Hanging history

I'm at work a few days ago and we got a call for smoke in the area. No big deal, it is Christmas Tree burning season after all, and an elderly woman lets us through her garage into the back yard to track down the source of the smoke. On the way back out, after finding which house to go to, she tells us her father was a retired fireman from the City. "That's his helmet there."

Hanging from the large rafters of the garage are 2 perfectly preserved helmets that look like they were hung up yesterday. Both date easily from the 1930s, with the small head size, maybe a 6, tall hand made leather front and tall eagle design. That's all I'm able to note when the boss calls for me to hurry up so we can go fight the fire.

We tried to go back and knock on the door to learn more, but she was gone. I took down the address and plan to write a letter asking if I can photograph the helmets and any photos of her father and give them to the station he retired from. Then maybe get a photo of the old log book there of his name and such and give a nice pic to her.
Imagine something so amazing just hanging in a garage, I had almost walked right into it before she mentioned it. Almost 80 years of firefighting history perfectly preserved in a garage in the middle of the City. I'm not even sure the Fire Museum has such a quality piece, and they have some nice old lids.