 13

Oh big time. At the park even!!!

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· May 12

More good letterhead from the historical library where I go to escape from the pressures of my history job

Letter dated May 27 1890 with a huge header design for “The Illustrated Weekly World’s Fair, Chicago, U.S.A. Devoted to the world’s fair, art, and scientific literature.” Design features an eagle perched on a globe

Letter dated Buffalo, Feb. 15th 1890 with gigantic header illustration for the Wonderland Musee Theatre, The Prime Amusement Resorts of America. M.S. Robinson, Manager and Proprietor. Design includes palm leaves and a sunset over a waterway.

Letter dated Jan 20, 1890 for the Percheron Steam Navigation co. Letterhead has two illustrations, one of a pair of Percheron horses and one of a boy in a little sailor uniform tipping his cap

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· May 1

lumber

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Apr 26

scenes from the cemetery this week

a cherry wood door with a bronze handle is propped open. The bronze handle is etched with a geometric motif of fishes and a cross. interior of a small chapel is in background, out of focus. there are pews and ceiling beams made of the same cherry wood.

a man in workwear bends over a large cemetery lot map unfurled over the side of a file cabinet, in front of a shelf of mailboxes and binders, pinpointing a gravesite on the map.

A stainless steel bowl full of clementine oranges is set on a wooden altar in a chapel, in front of a stained glass window composed of white and orange diamond glass panes. the bowl of oranges sits in a warm orange sunbeam. Floral centerpiece in the background

A Canada goose is foraging in the grass behind a brood of six fuzzy yellow goslings. A fountain in a pond in front of a hill is in the background.

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Apr 20

hooked on duels

A school-aged boy is seen from above holding open a book about Alexander Hamilton to a page with the title “The Deadly Duel” and a portrait of Aaron Burr on the opposite page.

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Apr 16

roses are red, zombies are scary,

Scientists just discovered 5.6 million bees under a New York State cemetery

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Mar 31

Chicago I have come to see your cemetery coyotes

Large family monument overlooking a lake at a cemetery with a coyote standing nearby looking warily at the photographer

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Mar 22

Lake forever problems for now

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Feb 13

bonus here's an instant classic headline from 1916

Headline on a 1916 sports story about curling reads DETROITERS ARE BETTER AT CURLING. Subhed - "Beat three rinks from Windsor, Ont., and three from Waterloo, Ont., in match games on local club's ice."

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Feb 13

Human wormhole Peter Young was born in the 1830s and curled with the Granite Club, a predecessor of the Detroit Curling Club, in the 1860s. He was 93 when he died in 1926, presumably long after any member of his old club was around to pass a resolution in his memory

Newspaper obituary for Peter Young, detailing his 81 years in Detroit and his achievements.

Transcribed Text:

81 YEAR RESIDENT OF DETROIT DIES

Peter Young, 93, Came to City at Age of 12 Years

Peter Young, for 81 years a resident of Detroit, died Monday at his home, 257 East Palmer avenue, after an illness of three weeks. Young, who was 93 years old, came from his native country, Scotland, when 12 years old, and has since resided in Detroit. In his youth he was engaged in the steamboat and commission business, in partnership with his father-in-law, the late James Black. Later he was agent for a fast freight line, while in his latter years he was accountant for the Standard Accident Insurance company, retiring from active business in 1913.

In his younger days he was an expert cricketer, and was a member of the old Peninsular club. He was also an expert curler, and maintained his interest in the latter sport always.

He is survived by two sons, James B. Young, of New York, and Charles E. Young, of Boston, and two daughters, Miss Isobel Young, of Detroit, and Mrs. Carolyn Y. Carill, of Hollywood, Calif.

Funeral services will be Wednesday, 2 o'clock from the William R. Hamilton funeral chapel. Burial will be in Elmwood cemetery.

Amy Elliott Bragg@amyelliottbragg· Feb 13

The Curling Club pays tribute to Capt. Robert Heron White upon his death in 1903. "In calm and storm his temper was always sweet and unruffled. On land and sea he was beloved by his associates, and his kind and gentle speech and manner made him a welcome figure on the curling rink."