Ford Times: Special Issue on Environment, July 1970

The July 1970 issue of the Ford Times cover art is by Charlie Harper for the article "The Bald Eagle: America's Vanishing Symbol."

"He's in trouble because a good idea backfired," wrote author Boyce Rensberger.

I remember summer of 1963 listening to the radio and hearing a man discuss the eagle as endangered. This article discusses food chains, which Harper illustrated below, and how DDT in the food chain affected wildlife.

"In the Great Lakes states, where DDT level are high, only four percent of the nesting pairs are still able to reproduce," the author warns.

Luckily, DDT was banned and today in Michigan eagles are frequently seen. Just this week my brother, camping in the Upper Peninsula, caught this eagle in the middle of the road!

A

n article noted that in 1913 Henry Ford supported the migratory bird act, along with Theodore Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, and Thomas Edison. 

Ford's River Rouge complex was featured in an article on Ford's "battle against air pollution." By the 1960s, smog was affecting Dearborn neighborhoods. Ford spent $66 million to clean the air, but technology was limited. "300 engineers work full-time on the challenge," Frank Grady wrote. Ford only spent $50 million to develop the Mustang. 

"Everybody Loves Smokey the Bear" informs that Smokey getting 5,000 letters a week from fans.

Some of the letters are included. One reads,  "I would like to baby sit for Smokey. I am nine years old and I am not afraid of bears. your friend, Rhonda G."

Some of us Boomers remember the early 1970s and The Population Bomb scare that humanity was reproducing to levels that would cause mass destruction. "We're Running Out of Elbow Room!" is filled with warnings. First, the author claims that crime increases with population density because of psychological stress. The article concludes without answers, but says that one planner suggests better city planning.

"The Silent '70 Ford" had a muffler "improved with the addition of an asbestos wrapper."

 I noted the use of a black model in the article.

"Ford's Campaign to Control Auto Emissions" begins, "it would take three 1970 Ford cars to emit as much hydro-carbons and carbon monoxide" as was released by one 1960 model. Non-lead gas was "on the way" and research into alternatives to the internal combustion engine was noted to have been going on since 1952.

"National Parks are for People" included photographs by Bill Schmidt.

Cars + Parks = Camping.

"Camping....Why Do It?" is a humorous look at camping. Jean Riss writes,

"Sanitary facilities" Criminy! The simple problem of constructing a latrine in the wilderness tells more in half an hour about a man--his patience and ingenuity, his grasp of engineering principles, psychology, esthetics and the prevailing winds--that you could hope to learn on a world cruise."

 The issue ends with a Torino ad.

Ford Motor Company began publishing The Ford Times in 1908. The last issue came out in 1993. I was given a collection of copies from the 1960s and 1970s.

WIP, TBR & News

The Bronte Sisters by Nancy A. Bekofske

I believe I have finished the Bronte Sisters quilt, latest in my series of Literary Quilts. I keep wondering about more embellishment. The Jane Sassaman fabrics were perfect for my vision of these writers.

I am playing with fabrics from Jane Sassaman I found at Tuesday Morning.

A quilter can find color inspiration ANYWHERE. I made my husband stop the TV so I could get a pic of Edgar Standish's sweater worn on Whiskey Cavalier. We loved the series Chuck and this show reminded us of that one. I loved that color combo. I found these Kona cotton fabrics that matched just great! Now to play...

The Standish Sweater and Kona Cottons

I brought in spring quilts to show and tell at the weekly quilt group and they were snapped up for display this month at our local library.

Stained Glass flowers from an unfinished block of the month quilt by Nancy A. Bekofske

Morning Glory was a Quiltmaker magazine pattern. Made by Nancy A. Bekofske

I won some book swag for reviewing Gold Digger: The Remarkable Story of Baby Doe Tabor by Rebecca Rosenberg! Find my review here.

I received a Goodreads win, Lisa Genova's Every Note Played. It is shown against the center of an early Handkerchief Quilt I made with Lizst's Liebestraume!

I am LOADED with review books!

Reading now:

• This Tender Land by William Kent Kreuger 
• Kopp Sisters On The March by Amy Stewart

Books still to come in my mailbox include

• The Rest of the Story by Sarah Dessen, YA book that was an instant #2 on the NYT best sellers, from David Abram's fantastic blog The Quivering Pen 
• Inland by Tea' Obreht reimagines the Old West, from LibraryThing
• Archeology From Space: How the Future Shapes Our Past by Sarah Parcak, from LibraryThing

On my Edelweiss TBR shelves:

• Cesare: A Novel of War-Torn Berlin by Jerome Charyn 
• Cold Warriors: Writers Who Waged the Literary Cold War by Duncan White 

On my NetGalley TBR shelves:

