WE CAN’T GET ENOUGH of this enchanting vintage photo, sent to us by reader Elizabeth Edwardsen as an addition to Anastasia’s  “We Match” photo gallery. Contribute your matching family photos to claimingsisterhood [at] gmail [dot] com.

A late Soviet postcard honoring the March 8th holiday

TO MARK THIS CENTURY-OLD celebration of women, rooted in the early demonstrations in textile and garment factories and now a global celebration, each TSP sister is naming names of women she admires. For Marion, it’s all about historical hair–specifically those red roots. Paige is paying tribute to some serious sorcery, while Anastasia reflects on her eclectic inspirations. Please come add your honorees.

T HE RECENT TWIN-REDHEAD MYSTERY here on TSP got Marion Roach Smith (a redhead herself) remembering her start down the genealogy trail, searching for her roots. Find out where it led.

By Marion Roach Smith
WHEN NEWS OF ROZ LEIBOWITZ’S recently acquired collection of 18 vintage photos of twins Maurine and Noreene went up on TSP last week, we experienced a grand collective “Oh!” That quickly expanded into an “Oh, my goodness,” as one photo after the other built upon the sisters’ story. But it was a story we were making up, each of us, in response to what we saw. What was the real story? We all began to wonder.

Then Kevin, a visitor, began his comments. North Carolina-based Kevin has never even been to Texas, where the mystery twins were from. He reveals himself offline to be an amateur genealogist (though expert in his eye and reporting skills, I’d add), and first saw the photos on the Retro Renovation blog (which had written about our TSP story) then clicked to Flickr, where Roz’s whole collection lives, then to us. In his comments, he filled in the who, what, when and where of the tale. (Looking into the whys of these photos—as well as photos like these—is something I’ll do soon in upcoming posts on my blog, and spurred by Kevin’s good deed I also plan to begin a TSP category on genealogy.)

If, like me, you’ve gotten caught up in this, you’ll want to know what we now know about the sisters. So here it is:

The twins were born on November 18, 1915.  Our next update came in a yearbook photo Kevin sent us, which you can see here, along with the detail that Maurine Elizabeth Everett died on October 12, 2004, four months before her sister, Noreene Dodd. Apparently Maurine lived to be 88, and Noreene to the age of 89.

“It was really a miracle that their yearbook photo was online,” says Kevin, “because I never would have expected that.” The yearbook photo contains a third Everett girl whose name likewise rhymes: Lorine. We haven’t got more to share on her…yet.

With each fact I found myself looking again and again—each time more deeply—into the photographs. As I did, what entranced me was the pride with which the sisters showed off their matching outfits. I just couldn’t quite understand what they were trying to tell us, though there it was, plain as the boots on their feet or the matching hats on their matching red heads: true pride in what they were wearing.

And then Kevin emailed us with the detail that Maurine and Noreene’s mother was a seamstress. We just can’t thank him enough on that count, since that single detail weaves together the obvious joy of the sisters in what they wore with the homespun source of that pride. Of course these women were fashionable: It was a value taught in the home.

One of Kevin’s comments suggests that he fears details may ruin the mystery. With mysteries like the one these 18 photos posed, “Sometimes the fantasy turns out to be much better than reality,” said Kevin.

For me, it’s quite the opposite, especially as I begin to wonder what might happen next. TSP of course introduced Roz to Kevin, and the conversations and explorations continue. We’ll keep you posted.

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Feb. 16 update: Kevin is interviewed on the Retrorenovation blog, where he first learned of Maurine and Noreene.

Feb. 17 update: The twins have made it to Italy, reports Roz.

WHEN WE SAW ROZ LEIBOWITZ’S set of vintage photos of twins Maurine and Noreene this week on Flickr, we had to know more: Who were these red-headed sisters, and how had they come to live with Roz, a New York City-based artist and writer who uses found paper and imagery in her personal work?

Leibowitz is also a collector of vernacular photos–snapshots and 35 mm slides–and acquired the set of 18 images of the twins in January on ebay.

“My collection centers around women’s images specifically mid-twentieth century,” says Roz, “although I actually started with Victorian photos. As I progressed, I found I actually preferred the candid ‘anonymous’ work of everyday photographers rather than studio photographers.”

But sometime anonymous is too anonymous, and a set of images cries out to find its home, which may be Denison, Texas, or so the dealer who sold them to Roz believes.

“I always tell people that the photos don’t really belong to me,” says Roz, “they are simply lost from their families and are abiding with me for a time. With Maurine and Noreene, I would love to have them returned to their families. These women seemed to love their life together and took great care and respect for their outfits that they deserve to be archived.

“And on a more personal note, as a single woman with no children,” she says, “I have a particular affection for these two who also may have had no one to look after their personal effects. I don’t know this for sure, it’s just that they seem so solidly together.” A sampling from Roz’s treasured set are here to sample:

The entire set of 18 photos of Maurine and Noreene can be viewed at Roz Leibowitz’s Flickr photostream, where she is known as Signs and Wonders. Roz’s personal blog also harbors treasures you may wish to explore.

Thanks to 50s Pam, proprietor of RetroRenovation blog and our sister in WordPress, Flickr fanatic and more, for tipping us off to Roz, Maurine and Noreene. (We already had a thing for redheads.)

We TSP sisters are so appreciative, we’re even starting our own TheSisterProject Flickr account.