Scenes of Salem After the Great Fire of June 25, 1914

For the last few months, I've been corresponding with former Salem resident Rosemarie Byer, who was hoping to return some of her late mother's items from a trunk in California to the people of her hometown.

Byer's mother, who would have turned 100 last month, was something of a Salem history buff and had a large collection of one-of-a-kind items.

I met Rosemarie in the lobby of The Hawthorne Hotel Friday afternoon and she handed over a treasure trove of fun items from Salem's not-so-distant past.

Among them was an aged booklet published by the Boston-based The New England Stationary Co. entitled Views of Salem After The Great Fire of June 25, 1914.

The photo gallery above features the photographs included in that booklet.

Over the next few weeks, I plan on returning many of the historical items from Rosemarie's collection to local organizations and businesses.