Alan Mays' photos

A real photo postcard of a man holding a deer head. For a similar photo, see A Man and His Moosehead Bier .

A teddy bears photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A real photo postcard of a gathering of women along with their dolls, teddy bears (including a Steiff, I'm told), and maybe one or two stuffed lions or dogs. No date, location, or other information, unfortunately. For close-up views, see cropped versions showing the front row and the two back rows

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

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

A steam calliope in a snapshot dated March 1971. This calliope is known as Getz's Steam Calliope after the three brothers—Noah, William, and Robert Getz—who operated it for many years. Hauled around on a tractor trailer, the calliope still makes regular appearances at parades and other events in south central Pennsylvania. Head over to YouTube to see it in action at a Homecoming Parade in Millersville, Pa., on October 13, 2012, and at the July 4th Parade in Pottstown, Pa., in 2017.

A real photo postcard showing the Tressler Orphans' Home Band. "Tressler" was part of its name beginning sometime in the nineteenth century, so I'm not sure why it's missing from the drum in this early twentieth-century photo. For a later incarnation of the band—with spiffier uniforms and a different drumhead—see Tressler Orphans' Home Band, Loysville, Pa.

The Berks and Dauphin Turnpike Road Company was in existence from 1805 to about 1917 and collected tolls along a road that extended from Berks County through Lebanon County and into Dauphin County in Pennsylvania. The punches on this ticket indicate that it cost 5 cents for a trip in Lebanon County between Annville (or Sporting Hill?) and Sunny Side, a distance of 3 (or 2¼?) miles. Berks & Dauphin Turnpike Road Co. Dimes - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. Rates For 1 horse and carriage - 1½ cts. per mile For 2 horses and carriage - 2½ cts. per mile For 1 horse and sleigh - .75 cts. per mile For 1 horse rode or led - ½ cts. per mile For 1 horse and sulky - 1 cts. per mile For 1 wagon per horse - 1 cts. per mile For bicycle - ½ cts. per mile From Junction - Mls. to P. & R. Crossing - 1 to Swatara Station - 1¾ to Palmyra - 5 to Kreider's Mill - 9¼ to Annville - 10¼ to Sporting Hill - 11 to Cleona - 12 to Stony Side - 13 to Lebanon - 15¼ to Wernersville - 34¼ to Robesonia - 31¼ to Womelsdorf - 28¼ to Waterloo - 26½ to Stouchsburg - 26 to Owl Creek - 22¾ to Myerstown - 21¾ to West Myerstown - 21¼ to Half-way - 19¼ to Narrows - 18¼ to Avon - 17¼ Cents - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0. For a similar item, see Lancaster, Elizabethtown, and Middletown Turnpike Company Ticket .

"Lancaster, E., & M. Turnpike Co. The gate keepers must punch the spaces. Gate - 1, 2, 3, 4, 4½ , 5, 6, 7. Horse Team - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Cattle, Etc." An unused ticket for the Lancaster, Elizabethtown, and Middletown Turnpike Company, which operated a private turnpike in Lancaster and Dauphin counties in Pennsylvania. Sections of what are now Pennsylvania Route 230 and Pennsylvania Route 283 eventually replaced the turnpike. See also a rotated version of the ticket .

For more information, see the original version of the ticket .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo of squinting into the sun (subjects obviously struggling to keep eyes open while facing into the sun for the photographer; borrowed from a Flickr group) . For additional examples, see my album of Vintage Squinters . Handwritten on the front of this real photo postcard: "Aug. 28, '07. Dear Grandma: I told you I was coming Thursday, a [week?]. How do you like Helen and I? I am not very well, Mary." Addressed to: Mrs. Mary E. Mock, Stoyestown, Pa., Route 2. Postmarked: Friedens, Pa., Aug. 28, 1907.

A nineteenth-century advertising card for Spangler & Rich, a store in Marietta , Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Amazingly enough, the building that housed the store is still standing, and its façade hasn't changed dramatically in over 100 years. A laundromat occupies the building today. See a side-by-side comparison of the image on the card and a recent Google Street View (from 2011) of the building . Spangler & Rich No. 64 Market Street, Marietta, Pa., Dealers in Dry Goods, Clothing, Groceries, &c. Fish--Carpets and Floor Oil Clothes. Queensware and Wall Papers--Salt. Express Steam Print, Lancaster, Pa. Crosscup, Phila.

This is a side-by-side comparison of a nineteenth-century advertising card with a Google Street View (from 2011) of the building depicted on the card. It's quite surprising to discover that the façade of the building, which was a store in the late 1800s and today is a laundromat, hasn't changed much in over 100 years. See a second Google Street View from a slightly different angle for a better view of the signs and window on the first floor.

