Alan Mays' photos

A nineteenth-century broadside advertisement for Theodore Trickel 's new shoe store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Opened! Theodore Trickel. New Shoe Store, 1520 South 63d Street. Unfurl the [flag] and spread the news, Theo. Trickel repairs all kinds of shoes, Men's, women's, and misses' repaired very neat At 1520 South 63d Street. Shoes repaired from the best of leather And warranted to keep out the weather, Half soleing and heeling done with care, Of your patronage he asks a share. Invisible patches put on quite neat That cannot be seen upon the feet, All the work that is done by me, Will give satisfaction I guarantee. The public all should keep in view Shoes repaired to look like new, Don't forget to give me a call Shoes repaired, large or small. Custom Work a Specialty Repairing neatly done and promptly attended to. Ready-made shoes in stock for men, women, and children at the lowest prices. Theodore Trickel 1520 South 63d Street, Philadelphia Alfred D. Smith, printer, 5841 Baynton Street, Germantown.

"Beam Eye Bow. This is a puzzel." Have you figured out the puzzle? The illustration accompanying "Beam Eye Bow" (say the words quickly a few times) is a rebus that translates to "Be My Beau"(a beau , of course, is a boyfriend or sweetheart). This is a postcard designed to look like a school slate , and its playfully flirtatious message reminds me of an acquaintance card (compare it with May I See You Home? ). There's no date on this postcard, but I have a second copy with a 1907 postmark, and a web search uncovered another example from 1909. For another bow/beau postcard, see To My Affinity From One Who Has No Bow .

What else can you do with a stray M, a couple of Os, and an exclamation point!

"Market Street, Elizabethtown , Pa., Looking South from the Square. Pub. by G. N. Falkenstein." A postcard addressed on the other side to Mrs. Annie Perinell, Mt. Joy, Pa., with postmarks for Elizabethtown, Pa., April 12, 1906, 7 p.m., and Mount Joy, Pa., April 13, 1906, 7 a.m.

A photo of folded arms and/or crossed legs for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "...Base-ball Club, Boswel....weg. [or neg.?] by Wm. Hicks." This is a damaged real photo postcard of a baseball club from Boswell , Somerset County, Pennsylvania, dating to the 1900s or 1910s. Although part of the handwritten caption is missing due to the torn-off corner, the baseball club name appears to have been the Regulars, judging by the shirt worn by the man standing on the left with his hands on his hips. Other players are standing with their arms folded, and some are sitting cross-legged on the ground. William Hicks was a 24-year-old resident of Boswell when he listed his occupation as photographer on a marriage license application dated November 25, 1907 (as viewed on the Ancestry web site). His wife-to-be was Catharine E. Henry, who was 18 years old and also lived in Boswell. I haven't been able to locate any additional information about William Hicks and his photographic work, but I'm guessing that he may have been the photographer for two other real photo postcards from the same town: Nicollette at Boswell, Pa. , and Atlantic Coal Company's Mine, Boswell, Pa.

"Nicollette at Boswell, Pa." Sign: "Come In. Only 5¢." I haven't been able to uncover any information regarding this "Nicollette" (or "nicollettes," perhaps, if there were others besides this one), but my best guess is that this was an early nickelodeon move theater . See also a cropped version of this photo for a close-up of the entrance and the guys sitting on the steps.

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

A photo of shop- or storefront(s) for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Jacob Kamp (1838-1902) was the proprietor of a shoe store in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. I believe that's him standing with his hands on his hips in the doorway of his store (above the "K" in "Kamp's" that was added to the sidewalk by the photographer). The name "J. Kamp" appears at the top of the building. The front window in Kamp's store displays a variety of shoes and includes seven individual signs with the dates for the week of "Monday, May 29" through "Saturday, June 3" and the following "Monday, June 5." These dates, together with the days of the week on which they fall, allow us to determine which years the photo may have been taken. The fifth day of June, for instance, occurred on a Monday in the years of 1882, 1893, 1899, and 1905. Since Jacob Kamp died in 1902, my best guess is that this photo dates to either 1893 or 1899. On the right, two men are standing at the entrance to a grocery store , which advertises "berries, new potatoes, tomatoes, and cabbages" with lettering on the window. The second floor of the building is occupied by "Aetna Life," the "largest life and accident co. in the world," with insurance coverage for "fire," "life," and "accident," as indicated on the exterior of the building. These two buildings are still standing . Compare this photo from the 1890s with the Google Maps image from 2018.

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

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

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

For more information, see the full version of this photo, which dates to the 1890s. The Google Maps image on the right dates to 2018.

A swimming pools photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a real photo postcard of a woman posing among the gardenia blossoms in the swimming pool at the Hotel Ruiz Galindo, located in the city of Fortín de las Flores ("Fort of Flowers"), Veracruz , Mexico. The gardenia flowers in the pool were a selling point, and a later postcard described the pool as "The Famous Gardenia Swimming Pool" and the hotel as "The Gardenia Resort." Mouse over the image to see enlargements of the left side (notice the hotel guests seated beside the pool and the maid looking down from the second level) and the right side (there are two men at the diving board).

As a woman poses among the gardenia flowers in the swimming pool, hotel guests watch from their seats alongside the pool. A maid standing on the second level of the hotel takes a break from her work to look down at the photo shoot taking place below. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

Gardenias float on the water in the foreground, and two men are visible at the diving board in the background. One looks like he's getting ready to jump in the pool, while the other appears to be stepping away from the board. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of putting on the ritz—dressed up for a special occasion . I picked up this wedding photo at a local antique mall a year or two ago. It wasn't in great shape, but it was a larger photo mounted on cardboard, and I liked the interesting room furnishings, the period clothing, and the amusing facial expressions. When I got home and examined the photo more closely, however, I noticed something strange about it. Were you able to spot it? If not, take a look at a cropped version of the photo.

As I mentioned (see the full version of this photo), I bought this picture at an antique mall and noticed something strange about it after I got it home. I purchased the photo because I liked the furnishings in the room--take a look at the chandelier, curtains, and flowers in the background, for instance. And there's a flowery border running along the top of the wall just below the ceiling. I also found the wedding party interesting. The wide-eyed groom seems to be stunned, but the bride, who's holding a large bouquet of flowers, looks calm and serene. The groom's father (at far right) is sporting a moustache and so is the bride's father (on the left). The photographer happened to catch the bride's mother (standing to the left of the bride) with her eyes closed. I examined all these details and looked at the photo for quite a while before I spotted something downright strange. Did you find it yet? If not, check out another enlargement from this image.

After closely inspecting this photo (see the full and cropped versions) for quite some time, I was surprised to finally realize that there's someone--or part of someone, to be precise--missing from it. Take another glance at the bride's mother, who was caught with her eyes closed. A man's shoulders are visible directly behind her. The man's head, however, has been imperfectly altered so that it partially blends in with the folds of the curtain behind him. Who was this mysterious wedding guest, and who wanted him out of the picture? We'll never know, but I find it amazing how well hidden--to my eyes, at least--he turned out to be. It's remarkable that this simple method of concealment was so successful in hiding this man's presence in the photo.