Alan Mays' photos

A wheelbarrows and carts photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. For more of the same, wheel your barrow over to Deborah Lundbech's Vintage People in Wheelbarrows group, which was the inspiration for my album of Wheelbarrows, Carts, and Other Conveyances . "We are coming home. Your Aunt Lora and Uncle Will, Mar. 10th, 1908." Handwritten on the back of this real photo postcard: "Miss Mary Riddell, Vilas, Pa." (There's no message, stamp, or postmark, and I'm not certain whether "Vilas"--not a Pennsylvania place name as far as I can determine--is a correct transcription of the handwriting.) For similar photos, see Seeing Blackpool and Two Men and a Wheelbarrow :

A real photo postcard.

"Don't forget to call at headquarters for overcoats, Leinbach & Bro., Cor, 8th and Penn Streets, [Reading, Pa.]."

"Orchilla Guano. The great soil enricher. Will grow big corn. Improves the quality and increases the quantity of the wheat; used with great success on berries, peach trees and all kinds of vegetables. Never fails on grass. R. A. Wooldridge & Co., importers, 64 Buchanan's Wharf, Baltimore, Md." The stars and stripes of the U.S. flag seem to be an odd choice for the background of this nineteenth-century trade card that advertised imported bird, uh, manure . For another card from the same company, see Orchilla Guano :

"Rockefeller Center Roof Studio, New York, 850 feet, 70 stories." Handwritten date on the back of this real photo postcard: "Taken June 4th, 1952." For a similar souvenir photo, see Man and Woman at the Rockefeller Center Roof Studio, New York City :

"Coming round your way to wish you many happy returns of your birthday. Mary A. Munden. Zing." Addressed on the other side to "Mr. Frank Draine, 1201 Poplar Street, City," and postmarked Wilmington, Del., Nov. 20, 1905.

A crowds photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Real photograph printed from negative by Harper B. Smith , 1637 Boardwalk, Atlantic City, N.J." Addressed to: "Mrs. Roy H. Passmore, Christiana, Lanc. Co., Penna." Handwritten message: Dear Dot - Does thee see the girls that are marked—they are our bunch & also "The Man of the Hour"? (Woodrow)? People are naming their kiddies after him thee know. Tell Agnes Schultz [that the] girls got homesick and went home and I am working here at one of the best places if not the best. Spent one week boarding & "doing it" as that crazy song says. Met a very nice girl from Wilmington whom I like very much. Hetty Marked Girls Hetty points out the "girls that are marked" on the photo (mouse over the image above for an enlargement showing the marks ). I'm not sure whether these are the same girls who left after getting homesick. Woodrow Wilson That's Woodrow Wilson , governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913 and president of the United States from 1913 to 1921, who's addressing the audience in this photo (mouse over the image for a close-up of Wilson ). Although I haven't been able to confirm it, the unfinished brick wall on the lower right-hand side suggests to me that this may be a view of Wilson's speech during the laying of the cornerstone for the new YMCA building (now the John Brooks Recovery Center ) on Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on July 10, 1912. Wilson appeared in front of a crowd of about 5,000 on that day in one of his first appearances after receiving the Democratic nomination for president on July 2 (see " Wilson at Cornerstone Laying ," Reading Eagle [Reading, Pa.], July 10, 1912, p. 9). As Hetty alluded to in her message, Wilson used "The Man of the Hour" as his slogan when he ran for president in 1912, and he was apparently popular enough that some parents did name their children after him. One famous namesake, for instance, was Woodrow Wison "Woody" Guthrie , who was born on July 14, 1912, and grew up to become a famous folksinger and composer of songs like " This Land Is Your Land ." Doing It Hetty mentions that she "Spent one week boarding & 'doing it' as that crazy song says." The song was " Everybody's Doin' It Now" (1911), by Irving Berlin. What was it that everybody was doing? Why ragtime dancing, of course: "See that ragtime couple over there / Watch them throw their shoulders in the air / Snap their fingers / Honey I declare it's a bear / It's a bear, it's a bear / There! / Everybody's doin' it / Doin' it, doin' it / Everybody's doin' it / Doin' it, doin' it." Thee Why does Hetty use "thee" instead of "you" in her message? As it turns out, she was writing to Dorothy "Dotty" Passmore, a woman who was a member of the Quakers (or Friends), a religious group that used "thee" as a pronoun at the time. It's likely that Hetty was a Quaker as well. The Friends Journal: Quaker Thought and Life Today , Nov. 1, 1964, noted the death of Dorothy's husband on June 21 of that year. He was a member of the Sadsbury Friends Meeting , a Quaker church that still exists today. His wife, who presumably was also a member of the church, had passed away a month earlier on May 19, 1964, as reported in an obituary that appeared in the New York Times .

See also the full version and a detail from this photo:

See also the full photo and a cropped version of this photo:

An all alone photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "A. W. Switzer's Photo." A real photo postcard, date and location unknown. Mouse over the image for a close-up of the man on the pole .

See also the full version of this real photo postcard:

"Grand Independence Ball at Reynolds Hall, Oaksville, Tuesday eve., July 3, 1883. Yourself and ladies are invited. Music by Wager's Band. Bill $2. A. C. Reynolds, prop'r." An advertising trade card announcing a Fourth of July dance in Oaksville, New York.

A list of "Coming Musical Events" in the Reading, Pa., Eagle for Sunday, Oct. 21, 1922, p. 34, mentions this music group: "Next Saturday evening the Pennsylvania Syncopators, of Lebanon, one of the best orchestras in the Lebanon Valley, will play [at the "Auditorium," apparently a Reading-area ballroom or other venue]." W. R. Shaw is also listed as the banjo player for another group, Challis' Collegians, on page 160 in L'Agenda of 1925 , the yearbook for Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pa. Here's a selection of other vintage music business cards:

"Dance to Charlie George's Syn-co-paters, Jenners, Pa. If it's a hit, we play it. Phone no. 9059R3, Jenners, Pa. Hot. Rhythm. Tuneful."

"Roseland Nightingale Orchestra. A full evening's pleasure. Harry Wolford, business manager, 570 South Duke Street, Lancaster, Pa. Melody, pep, harmony. Bell phone."

"C. Lloyd Major and His Orchestra. C. Lloyd Major, Bell 3-4109. 1944 Chestnut Street, Harrisburg, Pa." C. Lloyd Major was active as a musician in Pennsylvania during the 1920s and 1930s. His musical group went by various names, including C. Lloyd Major and His Victor Recording Orchestra, C. Lloyd Major and His Merry Musicians, and C. Lloyd Major and His Tallo-Ho Ten.

"Shaw's Harmony Boys, dance orchestra. J. H. Dubbs, manager, Bell phone 1131J, Lebanon, Pa. Have you heard them?"

"Red Rose Boys, radio, vaudeville, and dance entertainers, Paul E. Shank, mgr., Rheems, Pa. Phone 109J2, E'town ex. Entertainment for all occasions. WGAL, WEEU, WHP."