Alan Mays' photos

"Here's to jolly feast with Thanksgiving greetings." Printed on the back: "Thanksgiving Series No. 26." A male turkey with a woman's head? Or a woman wearing a turkey costume? Just another quirky American Thanksgiving postcard from the early twentieth century.

Looks like the jolly old gent is already revving up for the holiday season! A found photo, date and location unknown.

"Holcomb & Caskey. Wholesale lumber, white pine, North Carolina pine, hemlock & cypress lumber, white pine, cedar and cypress shingles. Office, 18 Broadway, New York. Brooks Bank Note Co., Boston." Despite Holcomb & Caskey's impressive business card, the company filed for bankruptcy in 1911 after a little more than five years in business. A notice published in Hardwood Record , a lumber industry magazine, on May 25, 1911, p. 79, announced the demise of the company: "The Holcomb & Caskey Lumber Company, 940 Broadway, has filed a petition in bankruptcy. The nominal assets are $12,559 and liabilities $40,712. The company was incorporated in December, 1905, with a capital of $50,000. Richard E. Holcomb is president and Clayton R. Caskey vice-president. Mr. Caskey has organized the Clayton R. Caskey Lumber Company, taking over the headquarters of the old concern and will in the future conduct a general wholesale business on his own account."

"Inman Steamship Company. The Major & Knapp Lith. Co., N.Y." Rubberstamped on front: "Chas. W. Hamilton, Brimfield, Illinois. Brimfield Bank." A Victorian-era trade card advertising the Inman Steamship Company , a British passenger shipping company.

"'No thanks,' said Banks, I want Cruikshank Delicious Apple Butter. Cruikshank Bros. Co., Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.A. Cubro Apple Butter. Net weight 2 lbs. avoir. H. Gamse & Bro. Litho., Balto., Md."

A memorials photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Inscription on the monument: "The Lost Children of the Alleghenies were found here, May 8, 1856, by Jacob Dibert and Harrison Whysong." See also a detail showing the inscription and the full version of the real photo postcard (below). The Lost Children of the Alleghenies monument stands as a memorial to the sad story of George and Joseph Cox, ages 7 and 5, whose bodies were discovered at the site on May 8, 1856. The boys wandered away from their home in the Allegheny Mountains of northern Bedford County , Pennsylvania, on April 24. The boys' parents sought help when they were unable to locate their children, and hundreds of people eventually came to help search through the mountainous terrain during the following days. After two weeks of searching, however, the boys still had not been found, and the freezing cold weather in the higher altitudes was a cause for concern. A man named Jacob Dibert, who lived some distance away and had not participated in the search, dreamed that he was out in the woods looking for the boys. He dreamed for three nights in succession that he saw a dead deer, a little shoe, and a tree that had fallen across a stream. After crossing the stream, he found the boys' bodies. He sought the help of his brother-in-law, Harrison Whysong, who was familiar with the area where the boys had gone missing. After Jacob described what he saw in his dream, the men attempted to locate the site. They noticed a dead deer, found a boy's shoe, and spotted a tree that had fallen over a stream. They crossed over, and discovered George and Jacob's lifeless bodies. The poignant story of the boys "found by a dream" circulated widely in newspapers and books and by word of mouth. The monument was built and dedicated on May 8, 1906, fifty years after the sad event. For more information, see the Wikipedia article about the Lost Children of the Alleghenies . The boys' story was also the subject of Alison Krauss's 2007 song, "Jacob's Dream."

Inscription on the monument: "The Lost Children of the Alleghenies were found here, May 8, 1856, by Jacob Dibert and Harrison Whysong." For more information, see the cropped version of this real photo postcard.

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

A hotels/motels photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "The Glen House, Pinkham Notch, White Mountains, N.H." According to Wikipedia, " Glen House was the name of a series of grand resorts, between 1852 and 1893, in Pinkham Notch very near Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, USA." This seemed puzzling to me, since the Glen House pictured on this real photo postcard certainly wasn't one of those "grand resorts" of the nineteenth century. Fortunately, I discovered Steven Caming's book, Mt. Washington Auto Road (Arcadia Publishing, 2014), which contains a chapter about the history of the Glen House. As Caming explains, there have actually been four different Glen Houses. The one shown here was built in 1925 as the fourth Glen House and "was only a mere shadow of those grand hotels that had come before." So what happened to the previous hotels? All three of them burned to the ground, with accidental fires occurring in 1884, 1893, and 1924. This view of Glen House No, 4 was intended to illustrate what a relaxing and convenient place it was (mouse over the image above to see a cropped version ). A man and women are resting on comfortable chairs in the front yard as a small child plays nearby. Another man has parked his car right in front and is carrying a suitcase up the steps toward the entrance of the hotel. Sad to say, a fourth fire in 1967 destroyed this hotel, too, and put an end to this idyllic scene. Fifty yeas later, however, a fifth Glen House is now under construction and is scheduled to open in June 2018.

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

An additional Halloween photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park ( post as many photos as you want--no limit!--that relate directly or indirectly to Halloween ). I'm not certain whether this photo was actually taken at Halloween, but I wouldn't want to run into this scary group in a dark alley on trick-or-treat night. See also the full version of this real photo postcard.

See also a cropped version of this real photo postcard.

This is the season the maidens dream Things of future unforeseen. Dream sweet dreams, oh! ladies fair; But of the future have a care! A postcard addressed on the other side to my grandmother, "Miss Annie Sturtz, Fairhope Boswell, Pa." (I'm not exactly certain where my grandmother lived at the time and why Fairhope was crossed out and Boswell written in). There are two postmarks--one from Somerset, Pa., and another from Fairhope, Pa.--both dated Oct. 29, 1908. The handwritten message on the back of the card is "Annie taking warning. B." My grandmother evidently didn't heed the warning from the unnamed "B." and married my grandfather a year later.

"How we do things at Lancaster, Pa. Our Kind." Alfred Stanley Johnson, Jr., of Waupun, Wisconsin, created this postcard in 1911.

One more Halloween photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park ( post as many photos as you want--no limit!--that relate directly or indirectly to Halloween ). A jack-o'-lantern in a Halloween window display at a Kodak camera store. For a better view of the display and the inside of the store, see Halloween at Your Friendly Kodak Dealer .

A Halloween window display at a camera store. I believe that the sign that's partially visible above "Your Friendly Kodak Dealer" is "Service Photo Supply Co." Does anyone recognize the camera or other equipment? Is this a photo store scene from the 1960s or 1970s? For a close-up of the pumpkin, see Halloween Kodak-O'-Lantern .

Why is the witch holding a knife? Is that a plate of ice cream with a wedding ring on top? Is that a black cat or could it be a big rat? What is pumpkinhead boy smiling at? Why are some early twentieth-century Halloween postcards so puzzling?

A witch holds her broomstick tightly as she rides in the back seat of a watermelon car driven by a wide-eyed veggie creature. A black cat sits next to her, and a bat flies above. A date of "Oct. 31st, 1908" is written on the other side of this postcard, which was published by the British firm of Raphael Tuck & Sons and issued as part of its popular Halloween series 150 .