By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
GENEVA — When Edna Turner goes to flea markets or garage sales, she isn’t looking for the best bargains — she is looking for history.
Turner collects antique and vintage Geneva-area post cards. Her collection includes old visions of Geneva-on-the-Lake and of the downtown Geneva square.
One of Turner’s most recent postcard acquisitions comes with a mystery. The four black and white cards show a rally or parade in Geneva Square. Women wearing white are carrying a large banner with small stars on it. They stop at the Geneva Savings Bank where a speaker takes the stage in front of the large crowd. Many people carry American flags.
“There is a mystery surrounding these four post cards,” Turner said. “We want to know what the occasion was — why are these people gathered in the downtown? Why are the women dressed in white and what do the stars on the banner represent?”
Turner said many have speculated that the parade and rally was during the suffragette movement or a political rally. The genealogy department at the Geneva Public Library is also interested in the history behind Turner’s cards.
“But we don’t know for sure and we would like to be certain,” Turner said.
Turner, a member of the Geneva High School Class of 1957, has been collecting these post cards for 10 years or more. She remembers her first paying job was at Rees’ Drug Store as a soda jerk. She also collects old Geneva yearbooks.
“I think I am interested in Geneva history because it is my hometown,” Turner said. “There is this natural curiosity and it makes people want to know more.”
Anyone with information regarding the post cards can call the Geneva Public Library at (440) 466-4521.
