Alan Mays' photos

Edward Ridley & Sons, a New York City department store, printed this trade card for customers during the holiday season in 1880, and the store also took out newspaper ads to offer its "annual greeting." The other side of the trade card is a wintertime illustration of a little girl holding some toys as she stands in the snow. This side (above) features the store's Christmas greeting: 32nd Annual Greeting A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Toys, Dolls, and Holiday Presents. Edw. Ridley & Sons 309, 311, 311½ Grand St. 59 Orchard St. 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70 Allen St. New York The following excerpt from the store's advertisement in the New York Herald on December 5, 1880, provides additional details about its holiday sales: Thirty-second Annual Greeting Santa Claus' New Building. Opening Monday, December 6. First Floor—Endless variety toys, dolls, hobby horses. Also china, glass ware, &c. Second Floor--Work boxes, writing desks, Japanese varieties, &c., &c. Tuesday, December 7. Third Floor—Dolls, dolls, dolls. And everything belonging to a doll. Fourth Floor—Wednesday, December 8. Will contain toys of the very finest description…. Our new building gives 23,000 square feet. All devoted to toys. Come and see the toys and our methods. Worsted embroideries, slipper patterns, brackets, &c. Photo and auto[graph] albums, in plush, Russia[n] leather and French calf bindings. Handsome jewel and combination cases, pocketbooks, cigar cases, &c. Prices below every other house—we warrant.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of boots (high button boots, rain boots, farm boots, etc.) . "Season's Greetings, 1949. From Our House to Your House." A young girl, who's decked out in winter clothes and boots, poses with Santa Claus (or a reasonable facsimile), who's also wearing boots. The girl posed with Santa again in 1950 for another photographic Christmas card. See Season's Greetings, 1950 .

"Seasons Greetings, 1950." Handwritten signature on the other side of this photographic greeting card: "The Weidman's." For the Weidman family Christmas card from 1949, this young girl posed with Santa outside on the porch instead of inside on the stairs. See Season's Greetings, 1949—From Our House to Your House .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of signs and billboards (any type of sign—traffic, store, warning, printed, handwritten, big, small, etc.—or any kind of billboard advertisement or announcement) . For similar sign posers, see Speed Limit 15 Miles , Danger—Keep Away from Edge of Cliff , and Slow!

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of children with toys . This is one in a series of Christmas photos in a Super Pak Snaps booklet (note the red plastic comb binding) from the early 1960s that shows a boy with a Fred Flintstone "Puncho" (otherwise known as a punching bag or bop bag). The Flintstones , the first prime-time animated television series, debuted on September 30, 1960, but I'm guessing that the punching bag and photo date to Christmas 1961 or 1962. See other snapshots of the boy playing with the punching bag and Fred standing guard in the boy's living room .

A young boy sits on the floor between the RCA Victor television set and the Christmas tree as he plays with the Fred Flintstone punching bag he received for Christmas. See some additional photos of Fred stationed in the middle of the living room and the boy posing next to his punching bag .

Fred Flintstone the punching bag stoically guards the room as Christmas turmoil begins to swirl around him The little boy who received Fred for Christmas is barely visible at right as he stands next to his dad, who's seated in a chair--those are his legs protruding halfway into the room. An aunt (or maybe grandma) has come to the rescue and is holding the boy's baby sister as she starts screaming at the top of her lungs. Perhaps she's already grown tired of her new baby doll, who now sits forlornly all by herself. Take a look at some happier snapshots showing the boy posing with Fred and the boy playing with his punching bag .

For another early twentieth-century ear-of-corn Thanksgiving postcard, see Thanksgiving Greetings .

Young polar explorers wear warm clothes to celebrate Thanksgiving at "the Pole" in this postcard illustration from 1910. But which pole--North or South? Frederick Cook claimed that he reached the North Pole in 1908, and Robert Peary said that he arrived there in 1909. Around the same time, Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott were attempting to be the first to reach the South Pole. In the 1900s and 1910s, polar expeditions received widespread attention in newspapers and magazines in the same way that the later news media covered the race to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s. The publisher's generic caption about "the Pole" gave the postcard a longer shelf life since it applied equally to whichever direction--North or South--a polar expedition was going. Printed on the other side of the postcard: "Thanksgiving Series No. 10"

"May your Thanksgiving blessings be ripened by a sunshiny heart! H.B.G." A Thanksgiving postcard illustrated by H. B. Griggs (H.B.G.). For other postcards by Griggs, see: -- 'Rah, 'Rah, 'Rah, Thanksgiving!!! -- Were It Not for Friday's Pain -- Thanksgiving Nightmare -- May Love Always Serve Your Thanksgiving Feast Addressed on the other side to Mrs. Laura Pease, 107 Stone St., Spokane, Wash., and postmarked in Charles City, Iowa, on November 14, 1910. Handwritten message: "Have not heard from you for a long time. How are you all. We are all well. I wrote to you two or three weeks ago and got no answer. Love to all. A.J.M." Printed on the verso: "L.&E. Serie 2263."

