Musical Accompaniment: Lord, Send Me an Angel by the great Blind Willie McTell. Blind Willie is one of my all-time favorites! I hope you enjoy him as much as I do.
I found a picture of Gertrude Vanderbilt (aka Mrs. Harry Payne Whitney) in the Library of Congress. This isn’t Miss Vanderbilt’s first appearance on Old Spirituals. She appeared with her parrot in the Fashion Pioneers of the Early 1910s.
LOC
This time she was photographed by one of our recent discoveries, Baron de Meyer. The metadata says it was published in 1916 but I wonder if this is correct. Her dress looks very 1920s to me. Then again she was a fashion pioneer so perhaps she was just ahead of her time.
I love the peacock fan! I wonder if Miss Vanderbilt heard about the peacock feathers superstition. Biltmore, her family’s estate, is in Asheville, North Carolina. I went to visit once when I lived in Charlotte. What a beautiful place it is! Well, if she did hear it, she was too sensible to let local superstitions stand between her and that lovely fan. I believe we resolved in the comments that they are officially not bad luck anyway.
Lastly, may I have your opinion?
In 2020, we established Mugshot March. Usually I highlight one mugshot per post and talk about the crime or whatever I might learn about the person in the photograph. I could go either way, I’m all for traditions but I don’t want it to be boring.
I leave it up to you: do we continue our perusal of the rogues’ gallery this March? Let me know what you think in the comments! I’m interested in any suggestions you have always!
old spirituals 
i’ve always wanted to visit Biltmore. I like mug shot march, but I also like not knowing what you’re going to post every day. I really like the music you add to the posts now, usually people I’ve never heard of but I like it
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Biltmore is beautiful. If you ever get a chance to visit, you should! I’m so glad you like the music 🎶
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I enjoy mugshot March. Such interesting characters!
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Thank you, Judy! Your vote has been recorded 😉
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I’m a closet crime buff! I also enjoy Mugshot March.
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Thank you, Phyllis! It’s so funny I always think of you as such as gentle soul, but it’s good to balance out with a good crime story now and then 😂 I’ll give people a few more days to respond.
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My husband also says I’m a gentle soul, until I get “hangry.” 😀
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One of my bedtime streaming networks is Oxygen, the true crime story marathon channel. I suppose I’m a closet crime buff.
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You’ve come up with some pretty ingenious solutions to some of the crimes we discuss here so the Oxygen watching seems to have paid off!
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😂 I get hangry too! Given the right conditions, I’m usually pretty agreeable.
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