Helen Hemlin Cooke’s Obituary
Sorting photos was Episode 3’s theme. I opened one of the smaller bins I had set aside while unpacking the mystery box that ended up containing (mostly) vintage clothes looking for photos. Instead, I found Helen Cooke’s obituary.
1938 – 1945 Career
I had not remembered that Helen worked for Douglas Leigh as Publicity Director, 1938 – 1945. Nor did I know of his advertising fame for lighting up Times Square and the Empire State Building. I would also not realize until writing this post, that Helen also contributed eight articles to The New Yorker during those years, while also working for Leigh.
The Smithsonian Archives of American Art holds Leigh’s 1903 – 1999 papers. I was particularly interested in his personal scrapbook for the years 1942 – 1950. I wondered if labeled photos in the scrapbooks could help me identify people in my photos. And, I wondered if any correspondence was from Helen.
Due to coronavirus lockdowns, in January 2021, I could not visit the archives. Someday, I hope to visit and view the scrapbooks, some of which I suspect she assembled. Instead, I revived a tool I used in my first 1,000-letters project, Running to Thousand Letters, a memoir.
The “For Later” List
The “For Later” list functioned as a holding place for unanswered questions. It also helped with my tendency to procrastinate by following research paths or undertaking house projects, even though, although satisfying, I had a hunch it wasn’t the highest priority at the time.
For example, I was curious about these pictures and whether Leigh’s archives could shed light on their identities. Were these some of the people that Helen had mentioned during my summer visits? What are these photos Helen is sorting? Why are there four pictures of her? What is she typing? Who is that man in the bow tie and glasses at the holiday party? He seemed sonfamiliar to me. Every time I returned to the photo, I thought for sure that I knew him.
Onto the “For Later”list questions about these photos went.
Air Force Officers Spouse’s Club Responds
In Episode 2 I had been curious about one of the few photos that *was* labeled. Helen was the Director of Publicity for the Air Force Officers’ Spouse’s Club (AFOSC) in 1951. After the episode I wrote to the club to see if they were interested in this photo and was thrilled to get a response a few days later. They were interested in the photo and any more that I might have. Many of their historical photos had been damaged due to less than ideal storage conditions. On the way to looking for more AFOSC photos, I indulged many distractions.
Distraction #1: World War 2 Photos
In December, sorting photos started with seeking what I thought were World War 2 photos, possibly shot by my grandfather, Charles Cooke. I shared this sample that I believed was likely related to setting up the U.S. Army’s Iceland Base Command in Episode 3.
In June of 2021 while writing this post, I found the link in the above sentence. It erroneously linked a photo of Camp Pershing, Iceland, in 1942, to the wrong source page of Guarding the United States and its Outposts. The book is the “second of two volumes on the plans made and measures taken by the Army to protect the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere against military attack by the Axis Powers during World War II.”
I was interested in the right page because it contained a near duplicate of a photo I had in my collection.
On a hunch, I clicked “previous chapter.”
Chapter 19: Establishing the Iceland Command Base explained the picture. It was Camp Pershing, Iceland in 1942. My photo #1 of 2 of the same scene from the family storage unit has different lighting.
But, why is this photo in my collection? Was it Charles’ photo? I suspected the answer was that Iceland was one of Charles’ first assignments in World War 2. I knew he had something to do with reporting news for the Army and that was my lead.
Yet, that investigation, too, went onto the “For Later” list. Helen and Charles wrote 600 of the 1,000 letters in my collection during World War 2, including in 1942. I suspected the answer would come soon enough.
Unlabeled and curled photos made unrolling them with care difficult. Reluctantly, I placed them in between books and added scanning them to my “For Later” list. Perhaps future letters would refer to them providing needed context.
Distraction #2: Baby Photos
Few pictures of myself as a baby exist, to my knowledge. I’m not usually nostalgic about things like this. Yet, I enjoyed these photos, especially the ones of me running around in my birthday suit and a towel in 1968 (Yeah, sorry, not included).
Sorting Photos – More AFOSC
I sorted all the photos as best I could into envelopes and placed them into one of the bins I’d emptied in Episode 2. I then cleaned the original photo bin and placed all the Helen related photos in it. That’s where I found the additional AFOSC photos. I prioritized scanning them and scheduled a time to talk to the club over the phone.
More ‘For Later’
No opening of a box can pass without distractions. I was excited to find Helen’s National Press Club Pass. Her obituary stated she had been one of the first 12 women inducted into the club. Who were the other 11? That investigation joined the “For Later” list as part of what I hope will be a research trip to Washington D.C.
Upon finding copy of her book, Distinguished Women of Washington D.C., I noted the Library of Congress was missing its copy. The “For Later” list gained an action item of me gifting my copies to the library.
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