Men in Vintage Photos

A handbags photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A man and woman pose for a photo along a street, location and date unknown. The man is holding a coat, and the woman is carrying a handbag, coat, and umbrella. There are some interesting details in the background. A man caught in mid-stride is looking in the photographer's direction, and other men and women on the far side of the street are walking along the sidewalk or sitting on a bench. A Volkswagen Beetle is parked along the street behind the woman, and another vehicle—possibly another VW Beetle—is barely visible behind the man. Finally, a puzzling structure that's shaped and painted to resemble a toadstool is located across the street. For a better view of the background details, see a cropped version of the photo.

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

A flowers or trees photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a real photo postcard of two men sitting in an automobile decorated with flowers. The painted backdrop behind them depicts a tree-lined country road. The sign in the upper left-hand corner of the photo appears to be one for the "Morrow-Umatilla County Fair." This is now the Umatilla County Fair, which is still held in Hermiston, Umatilla County, Oregon. According to the fair's Web site (archived version), Morrow and Umatilla counties both sponsored the fair for its first year in 1912. Beginning in 1913, however, Umatilla County was the sole sponsor. If this is correct, then this postcard probably dates to 1912. The banner that the man on the left is holding says, "The Round-Up, Let 'er Buck, Pendleton," which refers to the Pendleton Round-Up , a rodeo that's been held in nearby Pendleton, Oregon, since 1910. Another Pendleton banner is partially visible on the wall behind the man on the right.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the monthly theme of pick your favorite theme(s)—why is it (are they) your favorite(s)? (submit a photo on this topic each week in addition to—or instead of—a photo for the weekly topic). William H. Martin (1865-1940), a Kansas photographer who was a master of photomontage , created this real photo postcard in 1908. Postcards like this by Martin and other photographers were especially popular in the early twentieth century and featured gigantic fruits and vegetables, dangerously oversized animals and fish, and amusingly huge products. These humorous trick photos are some of my favorite kinds of vintage photographs. For more examples, see my album of Tall-Tale and Exaggeration Postcards , which includes both photographic and printed cards. This particular postcard bears a postmark of April 7, 1909, and is addressed to "Mrs. Susan W. Dick, Roaring Springs, Penna. Care [of] Ora L. Dick." The message on the other side refers to the photo on the front: "Dear Mother, Hope you are better. I thought I would send you a mess of potatoes. They look good. Thad & Sue."

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of our ad age—a photo that includes advertising signs . A man stands next to a "Hahn Bros." street clock, and a sign on one of the storefronts behind the man looks like it says "Hahn Bros. Jewelry." The sign above the store on the right advertises an "Economy Variety Store" and "We Give S&H Green Stamps." This is an unused real photo postcard with an Azo stamp box (four corner triangles pointing up) on the other side that suggests a date that may be as early as 1904 to 1918. There's no indication where the photo was taken, but the palm trees along the street in the distance may indicate a location in California or Florida. See also a rotated version that corrects the tilt of the photo.

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

VINTAGE PHOTOS THEME PARK - UPDATE TO MONTHLY TOPIC (12/13/2020): FREE-FOR-ALL (Uploading to Ipernity isn't currently working, so let's make it easier to find an already-uploaded photo to post. Submit as many vintage photos ON ANY TOPIC as you'd like each week in addition to—or instead of—a photo for the weekly topic. Let's end the year and celebrate the new one by continuing this Free-For-All through January.) A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of in colour . A man and woman dressed in light blue or grey clothes pose in front of their house, which is painted in pastel shades of blue. There's a blue Adirondack chair on the porch, a bicycle on the sidewalk, and a car--barely visible on the right--parked in the driveway.

Caption on the front of this real photo postcard: "Lithia Spring Park, Temple, [New Hampshire]." Sign on larger, nearer building: "Pack Monadnock, Lithia Spring, Bottling House." Sign on far building: "Pack Monadnock, Lithia Spring, Temple, N.H." Two men and two women pose for a photo in front of the bottling house at Lithia Spring Park, which was located on Pack Monadnock Mountain near the town of Temple , New Hampshire. During the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century, visitors to the park could partake of the lithia water that was available from the spring. The lithium salts in the water were thought to have medicinal benefits. A book by authors Michael G. Dell'Orto, Priscilla A. Weston, and Jessie Salisbury about the New Hampshire towns of Wilton, Temple, and Lyndeborough (Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia, 2003) explains what eventually happened to the park: "People flocked to Pack Monadnock Lithia Springs, which operated from 1891 until 1911, to enjoy picnics and slides and teeters free of charge and to take the therapeutic waters. 'Contains more Lithium than any other Lithia Spring known,' claimed proprietor Sydney Scammon. 'Best Remedy for Kidney Trouble and Indigestion.' The popular (and profitable) enterprise went out of business abruptly when Scammon was observed adding bottled lithium to the 'natural' spring water."

