Welcome to Ephemeral Treasures1, my not-for-profit website, where I share my lifelong love of old postage stamps, postcards, covers2, and assorted collateral items such as maps, photographs, luggage labels, and airline schedules.
Born in New York State in 1943, I came of age in New Mexico and earned a journalism degree at the University of Missouri. I've been a teacher, a journalist, a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman, and a professional photographer, and I’ve lived in four states, two Canadian provinces, and three countries. I am a Canadian-American citizen by choice.
EVOKING WAR: As a Vietnam veteran, I salute the soldiers of my own family, back to the American Revolution, and those of all wars who did their best to retain their humanity against impossible odds.
AVIATION AT MID-CENTURY: My father taught me to keep my eyes on the ground, looking for Anasazi artifacts, and my ears open to the sky, listening for aircraft. Aircraft have embellished my life more than artifacts, although one did try to kill me.
NEW MEXICO CONNECTIONS: In 1949, when I was six, my father moved our small family from New York State to New Mexico. These pages tell what I experienced and learned because I went "out West" with my parents and older sister.
MISCELLANY: Cartoons featuring Millicent the elephant in Boys’ Life magazine amused me in the 1950s, but my Boy Scout mind conflated her name with miscellany. Just as Millicent ventured into miscellaneous subjects, so does MISCELLANY.
I've climbed (smallish) mountains, survived a violent plane crash in New Mexico's Black Range, seen Mt. Fuji through the periscope of a U.S. Navy submarine submerged in Sagami Bay, west of Tokyo Bay, and served with the U.S. Marines in the Vietnam War (I have a Purple Heart and the scars to prove it!).
How I create my web pages
I write my web pages myself, with Claude, Anthropic’s AI assistant, as my editor. Occasionally, when a topic lies beyond my expertise, I ask Claude to write an article, and I say so on that page.
Claude catches my typos, questions my dates, names, and claims, suggests clearer wording, and handles most of the formatting. When its suggestions don’t match my experience, I ask for sources and check them myself. Claude makes mistakes, but it readily admits and corrects them.
Whatever the page, I take responsibility for what I publish, and I welcome readers’ comments, questions, and corrections .
Note: Some of the images I use are not mine, but nearly all are published with their copyright owners' permission. If you believe I'm using one without permission, please email me.
Please join me on my journey through my history, and yours.
DIVERSIONS: FITNESS, FAMILY, FICTION is published by my wife, Susan Ingraham, who taught elementary and high school for 32 years, then in retirement became a fitness instructor, genealogist, and novelist. Seniors will enjoy her articles on exercise and health, and genealogists her pages about the Overturfs (her family) and the Ingrahams (mine).
Why is my website named Ephemeral Treasures? Every philatelist knows that a collection has a limited lifetime. Entropy — the gradual decline into disorder of everything — means that all the “made of paper” items in my collection will one day crumble to dust. The word ephemeral carries the same idea. As for “Treasures,” well, I treasure my collection, which contains many one-of-a-kind items. I am the only person in the world who owns the postcard I sent to my parents from Boy Scout camp in 1954. To me, that postcard is a treasure without price. And it’s ephemeral, just as I am…. But before I turn to dust, I hope you will enjoy my Ephemeral Treasures, and tell me so. ↩︎
To philatelists, a cover is a used envelope that has moved through the mail stream. Its stamps, cancellation, addresses, and postal markings often reveal the sender, the recipient, the time and route of transit, and even delays caused by crashes, fires, political unrest, wars, and storms. An enclosed letter sometimes holds information — philatelic gold! — that is missing from history books and TV documentaries. ↩︎