Children in Vintage Photos

A valentine postcard with an inset photo of a little boy. For a similar postcard, see A Heart Free from Care to My Valentine :

"1er Avril. L'amitié vous l'envoie." A hand-tinted French real photo postcard for the first day in April.

"1er Avril. Souvenir d'une amie." Handwritten on the back: "Devinez qui vous aime." "April 1st. Remembering a friend." Handwritten: "Guess who loves you." A French hand-tinted real photo postcard commemorating the initial day in the month of April.

"1er Avril [April 1st]." A-tisket, a-tasket, that's a lot of fish in one basket! A French hand-tinted real photo postcard commemorating the first day of the fourth month.

A real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Miss Millicent Edinger, 6709 Leeds St., Philadelphia, Pa., and postmarked Luthersburg, Pa., May 16, 1907. Handwritten message: "Please send us some cards with views from your city. This is Lee & Lester shooting birds off the church steeple." I sure hope Lee and Lester didn't actually hit any birds or the steeple!

An infant for the ABC Group (4/20/2017). A rather dark real photo postcard with a young child who doesn't appear too excited to be steering a painted version of an early biplane that looks similar to a 1911 Curtiss Model D . For another vintage novelty photo that uses the same backdrop, see Man in a Biplane (below).

Celluloid medallion with a photo of a child on a colorful background of flowers and a butterfly. For additional examples, see my Celluloid Photographic Medallions album or head over to Flickr to see the George Eastman House's remarkable collection of Celluloid Medallions & Buttons .

Apologies to Lisa for missing her posting of the VPTP themes for May until now! If I may be permitted to catch up, here's a photo for last week's theme. A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo of May Day Celebrations - May Pole dancing, May Queens, or anything else associated with May Day . A maypole dance scene from an unused real photo postcard. The girl standing in the middle next to the pole doesn't appear to be too excited about the festivities--perhaps she's hanging her head in embarrassment over being the center of attention.

An ice cream photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "#1248. A. Hoch's Cow in Patriotic & Industrial Parade, July 3, 1909, Newburg, Pa. Laughlin Photo. Hoch's Ice Cream Parlor." Photographer and postcard publisher Clyde A. Laughlin originally published a series of real photo postcards showing scenes from the Patriotic and Industrial Parade in Newburg, Pennsylvania, July 3, 1909, not long after it took place. This photo shows a boy riding a cow to advertise "Hoch's Ice Cream Parlor" (mouse over the image for a closer look ). The details in this photo are sharp, but I purchased the card knowing that it does not date to 1909. Unlike other early Laughlin photos, this one is reproduced in black and white rather than sepia, and the Kodak postcard backing was obviously manufactured much more recently than 1909. Fortunately, I have a copy of the book, Clyde A. Laughlin, "Postcard King of the Cumberland Valley": Biography of the Artist and Photographer and Checklist of His Postcards , written and published by Clyde's grandson, Walter Lewis Cressler, Jr., in 2000. The author explains on page 30 that his grandfather reprinted the photographic cards from the Newburg parade in 1961 when the town celebrated its centennial. So it's likely that this version of the Hoch's Cow photo is one of the cards from 1961. For another ice cream photo, see Eating Ice Cream at Raise 'ell Camp, Cooks Mill, Pennsylvania , and check out my Ice Cream album for additional photos and items of ephemera.

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

A family with pets photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Printed on back of the back of this real photo postcard: "Penn Park Studio, 25-29 W. College Ave., York, PA. Near the York High School. Duplicate orders can be obtained any time." One dog, five bunnies, and fifteen people posed for this picture (mouse over the image for a close-up featuring the pets ).

For more information, see the original photo :

A mother and son-—along with a tree and wrapped presents-—seem to be materializing out of the ether in this Christmas double exposure. For other haunted holiday happenings, see The Ghosts of Christmas Past and The Ghosts of Easter Past (below).

A photo of a dog or cat with toy for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This photographic greeting card, dated "Christmas 1971" on the back, features smiling kids and a dog in a little playpen. The dog doesn't seem too happy, however, even though it has a doll to play with.

Some mixed emotions (people displaying distinctly different reactions in a photo) for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. During her birthday party, a gleeful little girl opens a box containing a Minnie Mouse doll (probably a Gund from the late 1940s). Her mom and dad are eagerly watching their daughter, perhaps a little relieved that she seems to like her present so much. Another little girl--in the background next to the window--is wide-eyed with excitement. One of the boys in the photo is excited about the doll, too, and he appears to be frantically reaching up to grab it away from the birthday girl. The other boy on the left, however, is glumly contemplating the proceedings, as if he's disappointed that he didn't get something that nice. In a second photo (below), the glum boy is looking down at something else while the birthday girl and her girlfriends inspect the new doll. The grabber is almost out of the picture on the extreme right--perhaps the dad pulled him aside after he attempted to snatch the doll away. The third photo (see below) shows the birthday girl smiling proudly as she poses with her new Minnie Mouse doll.

The second of three photos from a birthday party where Minnie Mouse is the center of attention. See the other photos of the birthday girl opening the box containing the doll and posing for a picture with it (below).

The third of three photos featuring Minnie Mouse at a birthday party. Here the birthday girl stands on a chair to pose for a picture with her new doll. The other photos show her opening the box containing the Minnie Mouse doll and setting the doll on the table to take a close look at it (see below).

A photo taken at the playground for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This real photo postcard captures children in mid-swing on playground equipment at the Lost River State Park in West Virginia (mouse over the image above for a close-up view of the activity ). Workers from the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) helped to construct the park, which opened in 1937. The three young men on the right-hand side were caught in mid-stride as they walked toward the camera. Their uniforms, including neckties tucked into their shirts, suggest that they were CCC workers.