When looking for photos to acquire I generally avoid postcards and framed prints. I have started making exceptions, and this one did not disappoint. Recently I found this nicely framed grouping of images at an antique shop near Saginaw, Michigan.
After documenting the professional framing I opened the back, removed the photos, and confirmed that they were original. One photo was a real photo postcard (RPPC) identified as “Main Street” in Bingham, Utah.
There are wonderful signs and details in this street scene, the most notable being the “Selvin’s - The Men’s Store” on the right. Other signs:
Grill Cafe
Globe Rooms
Bingham Pool Hall
Golden Rule Store
W.H. Woodring Drugs - Cigars and Tobacco
Dr. Inglesby - Dentist
H. Geffen - Jeweller
The back of this postcard suggests a date of somewhere between 1904 and 1918 (check here for some information on dating RPPCs).
The photo at the bottom of the framed collection shows the inside of what I assume is Selvin’s - The Men’s Store that you can see from the outside.
The photo in the middle shows a man standing outside of a storefront that says “Selvin’s Cut-Rate Furnishings”. Curiously, it does not appear to match the front of the store seen from the larger street view.
Here is a comparison photo of all three men featured in the photographs. Are they all the same? Is this Selvin? If not the same, perhaps they are related?
Below are some newspaper clippings related to these photos. Mr. I. Selvin is identified as a clothier in Bingham, Utah that came to the city around 1912. Shown is a “Clothes for Thanksgiving” advertisement from 1918 as well as a 1920 article detailing Selvin’s quitting of the business. A 1922 clipping shows a clothing store “Fire Sale” at “Altman’s Clothing Store” (i.e., “Selvin’s Old Location, Main St. Bingham Canyon”).
Some research on Ancestry and newspaper sites suggests the man in question is Isidor (or Isador) Selvin (1886-1983). He was a Russian, Jewish immigrant who made his way to Utah and worked in the clothing industry. He had one brother, Sol J. Selvin (1878-1958), who was also in the clothing business and later became a Utah State Senator.
Below is is Sol’s obituary from 1958. There is also a newspaper photo from 1916 that shows “Isadore” Selvin in the front row, far left. It is hard to tell but that man sure does look like the man in the interior photo above.
Isidor quit the clothing business in Utah and made his way to Saginaw, Michigan, where he continued several decades as a clothier. Here is the newspaper advertisement announcing the opening of his first store in Saginaw - Washington Clothes Shop, at 127 South Washington Avenue.
I found dozens of articles detailing the life and career of Isidor in Saginaw. He owned and operated several clothing stores under different names at different locations over the years. His son, Sherman H. Selvin, joined the family business for a time. Isidor even went bankrupt shortly before the Depression, but seemed to recover in the decades that followed.
Here are a few articles detailing his long life and career in Saginaw.
