First and foremost THANK YOU for Sharing, and caring! Your collection testifies to a retired historian's observation: Civilization could have stopped 60/70 years ago and the world today would be a paradise; instead of the imploding chaos that rabid technological progressivism has made it (war profiteering, and weaponi… Read more

First and foremost THANK YOU for Sharing, and caring! Your collection testifies to a retired historian's observation: Civilization could have stopped 60/70 years ago and the world today would be a paradise; instead of the imploding chaos that rabid technological progressivism has made it (war profiteering, and weaponizing the world - who thought that was a worthwhile industry?!). These houses were made for social living - entertaining one's neighbors and community (imagine that!). Drop by after work for a cocktail, or Saturday afternoon for coffee and a chat. A shared culture of books and music and hobbies, and ensuing conversations that all intermingled with good work and family. Sports and entertainment were social activities not private sedentary absorptions. People had evening slide shows and talked. You could serve coffee and cake, or cocktails and hors d'oeuvres without half the guests declining for picky personal predilections (no hyperbole! End of my life, I can't go out for a beer down the pub with my buddies because of prissy persnickety preferences). Cars were sculptures, apparel was snappy (today t-shirt, baseball hat, and tennis shoes are the ubiquitous global culture!), jewelry was a classy accent, and everybody maintained a degree of polite civil decorum. The problems of those days weren't monolithic, society knew what was right and wrong, and more often than not transgressions were addressed and enforced by the community. Centuries old prejudices, race and class distinctions were in the process of disappearing. Cultural enclaves were respected, and respectfully operated within a larger increasingly enlightened society. People were informed, astute, personable, shook hands on a deal, and were genuinely gregarious. Self absorption was with your hobby, and it was as likely to be surrounded by family or friends similarly engaged. Kids were gone the entire day - "be back for dinner!", and if you need help "just ask somebody". The old widower next door or widow across the street were friends to the neighborhood kids and were regularly on the back porch talking with Dad or in the living room chatting with Mom. Contradistinct, entire cultures known for being "extendida" are today losing that to our privatized, fenced-in modern world. Where's the kids running around the neighborhood, the teen boys leisurely throwing football in the street, boys and girls courting on the front porch or flirting under the street lamp? My entire premise - the world represented by these literally open and transparent homes - boy, those were the days! I would trade my big screen streaming channels in a NY minute because . . . they're not much more than a lonely person's last refuge. Frank Lloyd Wright's entire Taliesin fellowship would be horrified at what we have made of their visionary gift. One likes to hope that someday, some brave new generation will discover your archive, and the extraordinary life it promised . . .