On August 30, 1931, the New York Times ran a story reporting the results of the North Shore Kennel Club Dog Show held in Stony Brook, NY. The only mention of Newfoundlands in the story itself is in the list of breed results — I know, it seems a bit odd to think about a major metropolitan daily reporting detailed breed results from a fairly routine dog show. A different world....
Apparently all the best Newfs — or, heck, maybe the only Newfs — were owned by the same person (the breed results named each dog's owner). In this case, all the Newfs belong to Aristine Pixley Munn, and most had "Jonmunn" as the kennel name. Winners Dog, reserve winners dog, winners bitch, reserve winners bitch, and best of winners/breed — all belonged to the same owner. That merited a photo, the Times figured, so the article is accompanied by a very large photo of Jonmunn dogs. (The fourth dog from left, Jonmunn Lightfoot, was Winners Dog and BOB at this particular show.) Notice the coat curl — at first glance I thought I was looking at curly-coated retrievers, though admittedly the image quality is rather low.
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The owner of these dogs, Dr. Aristine Pixley Munn Recht (1887 - 1952), was a medical doctor who served as Dean of Women at Washington Square College (now part of New York University). She also operated the Jonmunn Kennel on her family's farm. Her husband, Charles Recht, served as a Russian envoy to the United States.
