Family Photo Albums of James L. and Harriet E. V. Blilie

James L. and Harriet E. V. Blilie Family Photo Albums

1958 through circa 2010

Harriet E. V. Blilie and Julie E. Blilie, June 1963, Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis James L. Blilie, 1943, taken in Slat Lake City Utah after Army training

The navigation to the James L. Blilie and Harriet E. V. Blilie family albums is provided below:

Photo Album Volume 1, 1958 - 1962

Photo Album Volume 2, 1962 - 1967

Photo Album Volume 3, 1967 - 1972

Photo Album Volume 4, 1972 - 1977

Photo Album Volume 5, 1977 - 1982

Photo Album Volume 6, 1982 - 1986

Photo Album Volume 7, 1986 - 1991

Photo Album Volume 8, 1991 - 1992

Photo Album Volume 9, 1992 - 1999

Photo Album Volume 10, 1999 - 2010

Photo Album Volume 11, Misc. Photos

Older photos from the Blilie, Gundersen, Ventress, and Norwood families:

Photos from the 1800s and 1900s

Photos from the 1910s

Photos from the 1920s

Photos from the 1930s

Photos from the 1940s

Photos from the 1950s

Album: JLB and Friends (mostly 1940s and 1950s)

Also see these old photo albums and photo pages:

Julie Antonette (Gundersen) Blilie's photo album (circa 1915 - circa 1960)

Mary Cleves Norwood's photo album (circa 1920 - circa 1927)

Old Blilie and Gundersen Family Photos

Old Ventress and Norwood Family Photos

Blilie and Gundersen family history (under construction)

My Dad was a true Renaissance Man. He was an electrical engineer by trade; but he was also

an artist. He drew, painted in watercolors and oils, was a great reader and writer, a photographer

obviously, he built and operated his own radios (amateur radio, aka “HAM radio”), and he was

very active in politics. He also loved to travel and took us on long summer road trips.

I have no idea how he squeezed all this in, while working full time and raising kids!

"All of the negatives prior to sometime in late 1950 were taken with an Argus C-3, which I purchased

shortly after graduating from the University of Minnesota on August 26, 1948. At last I had the money

(about$60) to buy a decent camera. The Argus C-3 was a 35mm camera made in the USA. It had

an F/3.2 50mm lens with a behind-the-lens shutter.

I shot nothing but Kodak Plus-X fillllm at that time - Weston 32 (ASA 50). Before being recalled to

active duty in the Air Force in September 1950, I had the film processed and prints made at West Photo,

in northeast Minneapolis, close to Control Corporation, 718 Central Avenue, where I worked.

West Photo was a tiny place owned and operated by a rather young man and his wife. The existing

negatives attest to their careful developing.

After recall to the service, my first "permanent" duty station was Westover Air Force Base, near

Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee Falls, etc. Massachusetts. Those negatives taken in 1951 were taken

with my Leica [IIIf], which I bought on my first trip to Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Quite a number

of the 1951 negatives were processed by me.

-- James Louis Blilie [written circa mid 1990s; text of a note in his first notebook of negatives]

Julie E. Blilie and Jon V. Blilie, Spring 1969, Robin Hill, Chelmsford, MA James L. Blilie, Taegu Korea, 1952 or 1953

Charles L. Blilie and James W. Blilie, Early 1963, Canoga Park, CA James L. Blilie, Isanti, MN, 1992

Introduction the album of prints from Japan:

"I was in Japan for 15 or 16 months starting June 1, 1952. I was a Captain and navigator in the US Air Force,

assigned to the 315th Troop Carrier Group at Tachikawa, about 30 miles west of Tokyo. Tachikawa had

been the "Wright Field" base [analogous to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio] for the Japanese air forces

before and during WWII, where they conducted research and development.

The main function of the 315th was to support the US Forces in Korea. We flew to Korea frequently.

But I was in the 15th Troop Carrier Squadron, which had most of the navigators in Tachikawa, so I

also flew frequently to Okinawa, Taiwan, and the Philippines, and occasionally to Guam and Iwo Jima.

[JWB: What and advenure!]

I came to Japan with a Rolleiflex and a Leica IIIf. I had 50mm and 135mm Leica lenses. While in Japan,

I bought a Leica-compatible f/1.4 50mm Nikkor lens and a Leica-compatible 85mm Canon lens.

In addition, I bought a Canon camera that used the same lenses as the Leica. Most of the photos

I made were on Kodak Super-XX film.

There was a dark room on the base [Tachikawa] for service personnel to use. I developed all

the films there, and made many prints. However, manyof the photo prints I made there were on old

paper and some were not adequately "hypo-ed" [fixed] or washed. So many of the prints in this

album are replacements made at 12 Brian Road, Chelmsford, Mass., in the late 1960s.

Almost all the pictures of people are candids. Either the people did not know I was taking their picture,

or were not concerned with posing, etc. For this I was grateful

Japan has changed greatly since 1952-53. These photographs represent and era that has passed, as

I have been told by various people from Japan. I think this makes the pictures more interesting and valuable."

