Men in Vintage Photos

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.

The Cosmopolitan Club was the precursor to the International Students Organization at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Springfield College Digital Collections contains additional Cosmopolitan Club photos from various years.

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 Victorian-era calling card for "Mr. E. H. White" along with his photograph, which looks like it may have been copied from a CDV. Anyone recognize the typeface? For similar cards, see my album of Calling Cards with Photographs .

A photo of sporting events or competitions for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Two runners end (or begin?) their footrace in a blur of motion as they cross a finish line (starting line?) marked by a long branch held up over their heads by two young men. It's unclear whether the runners are beginning or ending their race since the guy at far left is holding the branch with one hand while his other hand is pointing what may be a starting pistol straight up in the air. Another fellow on the left is holding a round object that looks like a large alarm clock, which he may be using--or pretending to use--to time the race. He seems to be peering down the road as if he expects to see more runners show up in the distance (that's one reason why I assumed at first that this must be the end of a race). Curiously, a bucket and a glass bottle with unknown contents are visible along the roadway (you can see them in the background between the two runners), and there's also a bucket at the feet of a guy on the right who's holding a cloth of some sort. This is an unused real photo postcard, and there's nothing on it to indicate where or when this race took place. For a better view of some of the details, mouse over the image above to see a cropped version of the photo .

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

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.

A photo of people exchanging "a look" that the photographer has captured perfectly for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Never mind that it's a fake look in a fake boat—the photographer who created this real photo postcard has captured a studio scene of a man and women looking into each other's eyes and pretending to be in love. I just hope that the swan got out of the way before it got caught in the wake of the speeding boat!

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of trick or treat (go crazy with this one and post as many photos as you want--no limit! Halloween, costumes, masks, skeletons, devils, human monsters, things that go bump in the night, ghostly apparitions, or anything you find scary or creepy) . These two are posing for a picture as they pick pumpkins in preparation for Halloween (take a look at a close-up of the couple ). The windmill scene seems like a strange selection for use as a background for pumpkin pickers.

See also the full version of this real photo postcard.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of trick or treat (go crazy with this one and post as many photos as you want--no limit! Halloween, costumes, masks, skeletons, devils, human monsters, things that go bump in the night, ghostly apparitions, or anything you find scary or creepy) . A real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Miss Lizzie Moyer, Frackville, Pa., and postmarked in Selinsgrove and Frackville, Pa., during December 1905. Handwritten message: "I suppose you will know one among the crowd, Lily Row." The presence of the two jack-o'-lanterns in front of the group suggests that the photo was taken during a Halloween party. In front of the jack-o'-lanterns are ears of corn wrapped in paper or cloth. There's also another pumpkin in the lower left-hand corner of the photo, but this one hasn't been carved into a jack-o'-lantern. Instead, the letters of the alphabet have been stenciled on the pumpkin (see a cropped version of the photo for a better view of the details). I haven't figured out how the partygoers used the ears of corn, but I was able to determine what they did with the stenciled pumpkin. A fortune-telling game listed in a book of Games for Hallow-e'en (Barse and Hopkins, 1912), by Mary E. Blain, p. 21, provides an explanation: Pumpkin Alphabet Carve [or stencil, in this case] all the letters of the alphabet on a medium sized pumpkin. Put it on a dish and set on a stand or table. Each guest in turn is blindfolded and given a hat-pin, then led to pumpkin, where he (she) is expected to stick pin into one of the letters on the pumpkin, thus indicating the initial of future life-partner. Perhaps the wrapped corn was used in a party game, too.

Notice how the letters of the alphabet are stenciled on the pumpkin that's visible in the lower left-hand corner of the photo. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

A photo of the photographer photographed for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. An undated snapshot of a puzzling scene full of photographers. On the left-hand side of the photo, we see a man with a camera and tripod along with a woman holding a camera, both of whom are standing on a picnic table as they line up their shots. Another photographer with a tripod is partially visible at extreme left, and the tip of a tripod leg on top of the table at extreme right suggests that someone else with a camera is just off camera. (Mouse over the image above to see enlargements of the left-hand side and right-hand side of the photo.) All in all, there appear to be five photographers present in the picture, including the one who recorded the scene. Two additional men are standing at either end of the table in the middle and appear to be unpacking picnic baskets. A third man beyond the table is busily working on something (preparing food? putting up another tripod?), and two women are talking as they stand next to a stone grill. A couple of cars are barely visible through the trees beyond the women. I wonder if the other snapshots of this scene taken by the four other photographers still exist somewhere in someone else's collection. For other photographed photographers, see Taking Two at a Time and Honk! If You Think We're Nuts .

For more information, see the full version of this snapshot.

For more information, see the full version of this snapshot.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of He's (or She's) a Real Nowhere Man (or Woman) - solo individual photographed in open space . "Lovers' Leap and the Narrows, 900 feet above the National Hy., Cumberland , Md. U.S. 40." This is a real photo postcard showing the silhouette of a lone man at the top of the overlook known as Lover's Leap . Below the rock outcropping is the Cumberland Narrows , a water gap through the mountain. Wills Creek , the National Road ( U.S. Route 40 ), and railroad tracks run through the Narrows .