The caption on the front of this exaggeration postcard is "Feeding Time," but I borrowed "Too Much Pork for Just One Fork" from Southern Culture on the Skids , who used it as a song and album title. This is a photomontage by Kansas photographer William H. Martin (1865-1940). For more examples of Martin's work, see Good Corn Makes Good Hogs and A Mess of Potatoes . This real photo postcard is addressed on the other side to Mr. Richard Storey, Medora, Ill., but there's no stamp or postmark. Handwritten message: "5/15 1910. They raise 'em like this in Indiana. J.O.B."

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of sing, sing, sing!—folks making music vocally . An unidentified country musician poses in front of a microphone bearing the call letters for radio station WVLN in Olney, Illinois. Although the microphone and guitar suggest that he sang and played for a show on the station, I haven't been able to determine who he is. I was surprised to see that he was wearing a holster with a revolver. I hope he stuck to the singing and strumming and avoided any shooting. This is an unused real photo postcard with no date or any other additional information on the other side.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of over the shoulder (something or somebody) . Everyone in this puzzling photo is holding something. The man on the left is holding a cane over his shoulder, and the second man has a rope wrapped around his left hand. Both men are watching the woman in the middle, who's holding sheet music and singing. The woman on the right, who's seated in a chair, is holding a lute and is playing it to accompany the woman who's singing. The woman standing beside the singer and both of the men are all holding rolled-up papers of some sort. A closer look at the photo reveals some curious details. First, the sheet music that the woman is holding is entitled A Signal from Mars: March and Two Step , which was published in 1901 (hear a piano version on YouTube). Since the piece is an instrumental "march and two step" without any lyrics, why is the woman pretending to use it as she's singing? Secondly, the rope that the second man is holding extends down to the floor where it's coiled around a small horse pull toy . Why did the man lasso a tiny toy horse? I don't have any answers for the questions that this photo poses. Although the painted backdrop and patterned floor covering suggest that this picture was taken in a photo studio, I wonder if this might be a scene from a theatrical production. There was a popular comedic play with a similar title— A Message from Mars —that toured the United States between 1903 and 1905. As far as I can determine, however, A Message from Mars was not a musical, and there was no connection to the sheet music for A Signal from Mars .

The rope of a lasso surrounds a tiny toy horse. For more information, see another detail from the same photo along with the original version .

A woman poses for a photo and pretends to sing as she holds the sheet music for A Signal from Mars: March and Two Step . For more information, see another detail from the same photo along with the original version .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of Halloween (costumes, masks, jack-o'-lanterns, decorations, ghosts, gravestones, or anything else spooky or scary; no limit—post as many Halloween photos as you'd like) . A photo of a man (or possibly a woman) wearing a grotesque mask, overalls, suit jacket, gloves, neckerchief, and straw hat. He's carrying a cane in one hand and a package wrapped in newspapers in the other. Could this be a Halloween costume? If so, is he dressed as a farmer? Or do the cane and package suggest a stick-type bindle characteristic of a hobo? This is an unused real photo postcard with an AGFA-ANSCO stamp box on the other side, which indicates that it may date to the 1930s or 1940s. A couple of other details point to a specific locale. First, under magnification, the heading on part of the bundled up newspapers says, "New Era," so it's possible that it was the Lancaster New Era , a paper published in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Secondly, a pouch of "Good Bite" chewing tobacco with a fish logo is sticking out of the breast pocket on the man's suit jacket. The Good Bite brand of chewing tobacco originated in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. For some other disconcerting masks, see Costume Creepiness .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of grandma and grandpa (grandparent(s) featured in a family photo) . A grandmother and grandfather hold a two-tiered cake as they pose for a photo with their grandson. All three of them are wearing flowers in their coat and jacket lapels. The presence of the cake and flowers makes me wonder if the grandparents are celebrating a special wedding anniversary. Given how the cake is tilted, I just hope that it didn't slide off onto the grandson's head!

A drinking photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Seventeen of the twenty men in this image from a real photo postcard are holding glasses of beer. The keg in the middle of the crowd bears the name " Lebanon ," which refers to the city that's the county seat of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania. A handwritten name and address—" Samuel D. Watson , Rexmont, Pa."—and a year—"1912"—appear on the other side of the photo card, but there's no stamp, postmark, or message. Rexmont is now part of Cornwall , which is also located in Lebanon County.

The handwritten note on the other side of this photo says, "Taken on Nov. 7, 1916. Election of Pres. Wilson." Judging by the grizzled appearance of this bearded fellow, the 1916 U.S. presidential election —when incumbent Democratic President Woodrow Wilson fought the Republican candidate Charles Evans Hughes to win reelection to a second term—must have been as harrowing and distressing an experience as the 2020 presidential election turned out to be.

"Taken on Nov. 7, 1916. Election of Pres. Wilson." For more information, see the front of this photo .