The Deestrick Skule, Strasburg, Pennsylvania, ca. 1910s

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of when I grow up (children dressed as adults or dressed for work, e.g. as policeman, nurse, train driver, etc.). It also fits the monthly theme of group portraits.

Caption in the upper right-hand corner: "The Deestrick Skule." A penciled-in dealer's note on the other side identifies the location as "Strasburg, Pa."

This is a photo of children dressed in costumes to portray pupils, the schoolmaster, school committee members, and local citizens for a play about the funny goings-on at the old-time "Deestrick Skule" or district school -- the one-room schoolhouse of the early nineteenth century (not the school districts that resulted from the later consolidation of these small schools).

Mrs. M. H. Jaquith of Topeka, Kansas, was the author of The Deestrick Skule of Fifty Years Ago (1888) and "Exerbition" of the Deestrick Skule of Fifty Years Ago (1890). Both of these provided scripts and suggestions for producing local theatrical productions that could accommodate fifty or more participants (there are forty kids in this photo).

The Cyko stamp box (Cyko 5, variation A2.66) on the other side of this divided-back real photo postcard has an earliest known usage date of May 2, 1910, according to Brogan and Weseloh's Real Photo Postcard Guide (2006).