Then it occurred to me that "Advancing toward the past" summarizes my philosophy of life. A lot of that has to do with the acquisition of artifacts, and this, in turn, has to do with residential permanence. People who move to new locations, whether because of occupational demands or simply by choice, usually go through a selection process. This, we'll take, and that, we'll give away or discard.

Since my wife and I have lived in the same house since we got married 52 years ago, we've found that adding onto the house was easier than getting rid of possessions. Well, that may be stretching things a bit as to causal connection, but we have done both. We have added onto the house and we have kept a lot of possessions.

One example of the latter is a framed copy of the first page of the weekly Saratoga Star newspaper, dated Friday, March 31, 1922. The Star was the reason my parents came to Saratoga in 1921. My dad had bought the paper, founded in 1919, from Lewis C. Dick, and this framed copy was from the first issue published under my dad's name.

I have this copy hanging in my printing museum, which is another monument to my acquisitive nature. It's in our expanded detached garage that hasn't had a car parked in it since 1955. The "museum" is a collection of printing presses, type cabinets and a Linotype, which I hope someday to have running again.

But, back to the Star. What were the big local stories in 1922? How about this? The headline reads, "Concerts by wireless here" and the lead paragraph is as follows:

"For the first time in the history of the United States a street dance to wireless music will be given tomorrow. The wireless, for the benefit of the Saratoga festival, will tap orchestras at San Francisco and other points about the bay tomorrow night through instruments erected by Professor Herrold, the wireless expert of San Jose."

How about that, Saratoga Chamber of Commerce? Can you top a "first time in the United States" feature with anything in the upcoming Celebrate Saratoga! event?

The "festival" referred to in the 1922 account was, of course, the Blossom Festival, subject of another front-page news story, which noted that it was the 23rd annual event. Scheduled for Saturday and Sunday afternoons—the street dance in the Village was Saturday night—the festival entertainment was at what was then called Kennedy Park, "adjoining the Saratoga Inn." The Inn was located on the site of the present Saratoga Inn Place condominiums on Saratoga Avenue, and the festival grounds were on the present location of the Saratogan and Saratoga Creekside condominiums.

The site was a natural amphitheater, where several thousand people could sit on the hillside facing the festival stage near the creek. The Saturday afternoon program that year was provided by the "Blossom Festival Chorus of 200 voices from the College of the Pacific [then in San Jose] and other nearby music centers." The Sunday afternoon program was by "the famous Peninsula Choral Society."

There was also an address by the governor, and can any of you history buffs tell me the first name of Governor Stephens? I'm disappointed that my dad didn't see fit to use his front name.

One of the major artifact categories is my supply of 78 rpm phonograph records, probably several hundred, mostly from my dad, who was an avid collector. I'm not quite at the point of referring to a CD player as a Victrola, since both involve discs, but my tastes run in that direction. Finding a machine to play those 78s takes a bit of doing, and have you ever tried to buy phonograph needles? It's like looking for carbon paper. I do have some workable devices, though, and I'll describe some of the songs in a future column.