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Washington, D.C., circa 1921. "Edwards boy at Octagon House." The enigmatic E-Boy, back for his sixth appearance. National Photo Co. View full size.
The house is still there, but the numbers have been changed to protect the innocent! It's at 1799 New York Ave, NW.
After the White House was burned by the British during the War of 1812, the Octagon house served as the executive mansion for President James Madison. In Master Edward's day it was open for public tours. Presently, it's a museum of architectural design.
This Edwards boy thing. I'm just thinkin'. Maybe a newspaper in some town in the hinterlands did this as a series or photospread.
[From the Library of Congress Prints and Photographic Collection catalog: "The National Photo Company Collection documents virtually all aspects of Washington, D.C., life. During the administrations of Presidents Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover, the National Photo Company supplied photographs of current news events in Washington, D.C., as a daily service to its subscribers. It also prepared sets of pictures on popular subjects and undertook special photographic assignments for local businesses and government agencies." - tterrace]
EB visited a lot of places in Washington so maybe he was the Son of a Congressman or Senator, or at least the Son of someone with enough clout to get him in all these places, or maybe he just won a contest.
I'm still waiting to find out who Kermy was, at least there's a chance he's still alive and could have a meaningful dialog with us.
Both Shorpy Higginbotham and The Edwards Boy celebrate their fifth cyber-birthdays this year (S.H. in February, T.E.B. this December), but regrettably the identity of the latter remains buried in the mists of time. Or in the emulsions of plates. Too bad he didn't have a less common name, like Oglethorpe, that would facilitate Joe Manning-style tracking.
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