Alan Mays' photos

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of people seemingly unhappy being photographed . I found this photo yesterday at an antiques barn in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. As I was paying for it, the person at the counter commented on the woman in the photo, saying that "it doesn't look like she wants her picture taken." I knew that I had my photo for this week's theme!

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of beach party . Sign: “Novelty Stand. Buckets. Shovels.” Five young women and six young men in beach garb pose for a photo near a “Novelty Stand” that sells bucket and shovels. One of the guys is holding a basket, so perhaps they're on their way to a picnic or party. The other side of the photo is blank, and there's no indication where or when the photo was taken.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of flowers or trees . Vina is posing next to six containers of flowering plants arranged on the railing of her porch. The message she wrote along the left-hand side says, "Will write soon. Love to all. Vina." This is a real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Miss Libbie Betallach, Walkerville, Montana. The card has an undivided back, which suggests a date before 1907. It bears a stamp, but there's no postmark. See also a cropped version of the photo for a better view of Vina and her flowers.

Vina stands next to the flowering plants on the railing of her porch. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of outdated technology - typewriters, record players, etc . Six women pose for a photo as they sit awkwardly on office shelves. An L. C. Smith typewriter is visible on the desk in front of them. This is an undated snapshot with no other information about the women or the location of their office.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of very happy people . This is an undated real photo postcard of a group of Americans and Germans happily enjoying themselves at a beer hall table during the May Fair in Kaiserslautern , Germany. Handwritten note on the other side: "This was taken in a Beer Hall at the May Fair in Kaiserslautern. The people across the table are unknown Germans. Col. Faw is between me & some unknown German woman. I'm wearing my green Bavarian hat ." Added in another hand: "3rd from right, Arthur Brown."

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of proud of their car . The dealer's tag on this photograph identified it as a "Hot Rod Racing Photo, c. 1968." The driver poses jauntily next to his car with his helmet underneath his arm. It's likely that this is a modified race car at one of the dirt tracks in south central Pennsylvania. The numbers on some cars are associated with specific drivers or owners, but I haven't been able to uncover any information about car no. 56.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of birthday cakes – or any other kind of cake . A young girl pauses for a photo before blowing out the candles on the large birthday cake on the TV tray table in front of her. There are a dozen or more lit candles on the cake, but surely she's not twelve years old! See a copped version of this photo for a closer look at the girl and her cake.

Twelve or more candles on her birthday cake! Could she be that old? See also the full version of this photo.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of patriotic . This is an undated picture of kids riding their bicycles down a street. It's an divided-back real photo postcard with a blank stamp box, and there's no message, address, postmark, or anything else to indicate a date or location. The bikes are patriotically decorated with flags, ribbons, and streamers, and the buildings in the background are similarly festooned with flags and bunting. It's likely that this bike parade took place as part of a Fourth of July celebration. See a copped version of this photo for a closer look at the children and their bikes. For another bike decorated for the Fourth of July, see Boy Wins Tom Swift Book in Fourth of July Bike Parade in the 1950s .

A close-up view of children riding bicycles decorated with ribbons, streamers, and flags for a Fourth of July bike parade. For more information, see the original photo .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of folded arms and/or crossed legs . Three men are posing for a picture on a porch. The two in front are sitting impatiently on the edge of the porch with their arms folded and legs crossed. This is one of four pictures combined together on a real photo postcard that dates to the early twentieth century. See Pictures on the Porch .

This is a divided-back real photo postcard with a Solio stamp box, which indicates that the card may date to between 1907 and the 1920s. Someone wrote "Uncle Caleb" on the other side of this card but there's no other identifying information. The photographer combined four separate pictures on this photo postcard. Each of the four individual photos shows people -- a woman holding a young child, three men, a woman sitting on a man's lap, four young children -- posing on the same porch. For an enlargement of the photo of the three men, see Folded Arms and Crossed Legs .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of on vacation . Sign: "Intercourse. Formerly 'Cross Keys.' From a Noted Old Tavern Stand. Founded 1754." Taking a photo of the town sign for Intercourse is a popular activity for visitors on vacation in the Amish Country area of eastern Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Intercourse and other seemingly suggestive local place names in the county, such as Blue Ball, Bird-in-Hand, Bareville, Fertility, and Paradise, also appear in photos and on postcards and other tourist souvenirs. This Intercourse sign is an example of the " Keystone markers " that are still familiar sights along the roads throughout Pennsylvania and helped to reinforce its "Keystone State" nickname.

(Posting this a day late since Ipernity wasn't accessible last night.) A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of fathers and children . This is a real photo postcard of a man and a boy -- probably a father and son. Both are similarly dressed in hats, suits, and button shoes, and they're both sitting with their legs crossed. The photographer's name printed on the other side is "C. G. Blatt, Bernville, Berks Co., Pa." Since the photo postcard has a divided back with space for both a message and an address (only the address was permitted prior to 1907) and since the photographer -- Cyrus Gerhart Blatt (1841-1915) -- passed away in 1915, it's likely that the photo dates to sometime between 1908 and 1914.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of something beginning with D . This is a real photo postcard with a divided back, and the type of Azo stamp box (with four corner triangles pointing up) printed on the other side suggests a date between 1907 and 1918. The text on the banner in the photo is "Dead Gamers, Orgd. 1898, Lancaster, Pa." The lettering on the drumhead is "Dead-Gamers, Lancaster, Pa." Both the banner and the drumhead include an illustration of a rooster that's saying, "Hur-ray." The Dead Gamers' Camping Association was a fraternal group based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This same photo appeared in "The Lancaster That Was" column in the Lancaster Sunday News , October 22, 1978, p. B-2, with the headline, "When the Dead Gamers Were a Lively Bunch of Robust Lads." The column said, "The club, replete with its band, is seen in [this] photo as it took its departure from the old Reading Railroad Station, at Prince and James Streets, in Aug. 1909 for an encampment at Bedford, Pa." I'm not sure this information is accurate, however, since Heather Truckenmiller's article, The Dead Gamers Camp in Allenwood, Pa. , cites sources that place the Dead Campers in Allenwood, Union County, Pa., rather than Bedford, Pa., in August 1909. "The Dead Gamers," the column explains, "were typical of a number of camping clubs that flourished in this community in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The lads, we are told, were banded together as all-male social organizations . . . to eat, drink, and make merry with joyous song. And when the spirit moved them they took off for extended camping trips into the wilds." A handwritten note on the other side of this photo identifies one of the men as "Eugene E. Gates, Sr.," and tells the viewer to "look for man with beard, dot on shirt, in centre (back) of [the group in the] photo." For a better view of the group, see a cropped version of the photo. I also created an enlargement of the image that shows where Eugene E. Gates, Sr., is standing. For another real photo postcard related to this camping association, see Caught Napping with the Dead Gamers .

See also an enlargement from the photo that shows where Eugene E. Gates, Sr., is standing. For more information, see the full version of the photo.

A handwritten note on the other side of the full version of this photo identifies one of the men as "Eugene E. Gates, Sr.," and tells the viewer to "look for man with beard, dot on shirt, in centre (back) of [the group in the] photo." I've circled Gates here to show where he's standing within the group. The mark that indicates his location is more of a smudge than a dot. For a wider view of the group, see a cropped version of the photo. For more information, see the full version of the photo.