Children in Vintage Photos

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo of squinting into the sun (subjects obviously struggling to keep eyes open while facing into the sun for the photographer; borrowed from a Flickr group) . For additional examples, see my album of Vintage Squinters . Handwritten on the front of this real photo postcard: "Aug. 28, '07. Dear Grandma: I told you I was coming Thursday, a [week?]. How do you like Helen and I? I am not very well, Mary." Addressed to: Mrs. Mary E. Mock, Stoyestown, Pa., Route 2. Postmarked: Friedens, Pa., Aug. 28, 1907.

Handwritten date on the back of this photo: Aug. 1941. Stamped on back: Peerless Photo Shop, Lacrosse, Wis.

A real photo postcard showing the Tressler Orphans' Home Band. "Tressler" was part of its name beginning sometime in the nineteenth century, so I'm not sure why it's missing from the drum in this early twentieth-century photo. For a later incarnation of the band—with spiffier uniforms and a different drumhead—see Tressler Orphans' Home Band, Loysville, Pa.

A Spanish real photo postcard showing a mirror photo of a little girl standing on a chair. It's dated 1919 on the other side. For more like this, see my Mirror Photos album.

A photo of rocks and stones for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A real photo postcard showing a group of women, men, and children posed on top of a big ol' rock. See also a cropped version of this photo for a close-up of this rock group .

Cropped version of a real photo postcard showing a group on top of a big ol' rock. Notice how some of the women are posing with men's hats perched jauntily on their heads. See also the full version of this photo.

A snapshot of three kids, two with accordions and one with a trumpet. Looks like the smiling boys in front are enjoying themselves, but I'm not sure whether the girl in back is having any fun. Notice the toy cannon that's situated near the edge of the porch on the left and the interesting design of the curtain or whatever it is that's hanging on the inside of the window on the right. See also a close-up of the kids .

Three kids, two with accordions and one with a trumpet. Take a look at the full version of the snapshot .

A photo of a school or college group for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Young schoolchildren pose in front of a Christmas tree in their classroom. Take a closer look at the decorations on the tree and the children on the left and on the right.

Notice how the children are facing the front of the classroom, but many of them are looking over at the photographer. Only one of the kids--the girl behind the one with the bow--is smiling. A length of paper chain is lying on one of the wooden school desks.

Some of the kids on this side of the room are also looking at the photographer, and there are more paper chains on the desks.

A classroom Christmas tree adorned with paper chains, teddy bears with movable arms and legs, fireplaces with stockings, and other handmade decorations. See close-ups of the children on the left-hand side of the photo and those on the right-hand side.

For the Vintage Photos Theme Park, a photo of people photographed in bushes or plants (not beside them but in them--as seen in the Vintage Floraflage group on Flickr) . An early twentieth-century real photo postcard of people dallying in the daisies. For some similar photos, see my Floraflage album.

A photo of umbrellas or parasols for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Strunk's Studio, 730 Penn St., Reading, Pa." A young girl poses with a parasol in J. D. Strunk's photo studio in Reading, Pennsylvania. For earlier cabinet photos by Strunk, see Twin Boys with Bows, Reading, Pa., 1890s and Roy Peiffer on Strunk's Studio Horse, Reading, Pennsylvania .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of defaced or altered—any photo that was found with the face scratched off, marked out, cut, etc. If you don't have a defaced photo in your collection, you can post any found photo that has been altered in some way, such as with writing, drawing, collage, etc. I found this cabinet card at a local antique mall a while ago. The elaborate wicker chair was what first caught my eye, and I was somewhat disappointed when I realized that someone had pasted Harry Truman 's head on the photo. But I ended up purchasing it anyway for the surreal—or maybe just silly—juxtaposition of presidential head and baby body. For other altered photos, see Altered Victorian Cabinet Card Portrait with Painted Skull Mask, Harrisburg, Pa. , and Does the Foreman Know about This?

A couple dressed for a prom or dance in the 1960s. The same sofa and wall decorations appear in a photo of a Boy Scout who's probably the brother of one or the other.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of making friends with the locals (travelers photographed with people from the indigenous population) . English-language sign on one of the buildings in the background: "Here you can have your photo taken in Volendam costume." The members of a Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) tour group (notice the men's overseas caps ) pose with three young girls who are wearing the traditional clothing of Volendam , a town in the Netherlands (mouse over the image above for a close-up of the girls and part of the group ). For another example of a tourist posing with the locals, see Amish Folks at Dutch Wonderland, Lancaster, Pa.

For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.