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mahatmakanejeeves

(56,897 posts)
Tue Jun 30, 2015, 02:07 PM Jun 2015

A Mystery Floating in the Water

A Mystery Floating in the Water

Monday, June 29, 2015

Have you ever seen an intriguing object bobbing along in the water? Robert Townley, a web developer who lives in Washington, DC, was recently walking along the Georgetown waterfront when he saw a booklet of some kind floating in the water. He took the photo you see above and then borrowed a net from a nearby fisherman to retrieve the book.

It turned out to be a photo album, and it apparently documented the first week of a baby's life. Obviously, the photos are now water-damaged, but many of them are still heart-tuggers:



There's a much more detailed version of this story, along with more photos, on Townley's website.

Townley is now wondering, just as you probably are, "Who are these people, and how did their baby album end up in the Georgetown Canal?" He's set up a Facebook group to help investigate the album's backstory and, ideally, return it to its rightful owners. Feel free to join the group and contribute to the sleuthing!

(Big thanks to Mike Engle for letting me know about this one.)

Posted by Paul Lukas at 1:34 PM
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A Mystery Floating in the Water (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jun 2015 OP
When I worked at the library, murielm99 Jun 2015 #1

murielm99

(30,656 posts)
1. When I worked at the library,
Tue Jun 30, 2015, 05:46 PM
Jun 2015

we found a baby book in the bottom of a box of donated books. There was no last name and no cover. The book was from the 1940's and fascinating.

We knew what rural settlement it had come from, but that was all. We asked at the senior center, got a local genealogy group to help us, and put an article in the paper. It did wonders for circulation.

Eventually, the owner's family came forward.

I have never had a reference question more rewarding or complicated than that. It was wonderful.

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