Alan Mays' photos

Three kids, two with accordions and one with a trumpet. Take a look at the full version of the snapshot .

"Glick's Hikory & Apple Wood Smoked Meats. Home Made Cheese. Home Made Butter & Brooms. Bologna Sticks." A wonderfully unpretentious hand-painted sign for Glick's Meat and Cheese stand at Root's Country Market and Auction, located near Manheim , Pennsylvania.

A photo of rocks and stones for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A real photo postcard showing a group of women, men, and children posed on top of a big ol' rock. See also a cropped version of this photo for a close-up of this rock group .

Cropped version of a real photo postcard showing a group on top of a big ol' rock. Notice how some of the women are posing with men's hats perched jauntily on their heads. See also the full version of this photo.

"Steamboat Mary, Wrightsville and Columbia, Pa. B. D. Beittel , Columbia, Pa." An early postcard of Steamboat Mary, which evidently ran on the Susquehanna River between Wrightsville, York County, and Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The card dates to the first decade of the twentieth century (circa 1907, based on the postmark of another copy I spotted elsewhere on the web). In the background is the Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge , a steel truss bridge that was built in 1896. It carried railroad and automobile traffic over the river until it was dismantled in 1963.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo of someone posed on the fender of an automobile (or any other part of a car) . License plate: "700-868, Penna., 1922." Logo on radiator above license plate: "Chevrolet." A snapshot of three young women (could they be sisters, or even twins or triplets?) on the hood and fenders of an early Chevrolet automobile.

A cigar box label.

"The Way We Catch Them. Souvenir Post Card Co., N.Y." Postmarked Ocean City, N.J., Sept. 6, 1919.

A man and a woman are riding a giant snail in this strange scene from an early twentieth-century postcard. Caption at bottom: "You Are Too Slow for Me."

A colorful cigar box label.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo of trains, planes, ships, and buses (people photographed traveling inside one of these modes of transport—preferably shot from the inside) . A souvenir real photo postcard of tourists at the Cliff House restaurant, San Francisco, Calif. They're riding in "Pacific No. 14," one of the Pacific Sightseeing Company's tour buses. Mouse over the image above for a close-up view of the passengers . For similar photos, see the Cliff House Project's Transportation Web page (scroll down to the Tour Buses section).

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

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of: save that one for the holiday letter (A photo where the subject is enjoying some achievement or significant life event worthy of the annual holiday brag mailing. The best one I ever received: "This is our Katey, addressing the U.N. General Assembly.") . " . . . So to conclude, despite Jim's bout with kidney stones during our month-long vacation to Borneo, we did arrive home in time to see Suzy crowned queen during homecoming--she's been 'Our Queen' for four times now! Happy Holidays, Gladys and family."

A Spanish real photo postcard showing a mirror photo of a little girl standing on a chair. It's dated 1919 on the other side. For more like this, see my Mirror Photos album.

The notion that men and women could use handkerchiefs to secretly signal their romantic intentions may seem far-fetched, but that's the idea behind this "Handkerchief Flirtation" list. In fact, using hankies to flirt seems downright dangerous. You might accidentally drop your handkerchief on the floor and end up telling the wrong person, "We will be friends." Or even worse, you could draw your handkerchief across your cheek as you blow your nose, inadvertently saying, "I love you." Despite the potential for miscommunication, flirtation lists like this circulated widely in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In addition to handkerchiefs, you could supposedly also use flowers, gloves, parasols, hats, cigars, pencils, and even buggy whips and handheld fans for covert courtship. For further discussion of these secret flirting methods, see the following: Esti Brenna, From the Stacks: Victorian Courtship and the Language of the Fan , Clements Library Chronicles, June 6, 2012. "Unfortunately, the fan language--and other, similar codes like the language of the handkerchief and the language of the parasol--were largely the result of advertising campaigns meant to popularize and sell accessories. There is little evidence that the fan language was ever in widespread use, though the concept was satirized by several writers in the 18th and 19th centuries." Natasha Frost, The Victorian Cards That Explained How to Use a Book to Flirt , Atlas Obscura, March 23, 2018. A "Book Flirtation" card and other alleged flirting techniques. (Full disclosure: I'm quoted in this article, and it includes some of my calling and acquaintance cards .) Handkerchief Flirtation Drawing across the lips—Desirous of an acquaintance. Drawing across the eyes—I am sorry. Taking it by the centre—You are too willing. Dropping—We will be friends. Twisting in both hands—Indifference. Drawing across cheek—I love you. Drawing through hand—I hate you. Letting it rest on right eye—Yes. Letting it rest on left cheek—No. Twisting in the left hand—I wish to be rid of you. Twisting in the right hand—I love another. Folding it—I wish to speak with you. Over the shoulder—Follow me. Opposite corners in both hands—Wait for me. Drawing across the forehead—We are watched. Placing on the right ear—You have changed. Letting it remain on the eyes—You are cruel. Winding around forefinger—I am engaged. Winding around third finger—I am married. Putting it in the pocket—No more at present.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo with a vintage product placement (photos with commercial products or advertisements for commercial products conspicuously part of the scene) . For more examples, see my Vintage Product Placement album. This is a snapshot of a gas station with a billboard advertising Merit gasoline, signs offering seven gallons of gas for a dollar, and a tank with "Berkshire Oil Co." painted on the side (see a cropped version for a close-up view). In the background of the photo, however, is the most interesting detail—a giant Dixie paper cup (actually a water tank) on top of the factory in Easton, Pennsylvania, where the cups were manufactured until it closed in the early 1980s.

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

Handwritten date on the back of this photo: Aug. 1941. Stamped on back: Peerless Photo Shop, Lacrosse, Wis.