A business card by Pluck Print with an illustration of anthropomorphic pigs by the Philadelphia engraving firm of Crosscup and West. C. L. Hartz Dealer in all kinds of first-class smoked meats, such as ham, dried beef, bologna, breakfast bacon, &c Cheese: New York state, full cream, imported Swiss, sapsago, kimmel, and Limburger. 223 East Frederick St., Lancaster, Pa. At Northern and Central Markets. Avenue C, stalls 37 and 39, Northern Market. Pluck Print. Buyers Office. Crosscup & West, Phila.

"There are some fish around here. Greetings from Beach Haven Terrace, N.J." Printed on the back: "Series 925, Freak Fish, 12 designs." See also There Are Some Fish Around Here .

"The Russ Bros. Modern Ice Cream Plant, Harrisburg, Pa. The home of Velvet Ice Cream." According to " Russ Bros. New Ice Cream Plant ," an article in the Ice Cream Trade Journal , March 1920, pp. 47-49, the Russ Bros. Ice Cream Company bought an old typewriter factory located at Nineteenth and Manada Streets in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and converted it into a modern manufacturing plant capable of producing up to one million gallons of ice cream in a year.

Handwritten note on the back of this real photo postcard: "This is as we looked Monday, July 5th, 1909, after the floral parade. Ed, Edith, Edward, Russell, Hattie, and Otto Zahn." Hand-lettered card attached to the car: "29." Number above the doorway of the building in the background: "1004." I didn't think I'd be able to uncover any information about a "floral parade" held in 1909. As it turned out, however, the Washington Post newspaper sponsored an Independence Day celebration in the form of a "Floral-Flag Automobile Parade" on July 5, 1909, that received widespread coverage. The weekly Horticulture magazine on July 3, 1909, p. 8, for instance, expressed the hope that the event would sell more flowers during a hot summer: "Washington has been sweltering under the most torrid wave that has visited the city in years. Business is quite dull, commencements are over, and even Cupid is enervated by the heat. All the city is agog, though, over the forthcoming automobile and flower parade that will take place on the 5th of July. Autos will be decorated with flags and flowers. The Washington Post offers a first prize of $100 for the handsomest decorated auto. It is to be hoped that this flower parade, at least, will become an annual custom. It will be of inestimable value to the florists, as well as to the flower-loving public." Henry Litchfield West, in an article about "A Safe and Sane Fourth of July" in The Forum , August 1909, p. 108, described some of the parade cars: "The Washington Post conceived the idea of an automobile floral-flag parade, and this event proved to be a genuine spectacular and artistic success. There were over a hundred motor cars in line, and the decorations were extremely novel and pleasing. One automobile was reconstructed into an accurate representation of the Confederate ram Merrimac, and was manned by young men in sailor costumes; another was converted into a yacht with masts and sails; another was a floral boat apparently drawn by an enormous white swan; and still another was in the form of a pergola, decorated with wistaria vines and blossoms. An electric machine which elicited the applause of the thousands who lined the route of parade was apparently a huge wicker basket of pink roses, in the centre of which and surmounted by a canopy of roses was seated the lady who operated the car. Another electric machine was a symphony in red, white and blue. Altogether the event proved to be a most unique and beautiful celebration…." The decorations on this automobile weren't as elaborate (see a cropped version for a closer view), but it's remarkable that with a few details we can find information about a Floral-Flag Automobile Parade held over a century ago.

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

"Rosey's Auto Graveyard on Lincoln Highway at Vintage , Pa. Between Philadelphia and Lancaster, Pa." The Lancaster County Postcard Club's book, Lancaster County Postcards: Windows to Our Past (Stevens, Pa., 1998), p. 94, gives a date of 1919 for this postcard. Printed on the other side of the postcard: Rosey Buying and selling running and not running automobiles. Paying highest cash prices. Dealer in all kinds of supplies. On the Lincoln Highway. Vintage, Lanc. Co., Pa. Ind. Phone, Gap 420-G. Bell Phone, Gap 422. Published by I. Steinfeldt, Lancaster, Pa. Made in U.S.A. C. T. American Art. A-80583. Excerpts from a 1921 article about "Rosey" and "The Graveyard": "Rosey," whose real name is Morris Roseman, is proprietor of "The Graveyard," a most interesting and profitable "outdoor showroom" for defunct automobiles and other motor vehicles. Vintage is a small place twelve miles east of Lancaster, Pa., on the Lincoln Highway, which gives "The Graveyard" a strategical position: First, because of the tremendous motor vehicle traffic along the highway, and second, because Vintage is in Lancaster county, noted for its great number of automobile, truck, and farm tractor users and owners.... "Rosey" is a cheerful character, but while he is never tired of having colored post cards made of his famous "Graveyard," he does not consider his own portrait especially decorative and there aren't many pictures of him extant. --from K. H. Lansing, " Being a 'Character' Has Money Value ," American Garage and Auto Dealer , August 1921, pp. 13-14.