Vintage Vestiges of Your Profession

[kiltie]

I'd be curious to know what remains of days gone by, as far as members professions are concerned, and what do YOU do to maintain those connections to the past. My job is rife with traditions and elements linked to "the old days", many reaching back before the "Golden Era". I am a fireman.
The single thing that most people, particularly Americans, associate with the fireman of any era is his helmet. Many American fire departments still wear the helmet with the long "beaver tail" in the back and raised finial holding the leather shield identifying his company. The fire helmet has seen many changes since the 1960's, right up to the "fighter pilot" style popular in Europe right now. I am fortunate enough to live in a city that walks the tightrope between traditionalism and progressiveness. We still wear the old style helmet with a brass eagle in the front, now made from lighter, modern materials. My personal contribution to upholding the links with the past in this arena is my leather helmet. Even now though, the leather helmets are made with an impact cap on the inside, separating them from their ancestors.

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My company and unit designations ( 1's Ladder ) are painted on the shield, rather than stamped on the typical "passport" style front.
Until recently, New York City, Boston, and San Francisco were still issued the leathers. I believe that Boston is the last major American city that still issues the leather helmet to it's new members ( and I may be wrong about that ), due to their high cost; about twice as much as a composite helmet of the same style.
Another instantly recognizable piece of firefighting gear is the coat. San Antonio has been wearing "bunker gear" for many years now, but it has only been within the last two years that the last major American city - Chicago - changed from the traditional 3/4 length, rubberized duck coats to the more modern "bunkers". NYC changed in '94, Boston soon thereafter...
Another bit of nonsense that I try to keep up with is wearing my saucer cap ( San Antonio does not wear the "bell" type dress hat ). I've taken out the halo that keeps it rigid and wear it like a crusher, cocked to one side. At first, it was looked upon as an anachronism, but is fairly well accepted by most of the guys now ( although I haven't influenced any of them to follow suit ).
Terminology is another aspect that is slow ( has even refused ) to change - until now. Each region, and even each department has it's own lingo strectching back to the days of the horses. NIMS ( the so called National Incident Management System ) is seeing to the fact that all of these traditional terms will soon be lost to everyone but the buffs and die with the oldtimers. San Antonio is full of terms used by few, if any other departments. For instance, since the advent of motorized apparatus, we've called what most departments refer to as an "engine", a "motor". This term was used to distinguish between apparatus in a house that contained both horse-drawn and motorized types ( S.A. ran horses well into the '20s ). We are technically no longer allowed to refer to pumper apparatus as "motors" on the radio, but twelve years in, and a nearly a hundred years of motorized tradition before that, ensures that the word does escape, from time to time. I won't even get into the "10" codes, which will soon be gone from every public safety entity in the nation.
Another of my contributions to maintaining the traditions of my profession ( and really, the volunteers from waaaay back ), has been my involment as one of the founding members of our flegling bagpipe band:

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This oulet enables me and other likeminded individuals from across the nation to get together and grouse about "the way it used to be" ( like I have any real idea ) and how it should be, which of course is the strongest, oldest tradition in any fire department. I'm quite certain at the first "big one" of the Bronze Age, the Iron Age old timers were complaining, "We never used to do it like this...you youngsters are spoiled...etc..."
San Antonio has had a professional fire department since 1891. Traditions have come and gone, but the strongest hang on, even though the Fed and general "progressiveness" are doing everthing in their considerable power to ensure that these things don't infect the young.

Fun pictures:

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My brother and me -

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj290/safdkiltie/IMG_0104.jpg

My dad's a fireman, too

 

[John in Covina]

As an automotive replacement parts catalog researcher, I had the good fortune of seeing very early printed replacement parts cataloging from the 1930's and 1940's when at Egge Machine. The formats of presenting look up information seems to have changed little in the printed cataloging but the way it is presented before the use of computers to lay out the information is a neat change.

The switch to electronic cataloging is a big change as to how info is presented, but even that is 30 plus years old.

 

[LocktownDog]

I'm a graphic designer, so almost everything is done by computer now. You wouldn't belive how many untrained artists (even those young'uns who are trained!) think that just because they have some artistic talent and have experience with computers they can be graphic artists too. You would not begin to imagine the designs that have come across my desk that I've had to work with.

But there are still those of us who have been around long enough to do the work without modern technology. There have been a handful of times that all the computer systems have gone down and deadlines still needed to be met. While others were making excuses and calling clients, I was just doing my job.

