Alan Mays' photos

A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park expressing the sentiment, I hope it's not goodbye . Like Ipernity, I don't know whether I'm coming or going most days, so I'm not sure whether hello or farewell would be appropriate, and I certainly hope we won't have to say goodbye anytime soon. This young fellow was wearing a sailor suit and coat--note the neckerchief visible on the left and the eagle insignia on the shoulder of the coat at right--as he posed for this trick photo along a dirt road with ramshackle buildings in the background. The photographer was quite skilled, however, and only a little blurriness at the top of the hill is noticeable as the result of the double exposure. It's curious, though, that there's an old shoe at the kid's feet on the left. See also the full version of this real photo postcard:

See also the cropped version of this real photo postcard:

Is that an old shoe, a battered pipe. or something else between the kid's feet? For more information, see the cropped version of this real photo postcard:

A colorful Victorian-era advertising trade card for the Standard Sewing Machine Company. Stamped on the other side: "Horace Brillinger, Emigsville, Pa." Standard Rotary Shuttle Sewing Machine The highest priced lock stitch machine made. But the cheapest, because the best. The nation's pride. Compliments of the Standard Sewing Machine Co., Cleveland, O., U.S.A. Pansies' Playtime. M. F. Tobin, N.Y.

A photo reflecting a wish (or) wishing for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Like Ipernity, this woman seems to be in a precarious position. A couple of guys are jokingly holding her over the opening of a well as they pose for the photo. It appears to be a functioning well, with a bucket (barely visible next to the fellow on the left) attached to a chain and pulley to draw up water from the depths. In hindsight, I'd like to wish this woman well, with the hope that she didn't fall down into the water and go under. Likewise, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that Ipernity stays afloat and doesn't go under. (I wish that this didn't sound so convoluted, but I used my best wishing photo— Woman on the Wishing Seat in the Children's Zoo at the Bronx Zoo —for the are you sitting comfortably? theme a few months ago. 8-)

This comic postcard from the early twentieth century shows a woman munching on an article from Harper's Bazaar . Scattered on the table in front of her are issues of Munsey's Magazine , Scribner's Magazine , The Ocean , and Cosmopolitan .

"Lecture by Joseph W. Richards, M.A., A.C., M.S., on 'Aluminium.' The Chemical Society of the Lehigh University. April 28, 1891, 8:00 p.m. Please present this ticket at the door. Seat no. 15."

A gravestones and cemeteries photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Written at the top of the photo: "Papa's Grave, Hawesville, Ky., 9/16/25." A search on Find A Grave revealed that this is the gravestone for Joe Aldridge (1875-1914), who's buried in the Hawesville Cemetery, Hancock County, Kentucky. It's possible that the log cabin design of the gravestone indicates that Aldridge was a member of the Woodmen of the World , a fraternal benefit society known today as WoodmenLife.

Handwritten note on the back of this real photo postcard: "Austin, Lomah, & Jonas, a musical blow-out."

Written on the back: "12/29/67 - Bo." Bo on the floor and Tennessee Ernie Ford on the TV. I'm not sure whose legs those are on the couch. For another dogs-TV-legs combination, see Fuzzy Dog (below).

Mister Peabody , the cartoon dog in the Rocky and Bullwinkle TV show , wore eyeglasses, and Addison MacHenry, the fictional dog in Ransom Riggs's Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children book series, had goggles and a pipe, but I'm not sure why the dogs in this real photo postcard are wearing glasses and a top hat, smoking pipes, and pulling a cart (mouse over the image above for a closer look ). And then there's the girl with the spinning wheel. What are these kids up to?

For more information, see the original photo :

A reflections photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. The water captures a reflection of an outdoors scene, with trees, a rustic bridge, a man and his dogs , and a building.

For more information, see the original photo :

Rotated version, with the reflection at the top. For more information, see the original photo :

"I pray the New Year be full of delight for thee." See below for the reverse of this Victorian-era advertising trade card:

"An elegant assortment of Christmas and New Year's cards, dry goods in an abundance. W. D. M. Smith. C. E. Morrell, 17 Warren St., N.Y." See below for the front of this Victorian-era advertising trade card:

"A Happy New Year to the scholars of Princeton Church Sabbath School." The Princeton Presbyterian Church of Springfield, Pennsylvania, was located in Philadelphia during the nineteenth-century when this New Year greeting was given to the children who attended the church's Sunday school.