Professor Hamilton's Diary: Dec.

He gets a parking ticket; Christmas shopping ads dominate newspaper

Of all the luck. Professor Hamilton completed his teaching for the year, attended a Christmas service in the Albright College chapel, and drove downtown to mail some packages at the post office. Returning to his car, he found he had “received a red tag from police for 10 min. stop” while he was inside.

“I went to Police Sta. but they would not excuse it until morning,” he wrote. Bummer!

Maybe the police were occupied tracking down two laconic men who robbed a Reading liquor store. Paid subscribers can read about this and other breaking stories. Click below to upgrade.

Professor Hamilton’s diary is again blank on Dec. 27. Don’t you want to know what happened to daughters Gwennie and Mary Elizabeth after they grew up? Alas, only paid subscribers will know. Give yourself an early Christmas gift and sign up today for just $5 a month or $50 a year. That way you will also be ready to enjoy the diaries of Mrs. Ross, a Washington, D.C. matron writing about the early days of World War II; Walter E. Askew, chief of police in Newnan, Ga. in 1930; and Myra Jackson, a young farm wife and mother living in Petrey, Alabama in 1932. For various reasons, these diaries are incomplete, but each provides fascinating insights into America during those turbulent years. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts!

The postcard above, being offered on eBay, depicts the first uniformed police department of Reading in the post-civil war years of 1865-67. Looks like the Keystone Kops!