Letter From Harry M. Gehris to Alfred L. Shoemaker, December 10, 1956

Authors

Harry M. Gehris

Document Type

Correspondence

Files

Date

12-10-1956

Keywords

Harry M. Gehris, bones, rag and bone peddler, fertilizer, bone meal, scrapple

Description

A handwritten letter from Harry M. Gehris addressed to Alfred L. Shoemaker, dated December 10, 1956. Within, Gehris details his trading of bones to a peddler during his youth.

Sender

Harry M. Gehris

Recipient

Alfred L. Shoemaker

Corresponds to:

Packet 21-33

Transcription

Please read letter inside

Dec 10 - 56

Dear Dr. Shoemaker,

I heard you ask for information on bone selling long time ago.

This is what I know about bone selling 38 yrs. ago.

When I was 10 yrs. old I sold bones in bags at 1 cent a lb. to a rag-bone and gum-shoe peddler that came around at my house (our home)

After the neighborhood boys and myself sold our bones to this peddler we would wait until he got to the next door neighbors house and then take our bones off of his wagon and sell them to him again the following week.

This must have put him out of business - because he never came around any more. Ha! Ha!

At that time bones were used to make fertilizer, to-day they are used in the manufacture of bone meal and beef scrap.

Sorry I can’t write you this information in Pa. Dutch .

Sincerely

Harry M. Gehris

Language

English

Rights Statement

This item is available courtesy of the Ursinus College Library Special Collections Department. It is not to be copied or distributed for commercial use. For permissions which fall outside of educational use, please contact the Special Collections Department.

Recommended Citation

Gehris, Harry M., "Letter From Harry M. Gehris to Alfred L. Shoemaker, December 10, 1956" (1956). Alfred L. Shoemaker Folk Cultural Documents. 258.
https://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/shoemaker_documents/258