 

[Eyemo]

Photographer....I think probably one industry that has completely changed in a very short space of time... I mean, how many active darkrooms are the now in relation to what there was 10-15 years ago....

Digital format..What no film?? A couple of memory cards can give me £500+ worth of stock and dev.

Ahhh D76.....A rare forumla...
But I still prefer film...

 

[Lillemor]

I'm a homemaker. I just need a period house and a "down-date" in appliances.

 

[Gutshot]

The beauty of being an engineer is that math has changed very little. I've got a number of engineering texts from the 20-40s that look almost exactly like the ones I bought new in school. I will say I've got one from the turn of the last century that discusses straw and hair as insulation for boilers, so... yeah some things have changed.

And then there's this:

Isn't she pretty? I just wish I knew how to really honestly use it and do so well. It's a hard thing to learn in this day and age. No one makes slide rules any more and there isn't much information on using them.

 

[ScottF]

I'd be curious to know what remains of days gone by, as far as members professions are concerned, and what do YOU do to maintain those connections to the past. My job is rife with traditions and elements linked to "the old days", many reaching back before the "Golden Era". I am a fireman.

Kiltie, I have an old O.R. Clone I wear that supposedly belonged to a Seattle fire chief back in the '40s, so if I were a fireman like you, it would be a perfect nostalgic tie to my profession.

But as an educator, the only vintage remains are my salary.

 

[kiltie]

But as an educator, the only vintage remains are my salary.

( uncomfortable chortle... ) Yeah, that's not really the part you wanna play up, huh?

 

[AmateisGal]

I'm a writer. I actually started my writing career in the sixth grade with my mom's old manual typewriter. Used pen and paper for awhile, too.

Now I do almost everything on the computer because my fingers can keep up with my thoughts, whereas I get a hand cramp from trying to write too fast on the paper.

I do still journal a lot (nice journal and pen) and I have a quill pen and ink that I use to write letters. So I guess that's my own little way of keeping my career vintage. Oh - and my novels are set during World War II, so that helps, too.

 

[Atticus Finch]

I’m an attorney and I guess that almost everything in my profession is linked inextricably to the past. While the law constantly evolves, it generally does so (painfully) slowly. Even today, I often rely upon cases that were decided in the forties, fifties and sixties when I formulate arguments. Those cases are still good law and, therefore, they are part of my everyday “workplace”. In fact, I have long felt that conducting legal research is like taking a journey into the past. The issues arising in the old cases, and the logic by which they are addressed, are almost always reflective of the cultural climate of the time in which they were decided. I have found that a careful reading old appellate court cases can provide a fascinating glimpse into our past that isn't available from any other source.

AF

 

[bendingoak]

I'm with you on some of the traditions. My department not only didn't have the leather helmets they had what I liked to call them "salad bowls.". They looked like a construction helmet. Very modern. After I got of probation I went out and sent my own money and got me a traditional helmet made from leather. It what I was used to living and growing up in NYC.

here's a pic of me wearing the leather traditional helmet of mine in front of a practice burn.

Kiltie, I don't know how you get shots during a run. Brings me to my next point . Thats what they call it out here. Going on a "call" west coast. I was used to calling it a "run" NY or east coast. NY calls them "Ladders" , west coast calls it "Trucks."

A lot of the traditions are falling away to nothingness. Most of my department didn't know the origins or the reason we wear the Maltese cross.

Kiltie, we wore bell caps. Here's a shot of me in my Class A's for the Fire service honor guard.

Thats all behind me now but at least I use the tools and techniques that was used in the golden era to make my hats. It's my way of keeping up with some old traditions that need to be kept alive.

 

[Eyemo]

In my collection....

 

[Eyemo]

Where is "Holbrook" btw.?..

 

[MPicciotto]

I am in HVAC and formerly strictly propane heat or "Bottle Gas". I collect old tools and books of my trade. I dont' use any of them on the job now. I have modern ones that work just fine for me. I even related it back to my interest in WW2 and living history having found a "Gas Emergency OCD" (Office of Civlian Defense) badge that I have worn on coveralls at the Reading Airshow and tinkered with our gas bottle and stove using my vintage tools. My old boss is a reenactor and good friend. His family propane company was founded in 1945 with war surplus trucks and equipment. He and I would sit and study some of the old company photographs and identify Ford GTB's, Jeeps etc.

