Double L Jigsaw Puzzles

Katherine Bigelow Lord
William Swift Lord

Double L Puzzles were created by Katharine and (William) Swift Lord. One of their sons, Dr. John B. Lord, raised eight chilrden, six of his own and two step-sons. I was lucky enough to be one of the latter and so was able to enjoy many of the puzzles. Often there was a card table in the corner of the living room with a partially completed puzzle on it.

Later, when I was grown and had a family of my own, we would go and visit my mother and her husband. Upon arrival, my children always asked if they could assemble one of the puzzles and invariably we all ended up around the table, happily assembling.

In May 1950, Mary Beimfohr wrote an article about Swift and Katherine Lord and their Double L Puzzles for the magazine Profitable Hobbies. The article was called "Puzzling the Public". She describes the reason Swift got into the business of making puzzles, how his wife hellped, and how the puzzles were made.

Notice how the shapes of special pieces reflect the theme of the painting.

I had a nice exchange with Dotti about the LL Puzzles. She is always doing jig saw puzzles and finds the Double L Puzzle one of her favorites. She was curious about the history and I provided a pointer to the article about the Lords and their Double L Puzzles. She supplied the following two pictures.

My stepfather remembered this scene. He was always on the hunt for this puzzle but never found it.

You can contact me by visiting the author's page.