Heads of the Class of 1915, New Castle High School, New Castle, Pa.

"NCHS, Class of 1915, Photo by Seavy."

The heads of 98 members of the class of 1915 at New Castle High School in New Castle, Pennsylvania, form the letters "NCHS" in this remarkable photographic montage by Edgar E. Seavy (for information about the photographer, see Seavy's Photo Studio - New Castle PA, a Lawrence County Memoirs article by Jeff Bales, Jr.).

It must have been an exacting task to cut out and assemble the 98 portraits to form the letters and then re-photograph the whole thing in order to produce a real photo postcard like this one (see also enlargements of the left half, right half, and letter S).

Although the card is addressed on the back to "Miss Edna Wenger, Berlin, Pa.," there's no stamp or postmark, indicating that it was sent through the mail in an envelope rather than separately as a postcard. In addition to the address, the back of the card is filled with various notes, one of which says, "Here are the pictures of the class to be graduated this year. You will find me in the letter S [see the circled face]. We are all busy now getting ready for senior parties, junior-senior banquet, commencement, and class night. Agnes."

Another note written later in a different hand identifies Agnes as "Papa's cousin, Agnes Conrad Allen. Head of state Rainbow Girls."

So it was Agnes Conrad (her marriage to Charles E. Allen took place in 1920) whose photo appears in the S and who was busy getting ready for her high school graduation in 1915. As the note also suggested, she later served for over fifty years as a leader in the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in Pennsylvania.

After high school, Agnes graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, taught elementary school, worked as a newspaper reporter, and participated in several other organizations besides the Rainbow Girls before she passed away in 1983 at the age of 86 ("Mrs. Agnes Allen," obituary, New Castle News, Jan. 7, 1983, p. 3).

Here are the rest of the notes that Agnes wrote on the back of the card:

"I hope to see you all next year and then I suppose I will be able to tell you everything that has been going on and make up for lost time."

"Tell your mother that my mother will write to her some time again. She is so busy now with house-cleaning. She speaks of cousin Lydia so often and how much she would like to see her."

"Clara has been sick with tonsillitis but is almost well again. If I keep on writing, this will be a letter."

Taken on: April 24, 2018

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