Treasure trove of Max Factor artifacts found in Redondo Beach garage
Posted: 02/02/2013 03:48:39 PM PST
Updated: 02/02/2013 03:55:34 PM PST
It seemed like an unassuming file box until Arnie Goldstein opened it.
Goldstein, who was helping his friend in Redondo Beach clean out her garage for a yard sale, said he was in awe when he realized the file box was filled with letters dated during the years of World War II.
"The first thing I said was, 'Oh my God, this is history,'" Goldstein said. "I sat there and said, 'Do you know what you have here?' This is incredible stuff to find after all these years."
The letters were the back-and-forth correspondence of David Factor - son of renowned Hollywood makeup artist Max Factor - and his distant relatives in Poland.
More: http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_22507233/treasure-trove-max-factor-artifacts-found-redondo-beach
My grandfather has letters, videos, and photographs from both well-before, immediately before, and after the war that were sent to relatives in England and the US. Some day here eventually I'll get around to converting these documents to digital format (he's reluctant to do this). Some of the highlights include a studio portrait that I believe is from the 1880s of his grandparents and relatives, video of family outings to the beach and hot water springs, and a letter written by an American soldier to his cousin in Boston from immediately after the war letting him know that my grandfather had survived Buchenwald and was working in the American camps. My grandfather and grandmother are in their 90s and also live in Redondo Beach.
Does your family have any such items?
= new reply since forum marked as read
My Gram's second husband was in the Navy, and we have boxes of letters between him and his first wife from 1937 to the mid-60's. Several more boxes of photos and slides, and his medals.
I've got the letters sorted by year, and I'm just now finishing reading 1939. They were quite a pair. she was several years older and had been married before. I have 2 marriage certs for them, as it seems the first wasn't quite legal (or they divorced and remarried).
Casey wrote a great description of the Panama Canal, writes a bit about how the ship works, and in one letter about standing to attention as FDR passes by on another ship. I'm really looking forward to the war year's letters.
They didn't have any kids, so I'm trying to track down their sibling's families.
Kenneth Charles MILLER
Birth 9 Aug 1913 in Texas
Death 29 Aug 2005 in Multnomah, Oregon, United States
and
Sennie Ruth WILSON
Birth 04 Sep 1908 in Alabama
Death 25 Mar 1979 in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon, USA
and here's a link to the tree I've built so far...
http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/23422653/family?cfpid=1385755574
(somebody click on this please, and let me know if it shows up right) 
