Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Another Letter From Alexander

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Your eyes are not playing tricks on you- this really looks like it was typed on a typewriter with a rounded surface. This is a fun letter from Alexander- he is selling our previously researched Luminous Ouija Board! And from what I can tell with a basic magnifying glass, that is a real ink signature!
Posted by The Amazing Mrs. Wood at Tuesday, August 03, 2010 Filed under: , , ,

4 comments:

  1. Joseph P.August 3, 2010 at 5:13 AM

    Another great piece.

    I was very interested as I am a member of (and work for) the Conjuring Arts Research Center http://conjuringarts.org/ .

    They use Claude Alexander's name for the online research tool called AskAlexander http://askalexander.org/ (because he was "The Man Who Knows" :)

    It has over 1 million documents (books and magazines) related to magic. If you would like, I could research to see if your father or grandfather is ever mentioned in the database. If he was a member of any local magic club, chances are good that he could be mentioned the many club reports that used to be sent into magic magazines.

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  2. The Amazing Mrs. WoodAugust 3, 2010 at 5:23 AM

    Joseph, that would be so awesome and generous of you! I love the CA website- so well put together and a great resource.

    There is also another name to look up- someone I think might have given my Grandfather at least some of the pieces in this collection- all I have is the last name, Griffiths, who lived in Chicago. I see his name once in a while on letters and envelopes, but as far as I can tell I have no family connection.

    My Grandfather's name was Carl Backus, and my Father's name was Gary Backus.

    I will be interested to see what you can find! Thank you!

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  3. Joseph P.August 3, 2010 at 7:03 AM

    I did a quick search and didn't find any Carl or Gary Backus.

    Only a Bob Backus from Lansing Michigan; a Joe Backus from Detroit, Michigan; and a Langdon Backus from Hagarstown, Maryland.


    William "Bill" C. Griffiths was a prominent amateur magician from Chicago in the 1950s and 60s. He was President of the local Society of American Magicians Assembly No. 3 in Chicago around 1960.

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  4. The Amazing Mrs. WoodAugust 3, 2010 at 5:33 PM

    Thank you so much for checking! I think that might be the wrong Griffiths- his name is on the 1912 and earlier items. I will have to look into my family tree to see if any of those Backus' are related to me :)

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