Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, known as Sally, grew up in Marathon County, Wisconsin. As an adult she spent a short time working in Washington D.C. before returning to Wausau to marry and raise a family. This series of posts takes us page by page through the photo album of her teen years and young adulthood. She was an active and vibrant gal. These photos show her doing things she could no long do when her mobility became limited in the following decades.
She collected photographs. Lots and lots of photographs. She took most of them and posed in many. This series gives us a glimpse of Sally’s young life, through her own pictures.
Washington D.C.
The 42nd page of Sally’s photo album takes us back to Washington D.C. Many of the photos are similar to those a few pages back in the album. Sally is seen, in several seasons, hanging out with ladies in Washington D.C.
Winter at the capital city
U.S. Capitol
The United States Capitol, in winter.
Location: Washington D.C.
Date: 1932.
Enjoying the snow
A man with a sled watches Sally’s friends as they pose in the snow for a photo outside the U.S. Patent building where they worked.
Now nicknamed the historic Old Patent Office Building, the building where Sally worked covers an entire city blocks bordered by F and G streets and 7th and 9th streets NW. After major renovation, the building reopened in 2006 and is now named The Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture and housed the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery.
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: U.S. Patent Building, Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932.
Two of Sally’s friends huddle in the snow in front of the patent building.
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932.
Here is a photo of the frozen fountain again. We saw a slightly less fuzzy version of this picture back on page 38. Sally is flanked by her friends Merle and Helen.
Pictured: From left, Merle _____, Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, and Helen _____.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932.
Sally’s friend Merle poses in the snow.
Pictured: Merle _____.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932.
More repeats
The next two photos have been seen before, but copies appeared again on this page of the album.
It is a guess that this photo was taken shortly after Sally arrived in Washington D.C. in late 1931. That guess is made because a similar photo was featured on page 37 at the start of her Washington D.C. adventure.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, left, and unidentified women.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: 1931.
Friends of Sally on a boat.
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932.
Sally and friend, on a dock.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, right, and unidentified friend.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932.
Springtime in D.C.
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Washington D.C.
Date: 1932.
Sally and friend enjoying the apple blossoms.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner and unidentified friend.
Location: Washington D.C.
Date: 1932.
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: 1932.
Sally and friend.
Pictured: Unidentified woman and Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.
Location: 1932.
Date:
Sally enjoying Washington!
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.
Location: Washington D.C.
Date: 1932.
A photograph of a photographer taking a photo of Sally and her friend.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner and unidentified.
Location: Washington D.C.
Date: 1932.
Many thanks to Uncle Chuck Krueger for gifting Sally’s photo albums to me. I suppose I’m the only one who is obsessed enough with family history to spend hours and hours doing something with them. Of course, I thought I should find a way to share.
I didn’t join the Krueger family soon enough to meet Sally. She died 15 May 1983, just two weeks after I started dating her grandson (now my husband). I’m sad that I missed getting to know her. I’m glad that she left a legacy of photos that help me see a side of her that maybe even her own family didn’t get to see.
Many of the faces and places in the photographs are not labeled. If you can help identify someone or someplace, correct any mistake I may have made, or otherwise add to the story, please contact me, for example by submitting a comment. Thanks.
Who is Who?
Fred and Alice Aschbrenner family
Sally Aschbrenner, the subject of this series of posts, was the daughter of Alice Rosalie Fehlhaber and Frederick A. Helmut Aschbrenner. She had one brother named Freddy.
Three-generation pedigree chart
Selected Sources:
“Old Patent Office Building,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Patent_Office_Building : accessed 11 Oct 2020).
The Aschbrenner Family
- Publication date: February 2022
- Pages: 728
- Formats:
- This books explores Aschbrenner family history. Friedrich August Aschbrenner had a son, named Friedrich Samuel Aschbrenner, who immigrated to Marathon County, Wisconsin. This book traces thousands of descendants of the immigrant. Detailed biographies are provided for the families of our direct line from Friedrich Samuel Aschbrenner through Frederick Wilhelm Aschbrenner and Frederick August Helmut Aschbrenner to Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.
- Winner of the Wisconsin Historical Society 2023 Board of Curators Genealogy/Family History Book Award.
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