Students, Teachers, and Schools

A photo of children for the Vintage Photos Theme Park . An undated photo by Morrows Studio, Newport, Perry County, Pa., shows schoolchildren posing in front of a blackboard. The expressions on the kids' faces range from angelic sweetness to stoic forbearance to utter impatience. My favorite is the girl sitting third from left in the front row (mouse over the image to see a close-up view of her and some of the other children ). Her dramatically amusing appearance--with puffed-out cheeks, bulging eyes, and a hand over her stomach--either indicates that she's going to be sick or that she's ready for the photo session to be over.

See also the full version of this photo:

A school days photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A young schoolteacher—not much older than some of the students seated around her—stands at the back of the classroom in a one-room schoolhouse. Although the stove and a couple of school desks dominate the foreground, the faces of the students and the items posted on the wall in the background are the most interesting parts of the photo (mouse over the image above to see enlargements of the left , middle , and right sections). Five calendars are among the twenty-seven items on the wall. The lettering on one of the calendars is large enough that I was able to determine that it displays the month of March 1911 and came from the Limestone Mutual Fire Insurance Company in Limestone , Pennsylvania. This suggests that the schoolhouse may have been located in Clarion County or somewhere else in the surrounding area of northwestern Pennsylvania.

Some of the students on the left-hand side of the room are wearing dresses and suits that suggest that they dressed up especially for the photo. Does the pipe extending from the floor indicate that the wood stove has been converted for use with gas? For more information, see the full version of this photo.

Some of the younger students are seated in front the teacher. The boy on the right was caught with his mouth open, as if he was yawning or laughing. Sitting to the left of the teacher are two older female students. Or could they be mothers of the students or friends of the teacher? The calendar hanging on the wall at right is from the "Limestone Mutual Fire Insurance Co., Limestone, Pennsylvania," and the month on the calendar is March 1911. I haven't been able to identify the man in the large portrait next to the calendar. For more information, see the full version of this photo.

The students in this row seem to be waiting impatiently for the photographer to finish taking the photo. Note the amusing illustration at the top of the wall that shows a parrot reading from a book. For more information, see the full version of this photo.

This real photo postcard shows a teacher standing in front of his classroom in what was probably a one-room schoolhouse located in York County, Pennsylvania, sometime in the 1910s. Handwritten on the blackboard is "Elias M. Baugher, Teacher." The calendar in the upper left-hand corner displays the month of March, but the photo isn't clear enough to make out the year. Another interesting detail is the printed sign hanging above the blackboard, which says, "Try, try again." For a close-up of the blackboard, calendar, and sign , mouse over the image above, or select the thumbnail image below. Elias M. Baugher's gravestone appears on the Find A Grave site and reveals that he was born on February 15, 1892, and died September 25, 1918, at the age of 26. He is buried in the Chestnut Grove Brethren Cemetery, located in Jefferson, York County, Pa. The calendar that's visible in the photo tells us that March 1 occurred on a Friday in the year the photo was taken. Since March 1 fell on Fridays in 1907, 1912, and 1918, the photo probably either dates to 1912, when Elias was 20 years old, or to 1918 (the year he died), when he was 26. It's less likely, I would think, that the photo was taken in 1907, when Elias was only 15. A Google Books search turned up the Pennsylvania State Education Association's Report of Proceedings for 1919 , pp. 64-65, which included his name in a list of educators who passed away in 1918 and noted that he "died in camp." The report explained the circumstances: "During the year just closed war and disease exacted from us a heavy toll. Influenza proved a veritable scourge.... It left in its wake sorrow and sadness. More than one hundred teachers of the State were victims of its deadly attack." Another book, York County and the World War (1920), p. 124, relates that Elias was drafted into the army during the last months of World War I (1914-1918) and confirms that he died of flu: "Private Elias M. Baugher. U. S. Infantry, Camp Lee, Va. Private Baugher was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Freeman Baugher of near Jefferson, York County, Pa. He left for Camp Lee, June 24, 1918, with the third County quota of drafted men, where he died of influenza. Prior to entering the service he was engaged in farming in Frederick County, Md. Interment was made at the Chestnut Grove Church of the Brethren. He was 26 years old at the time of his death. He is survived by three brothers and three sisters besides his parents." So it turns out that Elias M. Baugher, a young teacher drafted into the army, fell victim to the 1918 flu pandemic , which, unlike other influenza outbreaks, "killed predominantly previously healthy young adults." As detailed in The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918: A Digital Encyclopedia , Camp Lee, located in Petersburg, Virginia, just 25 miles from Richmond, was home to almost 48,000 soldiers. The camp experienced its first case of the flu on September 13, 1918, and by September 19 there were more than 1,000 cases. Elias died on September 25, and the flu epidemic continued to rage locally in Camp Lee and then in Richmond. Influenza afflicted the country and the world in a global pandemic during the remaining months of 1918 and on into the following year.

