• #1,541
so update: unfortunately, they can't send it... I don't know when the next time I can go out to PA is though. :(

Darn! I was really hoping you'd be able to get ahold of the video, from what I've read Chris Jeans did an update of some of the girls 15months after the original film, if kitty is in that one it's safe to say she isn't WCJD. I've searched all over the Internet hoping to find it somewhere, no luck.
 
  • #1,542
I would really like to see what jewellery Kitty is wearing if we can get a clearer image/footage.
 
  • #1,543
I found some documentation that showed a company called Media Guild used to sell the documentary to schools. They were bought out by a company called AIMS which was then bought by Discovery Communications education division. Perhaps we could reach out to them? Also, sadly noted the director Chris Jeans passed away from cancer two years ago.
 
  • #1,544
so update: unfortunately, they can't send it... I don't know when the next time I can go out to PA is though. :(

That's disappointing. I sent a message to the Wisconsin Historical Society to see if they have a copy since they have Robert MacNeil's papers. He narrated the documentary and the finding aid has a few mentions of Runaway. Even if they don't have a copy it's possible they have promotional images and documentation related to its production.
 
  • #1,545
  • #1,546
I would really like to see what jewellery Kitty is wearing if we can get a clearer image/footage.

The microfiche reader produced a much better image than what is available online, I can't tell if my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I think I see what looks like a rectangular pendant hanging from Kitty's neck.

image.jpg

^^this is the youth home Kitty stayed in, today the home is located directly across the street at 2902 Broadway.
 
  • #1,547
so update: unfortunately, they can't send it... I don't know when the next time I can go out to PA is though. :(

Were they unwilling to send it because it's not going through another PA library? If that's the problem, I live in PA, I can request it through my local library. Unfortunately if they aren't willing to loan it to another library, I'm about 6 hours away from Allentown, so I can't be of much help there.
 
  • #1,548
Were they unwilling to send it because it's not going through another PA library? If that's the problem, I live in PA, I can request it through my local library. Unfortunately if they aren't willing to loan it to another library, I'm about 6 hours away from Allentown, so I can't be of much help there.

You can always try, requesting doesn't cost anything as far as I know.

However, I got this message: "Hello. This material is not available thru ILL. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."
 
  • #1,549
The microfiche reader produced a much better image than what is available online, I can't tell if my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I think I see what looks like a rectangular pendant hanging from Kitty's neck.

View attachment 89582

^^this is the youth home Kitty stayed in, today the home is located directly across the street at 2902 Broadway.

I actually noticed the necklace when they first posted the pic of kitty. I wonder what size was wcjd pendant though, I wonder if it looked like that one, unfortunately we don't have a clearer image to know exactly how kitty's necklace looks like :/
 
  • #1,550
  • #1,551
The microfiche reader produced a much better image than what is available online, I can't tell if my eyes are playing tricks on me, but I think I see what looks like a rectangular pendant hanging from Kitty's neck.

View attachment 89582

^^this is the youth home Kitty stayed in, today the home is located directly across the street at 2902 Broadway.

Is there anyway for you to take a digital picture of the microfiche?
 
  • #1,552
"Kitty is an Irish nickname for Katherine or Kathleen, but may be used independently."

First thing that comes up in Google for me. I think there's a chance that they could be the same girl.
 
  • #1,553
Is there anyway for you to take a digital picture of the microfiche?

I'm a reference librarian at the Rosenberg Library in Galveston. If Lyssav viewed the microfilm in the computer lab here, that reader is hooked up to a computer running Windows XP. It offers the option of printing an image of the microfilm, but the editing software really isn't the best. I'm going to go up to our archive/history center in the morning and try viewing it on their microfilm machine. It's much newer and has the ability to save images digitally. This would offer more opportunity to play with the contrast and see if manipulating the photo in an external program might reveal more of Kitty's outfit or facial features. The image IS much clearer on microfilm, so hopefully this will work out. I know we still have some physical copies of the Galveston Daily News in storage, but I'm not sure how far back they go. I'm doubtful we'll have anything still in print from 1980 but I will update y'all tomorrow when I have time to do some digging.
 
  • #1,554
I had a lot more success with the other microfilm reader upstairs. I knew we had a fancy new one but I wasn't expecting it to be so nice! Anyway, here is a high quality cropped image from the article. I scaled it down because the original image was enormous, but it is still rather large. (Unfortunately it looks like the size and dimensions have been reduced after uploading the attachment.. I'm not sure how to fix this. I have the 1200x1475 original if anyone needs it larger.) I'm still on the clock and don't have any fancy photo editing software on my computer, so... I'll let someone else mess around with the image levels to see if it will help bring some more details out.

For what it's worth, I'm not really convinced 'Kitty' is Kathy. From my untrained eye the noses appear quite a bit different and this girl/woman strikes me as someone older than Kathy appears in the photo on Facebook. The article mentions she ran away at age 13 but doesn't touch on how old Kitty was at the time of writing. For all we know, she could have stayed at the shelter many years prior. Just my opinion. The documentary would obviously help clear this up, but as Kimm11 mentioned, the Muhlenberg College Library appears to be the only library in the country that holds the tape in their collection. At the very least, they're the only library that has the tape cataloged and shared with OCLC Worldcat.

Concerning the possibility of being able to view the Runaway documentary - I handle the interlibrary loans here and I'm currently looking at the Muhlenberg College Library's lending policies through the back end of OCLC. They list "Children's Collection, AV material, Special & Rare collection, New York Times Best seller collection, DVD, CD" as items that do NOT circulate (i.e., they will not loan these materials to another library). Unless someone lives near Allentown, PA and can ask to view the tape within the library, I think this might be a dead end.

Kitty.jpg
 
  • #1,555
Great work, thanks!

I pulled up Kitty's picture beside our girl's post-mortem and the features line up rather well, especially the small chin and delicate nose. Not sure they're an exact match though.

I can't make out the necklace, except that it doesn't seem to be rectangular to me.
 
  • #1,556
Thank you skepticalbear! This image is much better than the scanned one. I'm also not convinced that this is Kathy, but I feel like there are enough similarities to warrant looking into a little more. For what it's worth, here is the side-by-side comparison:

attachment.php


and here is a close-up of the necklace..

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • Comparison.jpg
    Comparison.jpg
    53.5 KB · Views: 343
  • Necklace.png
    Necklace.png
    76.1 KB · Views: 331
  • #1,557
Thank you skepticalbear! This image is much better than the scanned one. I'm also not convinced that this is Kathy, but I feel like there are enough similarities to warrant looking into a little more. For what it's worth, here is the side-by-side comparison:

attachment.php

The nose and chin look pretty dang similar to me. Here's a side by side of Kitty and Kathy too:

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • KittyandKathy.jpg
    KittyandKathy.jpg
    42.5 KB · Views: 339
  • #1,558
I'm still not seeing the Kathy-Jane resemblance. Kitty, though, looks close.

I wonder if we could post on SM asking if anybody knows her?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • #1,559
Ugh black and white photos are so hard to compare... For me anyway. I do see a resemblance between kitty and WCJD.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • #1,560
52e615d6f4ee21ef8ce4219371921552.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Guardians Monthly Goal

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
163
Guests online
7,404
Total visitors
7,567

Forum statistics

Threads
645,599
Messages
18,844,046
Members
245,737
Latest member
RyanRuffcorn
Top