Pennsylvania (Various Counties)

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 linen postcard with colorful cars parked in front of Bethlehem Union Station , a railroad station in Bethlehem , Pennsylvania.

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.

In spite of *NRA, FCC, NPS, CCC, PWP, RFC, FDRS, FHA, NFU, ECW, SPCW, AAA, and even with poll tax, gas tax, road tax, map tax, income tax, sales tax, thumb tax, and wise cracks, nevertheless we wish you a merry Christmas, Willis Treaster, Milroy, Pa. *Explanatory key in our shop. -------- These are some of the 1930s New Deal agencies and programs referred to above: AAA - Agricultural Adjustment Administration CCC - Civilian Conservation Corps FCC - Federal Communications Commission FHA - Federal Housing Administration NRA - National Recovery Administration RFC - Reconstruction Finance Corporation

"NCHS, Class of 1915, Photo by Seavy." The heads of 98 members of the class of 1915 at New Castle High School in New Castle, Pennsylvania, form the letters "NCHS" in this remarkable photographic montage by Edgar E. Seavy (for information about the photographer, see Seavy's Photo Studio - New Castle PA , a Lawrence County Memoirs article by Jeff Bales, Jr.). It must have been an exacting task to cut out and assemble the 98 portraits to form the letters and then re-photograph the whole thing in order to produce a real photo postcard like this one (mouse over the image to see enlargements of the left half , right half , and letter S ). Although the card is addressed on the back to "Miss Edna Wenger, Berlin, Pa.," there's no stamp or postmark, indicating that it was sent through the mail in an envelope rather than separately as a postcard. In addition to the address, the back of the card is filled with various notes, one of which says, "Here are the pictures of the class to be graduated this year. You will find me in the letter S [see the circled face]. We are all busy now getting ready for senior parties, junior-senior banquet, commencement, and class night. Agnes." Another note written later in a different hand identifies Agnes as "Papa's cousin, Agnes Conrad Allen. Head of state Rainbow Girls." So it was Agnes Conrad (her marriage to Charles E. Allen took place in 1920) whose photo appears in the S and who was busy getting ready for her high school graduation in 1915. As the note also suggested, she later served for over fifty years as a leader in the International Order of the Rainbow for Girls in Pennsylvania. After high school, Agnes graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, taught elementary school, worked as a newspaper reporter, and participated in several other organizations besides the Rainbow Girls before she passed away in 1983 at the age of 86 ("Mrs. Agnes Allen," obituary, New Castle News , Jan. 7, 1983, p. 3). Here are the rest of the notes that Agnes wrote on the back of the card: "I hope to see you all next year and then I suppose I will be able to tell you everything that has been going on and make up for lost time." "Tell your mother that my mother will write to her some time again. She is so busy now with house-cleaning. She speaks of cousin Lydia so often and how much she would like to see her." "Clara has been sick with tonsillitis but is almost well again. If I keep on writing, this will be a letter."

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

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

Agnes Conrad circled her high school portrait (in the lower right-hand corner), which was part of a montage of 98 photos that formed the letters "NCHS" on a real photo postcard in 1915. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

"Putnam Fadeless Dyes-Tints." A late 1920s paper advertising fan with a wooden handle. The elaborate Art Nouveau design of the fan features a green nymph in flowing robes who's using Putnam Fadeless Dyes and Tints to paint colors onto the wings of a quizzical-looking butterfly. Two other leafy green creatures kneel on either side as they hold bowls of Putnam products. Purple gnarly tree trunks and branches along with green leaves frame the fantastical scene. See also the advertising copy on the back of the fan .

Partial transcription of the text on the back of the Putnam Fadeless Dyes and Tints Advertising Fan : Putnam Fadeless Dyes, Tints To dye, use boiling water. To tint, dip in warm water. Colors all materials. Putnam No-Kolor Bleach removes the original color, which enables you to dye material any color desired. No-Kolor will not harm any fabric that boiling water alone will not injure. Why Putnam Fadeless Dyes and Tints are best for you.... Tint with Putnam (no boiling is required).... A free offer if you have gray hair.... Putnam Dry-Cleaner. The original dry cleaner.... Monroe Chemical Company, Quincy, Illinois. The Regensteiner Corporation, Chicago. Compliments of Geo. F. Hoy, Hublersburg, Pa.

A real photo postcard with "McDowell Studio, Clearfield, Pa." embossed in the lower right-hand corner. "The Brown Family" is the only thing written on the other side. Nineteen graduating seniors—seventeen young woman and two young men—posed for this photo in 1912. Given the location of the photo studio, these may be Clearfield High School graduates, but I haven't been able to confirm that (one site— Old C.H.S. Yearbooks - The "Bison Project" —reproduces yearbooks from the school but the earliest one currently available is the1915 edition).

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo with a vintage product placement (photos with commercial products or advertisements for commercial products conspicuously part of the scene) . For more examples, see my Vintage Product Placement album. This is a snapshot of a gas station with a billboard advertising Merit gasoline, signs offering seven gallons of gas for a dollar, and a tank with "Berkshire Oil Co." painted on the side (see a cropped version for a close-up view). In the background of the photo, however, is the most interesting detail—a giant Dixie paper cup (actually a water tank) on top of the factory in Easton, Pennsylvania, where the cups were manufactured until it closed in the early 1980s.

For more information, see the original version of this snapshot.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo of someone posed on the fender of an automobile (or any other part of a car) . License plate: "700-868, Penna., 1922." Logo on radiator above license plate: "Chevrolet." A snapshot of three young women (could they be sisters, or even twins or triplets?) on the hood and fenders of an early Chevrolet automobile.