Alan Mays' photos

Two men, one of whom is holding a child, pose with turkeys.

A Thanksgiving greeting card with Art Deco design and color, dating to the late 1920s or early 1930s. A Thanksgiving Wish May this Thanksgiving bring to you A harvest without measure: Good cheer and joy and friendships true And every kind of pleasure!

"Wishing You a Happy Thanksgiving. Ellen H. Clapsaddle. Painting only copyrighted by S. Garre, 1909."

"Best Wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving. Ellen H. Clapsaddle. Painting only copyrighted by S. Garre, 1909."

A Thanksgiving postcard that shows Columbia —"the personification of the United States"—patting a turkey on the head. It's addressed on the other side to Miss Anna Johnson, Rockaway, New Jersey, Easton Heights. and postmarked Middle Valley, N.J., Nov. 25, 1909. Message: "I guess we can soon skate now if this weather lasts, and I hope it will. You must write and tell me about F., you know I want to hear about it. Laura." For the sake of comparison, see Uncle Sam's Thanksgiving Greeting for another national personification on a holiday postcard.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of He's (or She's) a Real Nowhere Man (or Woman) - solo individual photographed in open space . "Lovers' Leap and the Narrows, 900 feet above the National Hy., Cumberland , Md. U.S. 40." This is a real photo postcard showing the silhouette of a lone man at the top of the overlook known as Lover's Leap . Below the rock outcropping is the Cumberland Narrows , a water gap through the mountain. Wills Creek , the National Road ( U.S. Route 40 ), and railroad tracks run through the Narrows .

A man stands on top of Lover's Leap, a rocky outcropping that overlooks the Cumberland Narrows. This is a detail from a real photo postcard. See Lover's Leap and the Narrows, Cumberland, Maryland .

The National Road (U.S. 40), railroad lines, and Wills Creek run through the Cumberland Narrows below the Lover's Leap rock outcropping. This is a detail from a real photo postcard. See Lover's Leap and the Narrows, Cumberland, Maryland .

An extra wild card photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park on the topic of The Long and Winding Road - road photos, winding or otherwise (submit a photo on this topic each week in addition to—or instead of—a photo for the weekly topic) . Caption: "21 miles east of Cumberland, Md., U.S. 40." Sign: "Top of Green Ridge Mountain. Elevation 1115 feet, 1¼ miles down grade. Descend in second gear when road is wet. Use brakes only to snub to safe speed. State Roads Commission."

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of Baby You Can Drive My Car - woman (or young child) behind the wheel . A real photo postcard from early in the twentieth century. For a more modern woman behind the wheel, see Driven to Distraction .

A photo of the photographer photographed for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. An undated snapshot of a puzzling scene full of photographers. On the left-hand side of the photo, we see a man with a camera and tripod along with a woman holding a camera, both of whom are standing on a picnic table as they line up their shots. Another photographer with a tripod is partially visible at extreme left, and the tip of a tripod leg on top of the table at extreme right suggests that someone else with a camera is just off camera. (Mouse over the image above to see enlargements of the left-hand side and right-hand side of the photo.) All in all, there appear to be five photographers present in the picture, including the one who recorded the scene. Two additional men are standing at either end of the table in the middle and appear to be unpacking picnic baskets. A third man beyond the table is busily working on something (preparing food? putting up another tripod?), and two women are talking as they stand next to a stone grill. A couple of cars are barely visible through the trees beyond the women. I wonder if the other snapshots of this scene taken by the four other photographers still exist somewhere in someone else's collection. For other photographed photographers, see Taking Two at a Time and Honk! If You Think We're Nuts .

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

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

A Halloween party ticket, probably dating to the first decade of the twentieth century. Hallow Eve Party By the Young Men's Society of 1st M.E. Church, at Iris Club Building, No. 323 North Duke St., Friday, October 30. Tickets, 10 cts. Pluck Print.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of trick or treat (go crazy with this one and post as many photos as you want--no limit! Halloween, costumes, masks, skeletons, devils, human monsters, things that go bump in the night, ghostly apparitions, or anything you find scary or creepy) . A real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Miss Lizzie Moyer, Frackville, Pa., and postmarked in Selinsgrove and Frackville, Pa., during December 1905. Handwritten message: "I suppose you will know one among the crowd, Lily Row." The presence of the two jack-o'-lanterns in front of the group suggests that the photo was taken during a Halloween party. In front of the jack-o'-lanterns are ears of corn wrapped in paper or cloth. There's also another pumpkin in the lower left-hand corner of the photo, but this one hasn't been carved into a jack-o'-lantern. Instead, the letters of the alphabet have been stenciled on the pumpkin (see a cropped version of the photo for a better view of the details). I haven't figured out how the partygoers used the ears of corn, but I was able to determine what they did with the stenciled pumpkin. A fortune-telling game listed in a book of Games for Hallow-e'en (Barse and Hopkins, 1912), by Mary E. Blain, p. 21, provides an explanation: Pumpkin Alphabet Carve [or stencil, in this case] all the letters of the alphabet on a medium sized pumpkin. Put it on a dish and set on a stand or table. Each guest in turn is blindfolded and given a hat-pin, then led to pumpkin, where he (she) is expected to stick pin into one of the letters on the pumpkin, thus indicating the initial of future life-partner. Perhaps the wrapped corn was used in a party game, too.

Notice how the letters of the alphabet are stenciled on the pumpkin that's visible in the lower left-hand corner of the photo. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of trick or treat (go crazy with this one and post as many photos as you want--no limit! Halloween, costumes, masks, skeletons, devils, human monsters, things that go bump in the night, ghostly apparitions, or anything you find scary or creepy) . These two are posing for a picture as they pick pumpkins in preparation for Halloween (take a look at a close-up of the couple ). The windmill scene seems like a strange selection for use as a background for pumpkin pickers.

See also the full version of this real photo postcard.