• Why We Quilt by Thomas Knauer 
• The Vexations by Caitlin Horrocks fiction about Erik Satie
• The Long Call by Anne Cleeves by the author of Vera and Shetland
• The Violent Century by Lavie Tidhar author of Central Station and Unholy Land
• The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal set during the 1850 Great Exhibition
• A Polar Affair by Lord Spencer Davis who was with the Scott expedition and studied penguins
• Inventing Tomorrow: H. G. Wells and the 20th Century by Sarah Cole
• Broke by Jodie Adams Kirshner about Detroiters after the city's bankruptcy
• The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols by Nicholas Meyer, author of Sherlock Holmes continuations including The 7% Solution
• The Book of Science and Antiquities by Thomas Keneally who wrote Schindler's List
• The Women of Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell set in Calumet, MI
• Out of Darkness Shining Light by Petina Gappah about the last days of David Livingston in Africa

And a win from Breathless, Bubbles & Books Facebook Group

• Wickwythe Hall by Judithe Little, WWII fiction inspired by real events

A new friend at our weekly quilt group showed us these gorgeous Hexie blocks made with vintage embroidered textiles! Way to go, Tammy!

Tammy's vintage embroidery hexies

On the quilt group free table I found a 1982 Quilt magazine with this article on a Charlie Harper quilt designed for a woman's group near Cincinnati Ohio. I shared on the Facebook group Quilts-Vintage and Antique and several people remembered this quilt and one even made a block. I have contacted the woman's group to see if they have any information in their records. Or...a pattern...

Cardinal Carnival Quilt designed by Charlie Harper
for the Montgomery Woman's Club Quilters

Our garden is blooming profusely because we had rain almost every day last month.

We had a landscaping company install the front garden last year. Bush roses, geranium, and hydrangea are blooming.

A section of the garden that floods was a perfect place for these iris.

The white rose was here, perhaps planted by my mother.

 The red rose bush was my husband's addition.

A squirrel was climbing my window!

We have a momma bunny in the yard. 

Now and then we see little bunny ears above the door wall to the patio.

A few days ago we puppysat our grandpuppy Ellie. She spooked up the baby bunny, which gave her a grand chase before ducking behind the garage, a temporary fence keeping Ellie out. Ellie was very excited. The baby was back the next day.

Ellie_theShibaInu has her own Instagram account

Today is a special day...my 47th anniversary!

My 1972 wedding photo

Charles Harper's Birds & Words

I received Charles Harper's Birds & Words from my husband for Christmas, a book that has long been on my wish list. It is a reprinting of Harper's 1972 book presenting the bird portfolios sold at $5 each in the back of the Ford Times, the Ford Motor Company's lifestyle magazine. 

Harper's original introduction was of great interest to me as I knew little about the life of the artist. He grew up on a farm, but farm life disagreed with him. He was repulsed by how farm animals were treated. After his service in the army he spent some unsatisfying time in New York City before studying at the Cincinnati Art Academy. A trip out west gave him direction. As he studied nature he began to understand the complexity of human existence and our relationship to nature. He wrote, 

"...the more I learn about nature, the more I am troubled by unanswerable questions about human exploitation of plants and animals and our casual assumption that the natural world is here only to serve people. I see all living things as fellow creatures with as might right as I have to be here and to continue living. I have to ask myself how man, the predator with a conscience, can live without carrying a burden of guilt for his existence at the expense of other creatures. Where does none draw the line between preservation of nature and preservation of self?"

Western Tanager from Ten Western Birds

The book is divided into the six portfolios:

• Ten Western Birds, from Ford Times 1956
• America's Vanishing Birds, from Ford Times 1957
• Ten Southern Birds, from Ford Times 1958
• American Bird Architects, from Ford Times 1959
• American Bird Census, from Ford Times 1960
• Ten Collector Prints

Marsh Hen from America's Vanishing Birds

Each bird is given two pages, one page showing the illustration and a page for Harper's descriptions, which are often whimsical, a pure delight to read. The title font Kismet was specially chosen by Harper for the book. 

Meadowlark from American Bird Architects

Baltimore Oriel from American Bird Architects

Readers also learn about how Harper developed his unique style, paring images down to geometrical shapes.

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher from Ten Western Birds

Although I do love all the illustrations, it was the section of America's Vanishing Birds that moved me the most. These birds became extinct directly by human hands: The Great Auk, destroyed by 1844; the Carolina Paroquet, gone by 1904, hunted for ladies' hats; the Passenger Pigeon last seen in 1914; the Heath Hen which in 1830 was commonly found around Boston; and the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker, Labrador Duck, and Eskimo Curlew. Endangered, but still with us, he included the Whopping Crane, Trumpeter Swan, California Condor (extinct in 1987 but being reintroduced), and the Everglade Kite.

I knew the book would be a visual feast, and that a study of the art would be interesting. I had not realized that Harper was also "an alternative Audubon" who was an environmentalist at heart.

Charlie Harper's Birds and Words
www.ammobooks.com
$27.95 US/$31.95 Canada/$14.95 GBP
ISBN: 978-193442905-1