Alan Mays' photos

"Groundhog Window Glass, Bell Phone 147-J, Summerville Phone 268, 310 E. Mahoning Street, Punxsutawney, Pa., Aug. 28, 1918. Sold to Mr. J. A. Boyer, Rural Valley, Pa. L. G. Bastin & Sons, window glass distributors and glaziers. Circle cutting, glazing, plate glass, window glass, bent glass, and bevel glass. 3-16 glass for windshields, colored glass, chipped glass, mirror and picture frames." L. G. Bastin & Sons, a company that was located in Punxsutawney , Pennsylvania, used "Groundhog Window Glass" as a brand name and also included an illustration of a groundhog on this 1918 billhead. The town of Punxsutawney, of course, is home to Punxsutawney Phil , the famous rodent whose annual weather predictions are celebrated on February 2, Groundhog Day .

Written on the back of the photo: "The family. All four of us. The doll goes everywhere."

"Kolonel Keds personally certifies that bearer, whose name is on back of this card, is a member of Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol. Kolonel Keds." What kid in the 1960s wouldn't want to wear Keds sneakers and be a member of Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol! See below for the back of the card . In a later, less Martian-like incarnation, the Kolonel was portrayed by an actor wearing Keds and a Bell Rocket Belt , who swooped down from the sky in TV commercials and did heroic stuff like saving a school bus from an avalanche. Head over to YouTube and see it for yourself: Keds Sneakers with Jet Pack Kolonel Keds .

"Member, Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol. Name ________ Address ________ City ________ State ________ Is entitled to all privileges of membership in Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol and may take part in all activities, open or secret, of the patrol. U.S. Keds." For more information, see the front of this Kolonel Keds' Space Patrol card :

A sport photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. With eight rackets and four balls (stacked next to the racket lying in the lap of the guy at front center in the photo), this group seems ready to play tennis. But don't they look too dressed up to head out onto the tennis court, even by early twentieth-century standards? There's no identifying information on the back of this real photo postcard, but the dealer who sold it to me thought that it may have come from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. If so, perhaps this was a group of students, along with their instructors or chaperones, at the Cumberland Valley State Normal School, which is now Shippensburg University .

A souvenir real photo postcard from Lázně Luhačovice, a spa located in the Czech Republic. The date on the back of the photo is "17 VII 1949" (July 17, 1949).

Although I haven't uncovered any specific information regarding Thomas Edison's Uncle Sam automaton at the Columbian Exposition in 1893, I suspect that it wasn't too far removed from the inventor's unsuccessful talking doll, which appeared in 1890. For info on this, see Gaby Wood, Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life (Knopf, 2002); Edison’s First, Less Scary Talking Doll Recording , a posting on The History Blog; a page dealing with the Edison Talking Doll - 1890 ; and, finally, a short segment on Edison's Talking Doll (with a demo of the doll!) that aired on Discovery's Oddities show. Uncle Sam The wonderful Edison talking automaton at World's Fair, delivering 40,000 speeches during the Exhibition, about Highest Award, Gold Medal, Hub Gore. Hub Gore Makers, Elastic for Shoes. Hub Gore A. Trade Mark. Highest Gold Medal Awarded. Elastic for Shoes, Highest Award to Hub Gore Makers. Columbian Exposition.

Text on box lid: "Keep your pants on with the Atwood Suspender, manufactured only by the Atwood Suspender Co., Swanton, Vt." "Copyright, 1901, by Atwood Suspender Co. American Lithographic Co., N.Y."

"J. E. Kaughran & Co., 767 & 769 Broadway, New York. M. Heminway & Sons, Sublime Quality, Warranted, 100 yds. Manufactory, Watertown, Conn. Established 1849." In this nineteenth-century advertising trade card, Uncle Sam is running rampant with his goat cart, which is constructed with oversized spools of thread, while a foot-juggler performs with a ball on the back of the cart. For the other side of this card, see John E. Kaughran, Dry Goods, New York :

"John E. Kaughran & Co. Importers, Jobbers, & Retailers, Dry Goods, 767 & 769 Broadway. Cor. Ninth St. New York. John E. Kaughran, Jacob Rice, Thos. F. Kaughran. Presented by ________." For the other side of this advertising trade card, see J. E. Kaughran, New York :