James Louis Blilie (circa mid-1990s)

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This page provides access to scanned images of the family photo albums that my father, James L. Blilie

created from 1958 through around the year 2000. most are black and white photos that he shot

and developed and printed himself.

For now, for the most part, I am just scanning the prints in the albums and presenting them here, with labels.

Eventually, I hope to replace these images with new ones, scanned from the original negatives, which I have.

Since there are 6 loose-leaf notebooks of negatives, this is going to be a long-term retirement project!

I addition to the family photo albums, I also scanned numerous older photos that my parents had.

These are mixed in with the photo album images, or, for older images (prior to 1958), they are

presented as separate album sets, organized by date. These are in addition to the old Blilie

and Gundersen family photos found here: Old Blilie and Gundersen Family Photos

And old Ventress and Norwood family photos found here: Old Ventress and Norwood Family Photos

Also see these old photo albums:

Julie Antonette (Gundersen) Blilie's photo album (circa 1915 - circa 1960)

Mary Cleves Norwood's photo album (circa 1920 - circa 1927)

Older photos from the Blilie, Gundersen, Ventress, and Norwood families:

Photos from the 1800s and 1900s

Photos from the 1910s

Photos from the 1920s

Photos from the 1930s

Photos from the 1940s

Photos from the 1950s

Album: JLB and Friends (mostly 1940s and 1950s)

The navigation to the James L. Blilie and Harriet E. V. Blilie family albums is provided below:

Photo Album Volume 1, 1958 - 1962

Photo Album Volume 2, 1962 - 1967

Photo Album Volume 3, 1967 - 1972

Photo Album Volume 4, 1972 - 1977

Photo Album Volume 5, 1977 - 1982

Photo Album Volume 6, 1982 - 1986

Photo Album Volume 7, 1986 - 1991

Photo Album Volume 8, 1991 - 1992

Photo Album Volume 9, 1992 - 1999

Photo Album Volume 10, 1999 - 2010

Photo Album Volume 11, Misc. Photos

A note on names:

In these pages, names will appear, sometimes abbreviated for the family members of James Louis Blilie's and

Harriet Elizabeth Ventress Blilie's "nuclear" family. These are:

James Louis Blilie (1923 - 2010): Also James L. Blilie or JLB

Harriet Elizabeth Ventress Blilie (1935 - 2020): Also Harriet E. V. Blilie, HEVB, or Harriet

Charles Louis Blilie (b. 1959): Also Charles L. Blilie, Charlie, or CLB; named after his two grandfathers: Charles G. Ventress, Louis Blilie

James William Blilie (b. 1961): Also James W. Blilie, Jim, Jimmy, or JWB; Named after his father and uncle William Ventress

Julie Elizabeth Blilie (1962 - 1997): Also Julie E. Blilie, Julie, or JEB; named after her grandmother Julie, A. Blilie, and her mother

Jon Ventress Blilie (b. 1965): Also Jon V. Blilie, Jon, or JVB; Jon, named after great grandfather Jon Gundersen and his mother

Grandchildren:

(Charlie and Shelley) Kirsten Linnea Blilie (b. 1989): Kirsten

(Jon and Bobbi) Kai Alexander Blilie (b. 2002): Kai

(Jim and Phyllis) Joseph Rockwell Pudlik (b. 1991), Joe

(Jim and Phyllis) James Ventress Blilie (b. 2004), Jamie

* * * * * * *

School Photos


Charlie Blilie Gr 1 Class	Charlie Blilie Gr 1	Charlie Blilie Gr 2 Class	Charlie Blilie Gr 2	Charlie Blilie Gr 3??

Charlie Blilie Gr 4?	Charlie Blilie Gr 5?	Charlie Blilie Gr 5 Class	Charlie Blilie Gr 6	Charlie Blilie Gr 6 Class

Charlie Blilie Gr 7	Charlie Blilie Gr 8

James W. Blilie, Gr 1	James W. Blilie, Gr 1, Gr 2	James W. Blilie, Gr 3	James W. Blilie, Gr 4	James W. Blilie, Gr 4 Class

James W. Blilie, Gr 5	James W. Blilie, Gr 6	James W. Blilie, Gr 6 Class	James W. Blilie, Gr 7	James W. Blilie, Gr 8

James W. Blilie, Gr 9

Julie E. Blilie, Gr K	Julie E. Blilie, Gr 1	Julie E. Blilie, Gr 2	Julie E. Blilie, Gr 3	Julie E. Blilie, Gr 4

Julie E. Blilie, Gr 5	Julie E. Blilie, Gr 6	Julie E. Blilie, Gr 7	Julie E. Blilie, Gr 8	Julie E. Blilie, Gr 9

Julie E. Blilie, Gr 12	Julie E. Blilie, Senior Portrait

Jon V. Blilie, Gr K	Jon V. Blilie, Gr K Class	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 1	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 1 Class	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 2

Jon V. Blilie, Gr 2 Class	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 3	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 3 Class	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 4	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 4 Class

Jon V. Blilie, Gr 5	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 5 Class	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 6	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 7	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 7 ?

Jon V. Blilie, Gr 8	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 9	Jon V. Blilie, Gr 11 or 12	Jon V. Blilie, Senior Portrait