Lost Histories

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The Mystery Index Cards


The card index box I bought recently and which now serves as my Zettelkasten carried a hidden cargo of three file cards under the drawer that were written up a hundred years or so ago and refer to what I'm assuming to be small businesses or end customers of whomever wrote the cards at the time. All I know is they fascinate me in exactly the same ways as the found negatives and prints of photographs I've written about before. They carry the same aura of lost history about them: an archaeology of lost narratives; found objects on which to project assumed lives, stories and connections. It may even be possible to find real connections to them and place them in their actual, historical context.

As with the glass plate negative I wrote about in the post 'Holding Time Project' (September 19th.), the distance in time, the ambiguity of the objects taken out of that unknown context, and the absence yet, of any other evidence to confirm identity, location or even country preclude much further investigation; although the cards do at least have written content, albeit minimal, to at least point to real locations; where in the case of the photograph on the glass plate, I have little more than the name and address of the previous owner of the plate-holders to go on; an avenue I might pursue, anyway.

The fact that the cards refer to three addresses in three towns or cities in New Zealand might be a complete blind as they could conceivably have been written anywhere, even the UK. That they appear to be to do with a small business or maybe a society of some kind makes me think that they were probably written in New Zealand. I can't imagine who would be dealing with what appears to be a small stationery suppliers (the Auckland address is for The Dominion Stamp Co.) as far away as the UK, which is where the card box eventually ended up; as long as ago as the 1920s. The box is apparently of UK manufacture, but that it might have been exported to and sold in a Commonwealth country is entirely feasible. Living in the UK and buying rubber stamps from a shop in New Zealand then, would have nigh on impossible and certainly not very practical, given that transport by sea was the only option.

The address; 75, Shortland Street, Auckland doesn't show up on Google Maps or StreetView, but it could now be a part of a gallery which appears to straddle that street number, and is given as number 74. The other two cards refer to individuals; one living in Wanganui, the other in Dunedin. The Wanganui address brings up a private dwelling, so there might be some tenuous link to be found, but I somehow doubt it. The Dunedin address, 205, George Street is now, rather prosaically a Starbucks. Anyway, I rather prefer the mystery of them as they are: if I do unravel anything out of it though, I'll post my findings.

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