See the full version of this real photo postcard for additional information.

A children with toys photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A photo of the students and teachers in a morning kindergarten class at a religious school in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1965-66 school year. Instead of the usual class photo showing students standing together in a group, the photographer has creatively positioned the students around the room using toys and other items as props. Mouse over the photo above to see close-ups of the different toys and student groupings, and see below for descriptions of each separate image. Felt Board - I believe that this is a felt board (also called a flannelgraph or flannel board) with different shapes that can be rearranged on the board. Lincoln Logs - Three boys are sitting at a table containing Lincoln Logs . The boy at the head of the table also has a puzzle. Easel and Paintbrushes - A boy is standing in front of an easel. A painting of a person is visible on the easel, and paintbrushes are propped up in front of it. Ladder and Platform - A girl and a boy are standing on top of a wooden platform that has one or more ladders leading up to it. I'm not sure if this is some sort of indoor play equipment or whether the photographer just positioned the children there for dramatic effect. A girl sitting behind the platform is pretending to make a phone call. Telephone and Table - Another girl is pretending to make a phone call, and two students are sitting at a round table. Board and Pegs - The girl at front has a game or toy consisting of pegs that fit onto a board. Loony Links and Other Toys - The boy at the head of the table is playing with Loony Links, an educational game with plastic parts that snap together to form figures of people and animals. The girl and boy at the front of the table are playing with blocks, and the girl sitting next to the Loony Links has an Add-A-Count Scale, which was an educational math toy (see the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History description of the Add-A-Count Scale in its collection).

Detail from a photo (see full photo below) of the students and teachers in a morning kindergarten class at a religious school in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1965-66 school year. I believe that this is a felt board (also called a flannelgraph or flannel board) with different shapes that can be rearranged on the board.

Detail from a photo (see full photo below) of the students and teachers in a morning kindergarten class at a religious school in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1965-66 school year. Three boys are sitting at a table containing Lincoln Logs . The boy at the head of the table also has a puzzle.

Detail from a photo (see full photo below) of the students and teachers in a morning kindergarten class at a religious school in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1965-66 school year. A boy is standing in front of an easel. A painting of a person is visible on the easel, and paintbrushes are propped up in front of it.

Detail from a photo (see full photo below) of the students and teachers in a morning kindergarten class at a religious school in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1965-66 school year. A girl and a boy are standing on top of a wooden platform that has one or more ladders leading up to it. I'm not sure if this is some sort of indoor play equipment or whether the photographer just positioned the children there for dramatic effect. A girl sitting behind the platform is pretending to make a phone call.

Detail from a photo (see full photo below) of the students and teachers in a morning kindergarten class at a religious school in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1965-66 school year. One girl is pretending to make a phone call, and two students are sitting at a round table.

Detail from a photo (see full photo below) of the students and teachers in a morning kindergarten class at a religious school in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1965-66 school year. The girl at front has a game or toy consisting of pegs that fit onto a board.

Detail from a photo (see full photo below) of the students and teachers in a morning kindergarten class at a religious school in Baltimore, Maryland, during the 1965-66 school year. The boy at the head of the table is playing with Loony Links, an educational game with plastic parts that snap together to form figures of people and animals. The girl and boy at the front of the table are playing with blocks, and the girl sitting next to the Loony Links has an Add-A-Count Scale, which was an educational math toy (see the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History description of the Add-A-Count Scale in its collection).

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of steps, stairs, staircases . This is a real photo postcard of young women standing on the steps leading up to the entrance of a building. They're wearing uniforms with scarves or neckerchiefs, and the banner they're holding simply says, "Flash." In the corners of the banner are what seem to be drawings of stylized top hats. Peeking out from below the banner are two pairs of what might be athletic shoes. Although someone over on Flickr amusingly suggested that this might be an early example of a flash mob , I suspect that these young women belonged to a club or sports team at a high school or college. But I'm not sure what "Flash" meant to them or why the top hats -- if that's what they are -- appear on the banner.

A teen attitude / teenagers in love photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A photo from a college get-together sometime around 1910. The two pennants at top center are ones for "F. & M." ( Franklin and Marshall College , located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania) and "1910." The smaller pennant at top right is difficult to read (even in the original photo), but appears to be "Souvenir 1908." Franklin and Marshall College didn't admit women until 1969, so only the men would have been students. Everyone in the photo seems to be looking in a different direction. The guy and gal in the lower right-hand corner, however, seem to be looking intently at each other, and they appear to be young enough to be teenagers in love.