The Underwood Typewriter Company operated an enormous typewriter that was designed to impress fair-goers at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition , which was "a world's fair held in San Francisco, in the United States, between February 20 and December 4 in 1915." The company later exhibited another giant typewriter at the New York World's Fair in 1939 (see postcard image below). Text from the front of this postcard: The $100,000.00 Typewriter An exact reproduction of "The Machine You Will Eventually [Buy]." Westward ho! Over the Rockies we go! On our way to the Golden Gate, we will see deserts, prairies, cowboys, ranches, mountains, canyons, and the wonders of the West! The Orient, the Occident, the South Seas, the Arctic--all the world will be there. Meet us in the Palace of Liberal Arts, Court of the Universe, San Francisco. An Underwood Typewriter 1,728 times larger than the Standard Underwood. Weight 14 tons - 28,000 lbs. Dimensions in action 21 feet wide by 15 feet high. Writing daily at the Underwood Exhibit, Palace of Liberal Arts, Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco, California, 1915.

"The 14-Ton Giant Underwood Master, operating daily at the New York World's Fair, 1939. Underwood Elliott Fisher Company. Underwood, Elliott-Fisher, Sundstrand, Speed the World's Business, One Park Avenue, New York." As this linen postcard suggests, a huge Underwood typewriter attracted visitors at the New York World's Fair in 1939. For some amazing photographs of the oversized machine, see The Giant Underwood Master Typewriter , a posting on the History By Zim blog. Underwood Elliott-Fisher (originally the Underwood Typewriter Company ) also displayed a giant typewriter at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in 1915 (see postcard image below). Printed on the back of this postcard: The Giant Underwood Master Typewriter The Largest in the World Operates daily at the Underwood Elliott Fisher Exhibit in the Business Systems and Insurance Building at the New York World's Fair. This huge machine, weighing 14 tons, is 1,728 times larger than the regular Underwood Master. It required 3 years to build. Each typebar weighs 45 pounds and the carriage alone weighs 3,500 pounds. Letters are typed on "stationery" measuring 9 by 12 feet, and the ribbon in the machine is 100 feet long and five inches wide. Two box cars were required to transport the Giant to the World's Fair.

A vinegar valentine postcard dating to the time when "typewriter" (rather than typist) was commonly used to refer to the person doing the typing as well as to the machine itself. Typewriter About grammar and spelling Just nothing you know, And the letters you type Are a scandalous show!

A priests/nuns photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Stamped on the back of the photo: "Folkemer Photo Service, Baltimore, Apr. 27, 1928." There's nothing except the stamp on the back of the photo and the fuzzy details in the background of the image to indicate where these priestly fellows posed for their photo. The snapshot was probably taken somewhere in the Baltimore, Maryland, area--as the stamp suggests--but their relaxed stances make me wonder if they were visiting family and friends or traveling on vacation when the photographer took this picture.

Handwritten note on the back of this small cyanotype photo: "Sonny carved this head out of a piece of stone up [in] the garden with an old chisel."

A gigantic corn borer caterpillar that's standing in the way of a farmer plowing his field is the startling illustration on the front cover of this May 1927 issue of Farm Mechanics , "a monthly magazine featuring farm improvements, machinery, equipment, farm buildings--for the farmer and the dealer." The grotesque caterpillar on the cover serves as the dramatic backdrop for an advertisement extolling the virtues of the tractors manufactured by the Hart-Parr Company, which merged with three other firms in 1929 to form the Oliver Farm Equipment Company . The illustration reminds me of the oversized animals and crops on tall-tale and exaggeration postcards . Excerpts from the advertisement on the cover: "Battle the Borer with Hart-Parr Power. Plow deep with Hart-Parr power and 16" Vulcan plows, covering completely all corn stalks and corn borers. Battle the borer with powerful, distillate-burning Hart-Parrs, the only tractors recommended to burn cheap, low grade fuels.... Get the facts on the tremendous power of Hart-Parr tractors, which operate all corn borer control machinery efficiently through belt, drawbar, and power take-off.... Hart-Parr Company, founders of the tractor industry, Charles City, Iowa."

A real photo postcard showing the "Youngest string-quartet in the world, 1924," as written on the chalkboard.