World War One hand-drawn Certificate of Appreciation from the inhabitants of 40 Rue de l'Universite, Paris 7ieme, thanking Lt. Credo Harris [with] photo of Harris at Armenian Catholic Monastery at San Lazzaro

1918. A wonderful pair of commemorative items; of World War 1 Paris; a naive art hand-drawn certificate thanking Lt. Credo Harris, who oversaw a Red Cross shelter in the 7ieme; then an American soldier in Paris, later a Kentucky newspaperman and promoter of radio (and) a photo of Harris at Lord Byron's table at the Armenian Catholic Monastery on San Lazzaro, Venice in 1911.

Titled "Immeuble du 40 Rue de L'Universite... Offert par Pierre Braun au Lieutenant Credo Harris... en Reconnaissance de... Vigilance pendant les Nuits de Bombardements." Decorated and illustrated by Braun, this hand drawn, lettered and colored certificate lists the names of 45 locals who stayed in the Red Cross shelter overseen by Harris, thanking him for the work he has done. The certificate is decorated with colored French, American, English & Belgian flags. At the head, it shows a rooster crowing "Viva les Allies". Besides the Braun family, it lists the families Badosa, Carraud, Cloise, Coussier, Frenay, Garnault, Leprince, Lemaire, Mabille, Hermann, Foly, Lecorgne, Peron, Pepin, Rocle, Sordello, Pajot and Verger.

The Armenian Catholic Monastery at San Lazzaro in the Venetian Lagoon continues to be an important cultural institution for Armenians around the world. Lord Byron studied the Armenian language there, hence the silver print photograph of Harris with the priest Nerses Diratzouyan at Byron's table at the monastery, dated October 14, 1911.

"Newspaperman, book author, radio announcer and managing director of Louisville station WHAS. Harris tirelessly advocated for the commercial development of radio, traveling to Washington D.C., sitting in on Department of Commerce meetings, pulling at the sleeve of then department head and future President of the United States, Herbert Hoover. Harris spoke the first words ever heard over the public airwaves of Kentucky, July 18, 1922 saying, "This is WHAS, the radiotelephone broadcast station of the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times in Louisville, Kentucky." If that wasn't enough, he also helped design the modern state Kentucky flag that today flies over the capitol dome in Frankfurt.'" (Lewis, John. Radio Master: The Life and Times of Sports Broadcasting Great Ted Husing. Langdon Street Press 2010.) Harris was the author of "Microphone Memoirs of the horse and buggy days of radio", Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis, Indiana (1937).

Certificate 8.5 x 13"; photograph 3.25 x 4.25". Certificate a little browned at edges with a couple sml marginal closed tears repaired but very good overall, as is the photograph.