Children in Vintage Photos

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

A real photo postcard of a girl holding a diabolo toy.

A school days photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A young schoolteacher—not much older than some of the students seated around her—stands at the back of the classroom in a one-room schoolhouse. Although the stove and a couple of school desks dominate the foreground, the faces of the students and the items posted on the wall in the background are the most interesting parts of the photo (mouse over the image above to see enlargements of the left , middle , and right sections). Five calendars are among the twenty-seven items on the wall. The lettering on one of the calendars is large enough that I was able to determine that it displays the month of March 1911 and came from the Limestone Mutual Fire Insurance Company in Limestone , Pennsylvania. This suggests that the schoolhouse may have been located in Clarion County or somewhere else in the surrounding area of northwestern Pennsylvania.

Some of the students on the left-hand side of the room are wearing dresses and suits that suggest that they dressed up especially for the photo. Does the pipe extending from the floor indicate that the wood stove has been converted for use with gas? For more information, see the full version of this photo.

Some of the younger students are seated in front the teacher. The boy on the right was caught with his mouth open, as if he was yawning or laughing. Sitting to the left of the teacher are two older female students. Or could they be mothers of the students or friends of the teacher? The calendar hanging on the wall at right is from the "Limestone Mutual Fire Insurance Co., Limestone, Pennsylvania," and the month on the calendar is March 1911. I haven't been able to identify the man in the large portrait next to the calendar. For more information, see the full version of this photo.

The students in this row seem to be waiting impatiently for the photographer to finish taking the photo. Note the amusing illustration at the top of the wall that shows a parrot reading from a book. For more information, see the full version of this photo.

A tools photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A real photo postcard showing a group of men working on railroad track maintenance (workers like these were sometimes called " gandy dancers "). The man on the left is using a track jack to adjust the height of a rail. The man next to him is posing with another tool, probably a sledge hammer. The boy in the middle is carrying a bucket. The fellow on the right is sitting on some sort of long bar—maybe a claw bar for pulling spikes—that appears to be wedged under one of the cross ties.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of grandma and/or grandpa with the grandchildren / sitting on grandpa or grandma's lap . A real photo postcard showing a baby and two men--looks like the kid's father and grandfather--posing on a studio mockup of the City of Toledo , which was a steamship that plied the waters of Lake Erie between Toledo and Put-in-Bay, Ohio, beginning in the 1890s.

A Halloween photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A Halloween portrait with a kid in a Lone Ranger costume and an eerie (oops, I mean ear-y ) jack-o'-lantern in the window (notice how the lamp ended up on the chair for the picture-taking session). The big ears and toothy smile of the jack-o'-lantern remind me of Alfred E. Neuman . A logo consisting of the numbers "1/55" inside a sideways letter "D" appears on the top border of the full version of this snapshot (see below). I'm not sure what the D refers to, but I take the numbers to mean that the photo was developed in January 1955, which suggests it was taken during Halloween the previous year. The boy's choice of costume reflects the popularity of the Lone Ranger TV series , which ran from 1949 to 1957.

A sideways letter "D" containing the numbers "1/55" (left of center along the top border) suggests that this photo was developed in January 1955. For additional information, see the cropped version :

A photo with decorative border or frame for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "Reporting for diaper duty, sir!" With an elaborate border consisting of an eagle, flag, canons, bombs bursting in air, and other patriotic and military symbols, it's surprising that this real photo postcard features an image of a child rather than a soldier.

A photo of nurses, doctors, or hospitals for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A little girl in a nurse costume on a real photo postcard by E. & K. Bolam, who were photographers in the seaside resort town of Ilfracombe , England. "Hospital Saturday" refers to a British fundraising method for hospitals that predated the National Health Service .

The boy posing with his bike on this real photo postcard is identified on the other side as "Lewis Metzler" and the location is indicated as "Williamsport, Pa." A date of "June 1921" is written on the front of the card (see the full version) .

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

Another Halloween photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A kid hugging a pumpkin, date and location unknown.

Yet another Halloween photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A real photo postcard with a Halloween portrait of kids (including twins?), a cat, and a jack-o'-lantern all posing on the front porch (see also a cropped version of the photo). The family sent this as a Christmas greeting (notice the decorative holly leaves and berries added at the bottom) to Miss Geneva B. Haley, Cornish, Maine. The card was postmarked in Brunswick, Maine, on December 17, 1943. Handwritten message on the other side: "Yours was a lovely card. Peter read it to the other children. It's their favorite Christmas carol. Greetings from all, Cecil & Marion." I don't recall ever seeing any other Halloween-themed Christmas cards.

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

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of when I grow up (children dressed as adults or dressed for work, e.g. as policeman, nurse, train driver, etc.) . A real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Mrs. J. O. Hare, #313 Albany Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y., and postmarked September 21, 1909, in Orange Lake, N.Y. Message: "Do you know the little man on the back? Mrs. J. Garrison." This "little man" dressed in overalls looks ready for grown-up work like winching up buckets of water from the well.