Handwritten note on the back of this snapshot: "This is me & my flock of 1921 turkey[s]. Just part of the flock." For more turkey photos, see Day of the Turkeys , Turkeys at the Fry Brothers Turkey Ranch, Trout Run, Pa. , and Thanksgiving Season's Greetings .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of appliances—refrigerators, stoves, washing machines, dishwashers, etc. A snapshot of a woman standing next to the stove in her kitchen. In front of her is a dinette set that looks like it might date to the 1950s. The graininess of the photo gives the furnishings a mottled appearance. For some other stoves, see Hooray! Let the Christmas Cooking Begin! and Cooking on the Regal Acorn .

"Thanksgiving Greetings." In this illustration from an early twentieth-century postcard, two turkeys are making their escape in an automobile to avoid being the main attraction at a Thanksgiving Day meal. The postcard is addressed on the other side to Miss Elsie Thornton, Main Street, Fox Chase, Pa., and was postmarked in West Philadelphia, Pa., in November (day and year smudged and unreadable). Handwritten message: "With love, Dot and Lee." Printed on the back: "A.S.B. 290. Made in Germany." See also Thanksgiving Day Fugitives and A Wingless Steed Will Take the Winner to a Fine Thanksgiving Dinner .

"May love always serve your Thanksgiving feast. HBG." A Thanksgiving postcard illustrated by H. B. Griggs (HBG). At first glance, I somehow thought that this was a Valentine's Day postcard with a couple of Cupids who were rather gruesomely melting a heart or maybe trying to fix a broken one . But after I read the sentiment, I realized that they're roasting a turkey rather than a heart, and it's a Thanksgiving Day card instead of a valentine. For another curious Griggs holiday card featuring these Cupid-like putti , see May Love Light Your Halloween Lantern!

A sports teams photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. In this undated snapshot, young men strike a pose for a football team picture. The guys in front look ready to spring into action, but nos. 22, 11, 20, and 99 in back are just standing there motionless. Behind the team is a rickety goal post, and beyond the football field is a cemetery.

Nineteenth-century scrip issued by the company store at the Indiana Iron Works (also know as Baker Furnace ), which was located near Cramer in East Wheatfield Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. For more information, see G. Robert Ganis, "Iron-Mining Store Scrip in Pennsylvania," Pennsylvania Geology vol. 19, no. 3 (June 1988) : 2-5. The Store at Indiana Iron Works Will pay to bearer ten cents on demand in dry goods & groceries. Ind. Iron Works. Jan. 1st, 1856. Ten cents. 10. 10.

A photo of trains or train stations for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Men operating a model railroad layout with trains and station, December 10, 1940. Hempfield Station "Bill Gwinn. 1 half of room. H. E. Hanes, op. 203." Back of photo: Handwritten note: "Passenger station & main yards on the Hempfield Terminal R.R. H. E. Hanes is operator at 'Y' tower. Art Dunnell is dispatcher at far left. W. J. B. Gwinn standing near Dunnell." Typed note: "In operation in B&O R.R. Station from Mar 1 1938 until 1955 when disbanded." Stamped date: "Dec 10 1940" Stamped name and address: " W. J. B. Gwinn , 650 Main Street, Bridgeport, Ohio."

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of Watch the skies!—UFOs, airplanes, birds, clouds, or anything else that might be up there . "16645 Morehouse's Comet, Yerkes Observatory." A stereograph of Morehouse's Comet , or Comet Morehouse, which Wikipedia describes as "a bright, non-periodic comet discovered by US astronomer Daniel Walter Morehouse and first observed on September 1, 1908." This stereo card was one in a series of images of the sun, the moon, planets, meteors, and comets published by the Keystone View Company in Meadville, Pennsylvania. For an interesting discussion of these photos, see Carmen Pérez Gonzalez, " From the Observatory to the Classroom: Space Images in the Keystone “600 SET” and “1200 SET ,” International Journal on Stereo & Immersive Media , vol. 1, no. 1 (Oct. 2017): 40-62. See also the text on the back of the stereograph .