Matt

 

[Rachael]

I'm a clothing designer, so I use a lot of vintage tools every day. If I could, I'd sew on a vintage machine because they just work better. Meanwhile, I use my grandmother's shears which have never lost their edge and maintain the old methods of garment construction. Because they still work and it gives me a daily connection to the history of my trade. There are a lot of shortcut methods out there but I ignore them; usually the shortest distance between two points will fall out with wear.
But it sure is nice to have a steam iron with a teflon foot. I'm just sayin'.

 

[bendingoak]

My grandfather, great-uncle, and great-grandfather were all firemen in the town where I grew up -- the latter two both serving as chief over a span of about sixty years between them. To this day the fire department in that town is known as the "Barney Hose Company," after my great-grandfather's horse.

As for me, well, my Golden Era predecesor as local theatre manager was a very busy fellow: he presided over war bond drives. scrap campaigns, midnight shows for servicemen -- and delivered what was probably the first local public announcement of the Pearl Harbor attack by mounting the stage during a Sunday matinee, and announcing that all servicemen in the crowd were required to report to their bases immediately. Here he's keeping the local urchins under control during a scrap drive in 1943:

We still do lots of community events, but fortunately I have not yet had to deal with a mountain of scrap.

I don't know how I missed this. I have a friend Barney who was a fireman for the FDNY. He was the most impressive person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I was given his helmet, department photo, union card and his badge.

Here's the badge. He cared it that way his whole life after retiring from the department in the 70's. It was the last thing he asked to see the day he died.

 

[bendingoak]

I'm sorry. I should have posted this so everyone knows what I'm talking about.


HISTORY AND HERITAGE / ORIGIN OF THE MALTESE CROSS
When a courageous band of crusaders known as the Knights of St. John, fought the Saracens for possession of the holy land, they encountered a new weapon unknown to European warriors. It was a simple, but a horrible device of war, it wrought excruciating pain and agonizing death upon the brave fighters for the cross. The Saracen's weapon was, fire.

As the crusaders advanced on the walls of the city, they were struck by glass bombs containing naphtha. When they became saturated with the highly flammable liquid, the Saracens hurled a flaming torch into their midst. Hundreds of the knights were burned alive; others risked their lives to save their brothers-in-arms from dying painful, fiery deaths.

Thus, these men became our first firefighter and the first of a long list of courageous firefighters. Their heroic efforts were recognized by fellow crusaders who awarded each here a badge of honor - a cross similar to the one firefighter's wear today. Since the Knights of St. John lived for close to four centuries on a little island in the Mediterranean Sea named Malta, the cross came to be known as the Maltese Cross.

The Maltese Cross is your symbol of protection. It means that the firefighter who wears this cross is willing to lay down his life for you just as the crusaders sacrificed their lives for their fellow man so many years ago. The Maltese Cross is a firefighter's badge of honor, signifying that he works in courage - a ladder rung away from death.

 

[indycop]

The wearing of the shield on the left side by police is a direct, intentional, overt reference to the knights of old. They woke up everyday and donned armor. They hung a weapon on their hip and a shield on their left side. They went forth and administered justice. The knights of old are now somewhat mythical, but they are the model dedicated to righteousness and justice. This is why police wear the shield on the left side.

 

[kiltie]

Kiltie, I don't know how you get shots during a run. Brings me to my next point . Thats what they call it out here. Going on a "call" west coast. I was used to calling it a "run" NY or east coast. NY calls them "Ladders" , west coast calls it "Trucks."

Oak -

I carry either a POS disposable in the jump seat or on the dash of the truck ( ladder to you... NIMS has got us calling them ladders now, too...) or have my phone in my pocket. The pics that open this post were from a four alarm fire at a university built in the 1800's. After cycling through rehab a couple hours in, I had plenty of time to walk around to the front to shoot a coupla pics. We were there for quite a while. One of the Chief's Aides shot the one of me and my brother ( who's in the next company over south of us - good to see him working now and again ) and the one of me operating the aerial at a good residential.

 

[Miss Ritz]

The beauty of being an engineer is that math has changed very little. I've got a number of engineering texts from the 20-40s that look almost exactly like the ones I bought new in school. I will say I've got one from the turn of the last century that discusses straw and hair as insulation for boilers, so... yeah some things have changed.

And then there's this:

Isn't she pretty? I just wish I knew how to really honestly use it and do so well. It's a hard thing to learn in this day and age. No one makes slide rules any more and there isn't much information on using them.

This made me laugh! I work in a museum, directly with the artifacts, each and everyday. Just last week we added a slide rule almost exactly like this to our collection, leather case and all!!