1923 Passport Photograph
David I. Gaines was born “Isaac Ginsberg” on December 13, 1896 in Manhattan, New York City, according to his birth certificate. The spelling of Ginsberg, with an E, was also found on census records. However, draft cards and a passport application spelled the surname with a U, Ginsburg. Gaines’ parents were Abraham and Rosie, Russian immigrants, who lived at 266 Cherry Street.
He was born after his brother Maxwell Charles Gaines, the founder of Educational Comics and All-American Publications.
The 1900 United States Census counted Gaines (Isidor, line 13) as the third of four brothers. They lived with their parents at 442 East 86th Street in Manhattan. Their father was a dealer in rags.
In the 1910 census, the family (lines 75 to 79) resided in the Bronx at 1819 Barnes Avenue.
According to the 1915 New York State Census, the family (lines 4 to 9) lived at 1735 Victor Street in the Bronx. Gaines was a college student. The New York Times, April 7, 1989, said he received bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Columbia University.
Gaines’ father passed away on September 3, 1917.
On June 24, 1918, Gaines signed his World War I draft card which included his middle initial X. He lived in the Bronx at 1819 Barnes Avenue. His description was five feet eleven inches, medium build, with blues eyes and brown hair.
Gaines has not yet been found in the 1920 census.
On November 5, 1923, Gaines applied for a passport at the American Consulate in Berlin, Germany. The application said he had been in England from December 1921 to October 1922 then in Germany from October 1922. He also listed other countries to visit, Belgium, Holland, France and Austria.
Gaines returned to America on August 24, 1924. He was aboard the steamship Columbus when it departed Cherbourg, France on August 17.
Gaines’ mother married Sam Starkman on February 14, 1922 in Manhattan.
The 1925 New York state census counted Gaines (line 23), his brother, William, mother and step-father, a furrier, in the Bronx at 1819 Barnes Avenue.
The New York, New York Marriage License Index, at Ancestry.com, said Gaines and Edith Quinn obtained, in Brooklyn, marriage license number 9666 on June 6, 1929. Who’s Who of American Women Volume 8 (1973) said they married on June 11.
In the 1930 census, the couple (lines 51 and 52) lived at 3960 46th Street in Sunnyside, Queens, New York. He was a college teacher and she an insurance stenographer.
According to the 1940 census, Gaines had two daughters. The family of four were Brooklyn residents at 1496 Union Street. He was a professor at City College.
On April 27, 1942, Gaines signed his World War II draft card which had his name as Isidore Xerxes Ginsburg. His address was 1838 East 24th Street in Brooklyn. He was a teacher at City College. Gaines was described as five feet eleven inches, 175 pounds, with blue eyes angry hair. His surname, Ginsburg, was crossed out and replaced with Gaines. His birth certificate indicated the change was approved by Commissioner of Health on March 19, 1946.
In 1947, Gaines contributed three articles to his brother’s comic books: “The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World” in Picture Stories from World History #1, Spring 1947; “The Story of Labor Organizations” in Picture Stories from American History #4, Summer 1947; and “Feudalism” in Picture Stories from World History #2, Summer 1947.
The 1950 census said Gaines was a history instructor at City College. His family lived at 521 West 111th Street in Manhattan.
1950 Microcosm, City College of New York yearbook
Caption: Gaines Cox Fenton Brandt Zeichner
Gaines retired in 1967 after 40 years at City College.
On September 19, 1988, Gaines’ wife, Edith, passed away.
Gaines passed away on March 23, 1989, in New York City. An obituary appeared in Perspectives: Newsletter of the American Historical Association, November 1989.
David I. Gaines, a member of the History Department of the College of the City of New York for forty years, died on March 23, 1989 in New York, NY at the age of 92. He received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. An authority on modern European history, especially the development of German national symbolism, he was esteemed for his scholarship, dedication to teaching, and concern for his students. Professor Kenneth Arrow of Stanford University, the 1972 Nobel Prize winner in economics, named Dr. Gaines in history and Dr. Alfred Tarski in logic as the two great teachers he had had at City College. He is survived by two daughters.
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Evelyn Gaines was born Evelyn D. Ginsburg on May 26, 1919, in the Bronx, New York, according to the New York, New York Birth Index at Ancestry.com. Her parents were Benjamin Ginsburg (the older brother of Maxwell Charles Gaines), and Celia Brown who married on May 11, 1916 in Brooklyn, New York.
The 1920 United States Census counted the family (lines 4 to 6) in the Bronx at 441 East 161st Street. Gaines’ father was a self-employed pharmacist.
In the 1930 census, Gaines (line 67), her parents and brother, Arthur, were Manhattan residents at 3671 Broadway. Her father was a real estate manager. Sometime after 1935, the family moved to Queens, New York.
The 1940 census recorded the Ginsburg family (lines 37 to 40) at 214-38 Hillside Avenue in Queens Village, New York. Gaines was a stenographer working in the advertising industry. Her highest level of education was the second year of college. Gaines’ father was a pharmacist.
Sometime after the census the family adopted the Gaines surname. Gaines’ brother, Arthur Charles Gaines, signed his World War II draft card on April 29, 1943. His address was 720 West 170th Street, Apt. 6C, New York, New York.
When and how Gaines met Louis Francis Lovelace is not known. On October 16, 1944, they married in California. A 1944 voter register said he was a Republican who lived in Los Angeles at 337 North Benton Way. His occupation was writer.
At some point, Gaines returned to New York where she found some work in the comic book industry. Using the pen name Lynne Evans, she contributed to Sensation Comics numbers 39 and 40 here and here. She was mentioned in Women and the Comics (1985). Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 said she contributed stories for Hop Harrigan who appeared in All-American Comics.
Gaines’s letter to the editor was published in the New York newspaper PM, October 1, 1946. (See subhead “Not All Black and White”)
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According to the 1950 census Gaines/Lynne Lovelace (line 19) was separated and had a three-year-old daughter, Laurette. She lived with her parents at 720 West 170th Street in Manhattan.
From 1948 to 1950, Gaines/Lynne Lovelace advertised editorial and typing services in Writer’s Digest and Saturday Review. Below are some examples.
Writer’s Digest, February 1948
Writer’s Digest, October 1949
Saturday Review, April 2, 1949
Saturday Review, April 22, 1950
Classified advertisements also appeared in the The New York Times Book Review which were collected in a 1970 book.
Typing—Ghostwriting—Lynne Lovelace, 720 West 170th, N.Y. 32, WA 8-4620.
The Social Security Death Index has a Lynne Lovelace who was born on May 16, 1919 which was ten days earlier than the birth date stated at the beginning of the profile. She passed away in July 1980 and her last residence was the Bronx.
Women in Comics Posts
Ruth Atkinson, Olive Bailey, Valerie Barclay, Vivian Berg, Helen Chu aka Duffy Mohler, Ellen Cole, Anahid Dinkjian,
Barbara Clark Fogel, Evelyn Gaines aka Lynn Lovelace, Gerda Gattel, Selma Meyers Gleit, Jane Krom Grammer,
Georgette Sauterel, Marie Severin, Marcia Snyder, Lora Sprang aka Pat Gordon, Daisy Swayze, Terry Szenics, Claire Szep,
(Next post on Monday: Gene Barnett, Illustrator, Painter, Sculptor, Etcher, Writer and Letterer)
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