Alan Mays' photos

I chose televisions for the Vintage Photos Theme Park theme of pick your own theme about things—objects, artifacts, or items . A young boy, who's wearing a robe over pajamas, is playing a toy guitar as he sits on an ottoman. There's a television set on the table behind him, and the walls are covered with the type of knotty pine paneling that was popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The boy's pajamas and all the Christmas decorations -- a poinsettia on the fireplace, ornaments in a glass bowl on top of the TV, and some more ornaments on the table that's partially visible on the right -- make me wonder if the boy has just received the guitar as a present on Christmas morning.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of clouds (literally or figuratively — above the clouds, beyond, cloud nine, head in them, silver linings, or what have you?) . Two women pose with a paper moon in front of a painted backdrop decorated with clouds and stars. This is an unused real photo postcard with a divided back but no stamp box. See also the full version of the photo.

A paper moon picture with fingerprints, smudges, and other imperfections. See also a cropped version of the photo.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of Christmas in July (why wait until December? post a photo for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Solstice, or any other similar holiday celebration) . An undated color snapshot. I guess Santa didn't bring that kid what he wanted!

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of be a clown (clowns, people dressed as clowns, or people clowning around) . Banner (upper left): "8th Ward Camping Club." I haven't been able to determine where the Eighth Ward Camping Club was located or why its members were dressed up in clown costumes and other amusing getups. Considering that there's a fellow behind the group who's delivering a tray full of mugs filled with beer, I'm sure that they're enjoying themselves. See a cropped version of the photo for a closer look at the costumes. The type of Azo stamp box (with four corner triangles pointing up) printed on the other side of this photo postcard suggests a possible date that may be as early as 1904 to 1918.

A closer view of the Eighth Ward Camping Club's costumes. For more information, see the full version of the photo.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of bicycle or bicycles . This is an undated photo of a bicycle with training wheels. The bike is conveniently parked in someone's living room right between an RCA Victor television and a small table with a lamp.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of car plus woman (photo of a car with a woman standing near, sitting on, or draped upon it) . This is an undated photo of a woman posing with her family's automobile. It must have been a new car, since her whole family posed with it. I have three other photos showing the woman standing in front of the car, one with her husband, another with her son, and the third with her mother. The husband and the woman's mother also posed separately with the auto in two additional photos.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of distinctive houses . Caption: "The Hornberger Cottage, Central Oak Heights, West Milton , Pa." The Hornberger Cottage, originally called the Woodlawn Cottage when it was built in 1909, was purchased by Jerome Hornberger (1876-1936) in 1919. Central Oak Heights , located in Union County, Pennsylvania, originated in 1909 as a religious camp meeting affiliated with the United Evangelical Church but is now simply an association of cottage owners. The Hornberger Cottage was the "grandest of 62 frame homes built at Central Oak Heights," according to Jeannette Lasansky's book, Union County River Towns (Arcadia Publishing, 2011), p. 106. The cottage is notable for its wide porch on the first floor and balconies on the second and third levels. The porch and balconies were all later enclosed, as shown in a photo published in the booklet, Central Oak Heights, 100 Years, 1909—2009: Cottage Histories (PDF, 2009), p. 18. In this photo, we see that a man and six women are standing in front of the cottage or sitting on the porch. I found it strange that another woman is standing by herself on the second-floor balcony. A cropped version of the photo provides a closer look at the woman and reveals that she's wearing dark glasses, suggesting that she may be blind. After checking further, I believe that the woman on the balcony is Grace Hornberger (1899-2007), who was Jerome's daughter. Grace lived to the age of 108, but she became blind at the age of 18 due to unknown causes (see Karen Blackledge, " Area Woman, Blind Since Youth, Listens to Books ," an otherwise unidentified newspaper clipping from 1999 posted to Find a Grave).

A close-up view of the man and women outside the Hornberger Cottage, along with the woman with dark glasses standing by herself on the second-floor balcony. For more information, see the original version of the real photo postcard.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of kiddie pools (or a regular swimming pool if no kiddie pool) . Handwritten note on the other side of the photo: "Taking it easy in our back yard at Johnson Air Station , Japan, July 1962." A woman sits in a foldable aluminum webbed chaise lounge chair while her sons play in their kiddie pool. A bamboo fence surrounds the yard, and a Japanese wagasa umbrella provides some protection from the sun. On the right-hand side, the blurred face of a neighbor peers over the fence.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of bucket and spade/shovel and pail (beach) . This is a snapshot of a mother and her two children -- a girl and boy -- sitting on an unidentified beach. The little girl is holding a cup that she may be using to pour sand into the metal pail in front of her. The boy has a small shovel that he is using to dig sand to put into a plastic pitcher. The only clues to the location of the beach are the flags in front of the building in the background. I wasn't able to determine what the flag on the left might be, but the one on the right is the U.S. flag. I could see that the flag in the middle featured some sort of animal on a light background with a dark stripe along the bottom. After a bit of searching, I was able to identify it as the Bear Flag , which is the official California flag. See also a cropped version of the photo.

A mother and her children playing in the sand at an unidentified beach in California. For more information, see the full version of the photo.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of cuddle up a little closer (people embracing) . A man and a woman hold each other close as they pose for a photo in front of a painted backdrop that depicts a railroad observation car . See a cropped version for a close-up of the couple. This is an unused real photo postcard with no name, address, or message on the other side. The DOPS stamp box printed on the verso suggests that the card may date to between 1925 and 1942.

A real photo postcard of a man and woman on an "observation car." See also the full version of the photo.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of holding a doll . Notation on photo: "C. C. Kuhn. Photo.#716." A photo of two girls -- one standing and one seated -- posed on a piece of carpet among some shrubbery and potted plants. C. C. Kuhn ( Carl C. Kuhn , 1888-1948) was a well-known photographer who lived in Cashtown, Adams County, Pennsylvania, at the time he took this photo. This is an unused real photo postcard with an Azo stamp box design (four corner triangles pointing up) on the other side, which suggests a date that may be as early as 1904 to 1918. For a closer view of the girls and the doll, see a cropped version of the photo. For a close-up of the doll and Kuhn's name on the photo, see an even smaller detail .

A real photo postcard of two girls and a doll taken by photographer C. C. Kuhn. For more information, see the full version of the photo.

This detail from a real photo postcard by photographer C. C. Kuhn shows a doll and the way Kuhn added his name and a number to the photo. For more information, see the full version of the photo.