Inside the C. G. Conn factory in 1913

 As I continue to research Charles Gerard Conn (1844-1931), for years maker of the world's best Sousaphones, I discovered that Daniel Oberloh, who is a master of brass instrument repair and restoration, shared his collection of Conn factory postcard images online. I've reproduced these fascinating photographs here (although you may prefer his original posting, as he offers some commentary on them as well).

Daniel guessed that these pictures were snapped around 1911, but upon closer examination of the last few images, they appear to come from April 1913. Here is the last postcard, number 44:

There is C. G. Conn, in his office, but notice the calendar above his desk. Here's a closer look at it:

You can barely make out "1913" in the upper left corner, and while the page appears to say "March," you'll notice that the March page had been ripped off poorly, leaving portions of the top left of that page covering that portion of the April page. April 1 was a Tuesday in 1913, just as the calendar shows.

And just to confirm this, check out postcard number 43:

Above that desk is a much smaller calendar. I'll focus in on it a bit, although the details are pretty fuzzy:

Once again, you can barely make out what it says, but it appears to read "April" and, again, April 1 begins on Tuesday, which would be correct for 1913. So, 1913 it is!

Now, here is the full run of postcards from Daniel's website, showing the remarkable work that was done in the C. G. Conn musical instrument factory way back in 1913. Enjoy!