Carlisle and Cumberland County, Pa.

"The Great Carlisle Fair, Carlisle, Pa., September 23, 24, 25, 26, 1913." See also Hello, Neighbor! I Will See You at the Fair, Carlisle, Pa., Sept. 1905 :

"Hello, Neighbor! I Will See You at the Great Fair, Carlisle, Pa., Sept. 26, 27, 28, 29, 1905." See also The Great Carlisle Fair, Carlisle, Pa., 1913 :

John N. Choate was "the principal photographer for the [Carlisle Indian School in Carlisle, Pa.] from its opening in 1879 until his death in 1902." For more information, see Laura Turner, "John Nicholas Choate and the Production of Photography at the Carlisle Indian School," in Visualizing a Mission: Artifacts and Imagery of the Carlisle Indian School, 1879-1918 , exhibit catalog (Carlisle, Pa.: Trout Gallery, Dickinson College, 2004), pp. 14-18.

"Compliments of S. Kronenberg's Sons, clothing, 6-8 S. Hanover St., Carlisle, Pa. A bit of gossip. Copyright, 1911, R. Hill. January 1913."

Carlisle, 12/1, 1904 My dear little Carrie: Honestly now aren't you also on the pig? When you kill yours, save me a nice piece of ham, and I'll be up and take dinner with you. You may also keep a few young chickens handy. (If you're "on the pig's back," it apparently means that you're lucky or well off.)

"Geo. B. Weast, dealer in stoves, tinwate, &c., R.R. St., Newville, Pa." This may be the same George B. Weast (1862-1946) who's identified as a "retired sheet metal worker" in an obituary reprinted in his Find A Grave entry.

Drumhead: "Singer, Mechanicsburg, Pa." Caption at the bottom of the photo: "Grangers Picnic, 1915." The Singer Band of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, posed for this photo in 1915 at the Grangers' Picnic, which was an annual event held each summer at the Williams Grove Amusement Park . Prior to the picnic, the Harrisburg Telegraph newspaper, August 28, 1915, p. 4, announced the Singer Band's participation: "Concerts at the Granger's Picnic at Williams' Grove next week will be given by the Singer Band of Mechanicsburg." The Singer Band--named for David Singer, an early leader of the group--is still in existence today. Additional photos of the band are available on the Singer Band's Web site .

"Carlisle Hygienic Ice Co., Poor House Road, E. North Street, Phone 735. Hang with amount required on top. 25, 50, 75, 100." A card to place in the window to indicate how many pounds of ice (for your icebox ) you'd like the iceman to deliver.

Spring Opening on Saturday, April 22d, 1871. On the above day the subscriber will have her Spring Opening, when she will display a large variety of bonnets, hats, flowers, ribbons, silk, guipure and cotton laces, crapes, veils, nets, collars, cuffs, &c. Ladies are cordially invited to call and examine her assortment, whether they purchase or not. Mrs. M. A. Zinn, Main Street, West of Penn, Shippensburg, Pa.

A sport photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. With eight rackets and four balls (stacked next to the racket lying in the lap of the guy at front center in the photo), this group seems ready to play tennis. But don't they look too dressed up to head out onto the tennis court, even by early twentieth-century standards? There's no identifying information on the back of this real photo postcard, but the dealer who sold it to me thought that it may have come from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. If so, perhaps this was a group of students, along with their instructors or chaperones, at the Cumberland Valley State Normal School, which is now Shippensburg University .

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 "stud notice," which the Encyclopedia of Ephemera (New York: Routledge, 2000), pp 315-16, defines as: "A printed announcement . . . circulated to owners of horses in a particular district indicating that a named stud horse would be available to serve mares during a given season." The horse--Loch Fergeis--may be named after Loch Fergus , a loch in Scotland. The place names--Cummingstown, Palmstown, and Oakville--indicate locations in Cumberland County , Pennsylvania. I haven't been able to determine the year this notice was printed, nor have I been able to uncover much information about M. M. Hummel, D. W. Kough, and George H. Hummel. Farmers Take Notice! Loch Fergeis will stand for service the 1st week commencing April 7th, at M. M. Hummel's, on the road leading from Cummingstown to Palmstown, the following week at D. W. Kough's, about one-half mile south of Oakville and week about at above mentioned places. Terms:--$5.00 to insure a mare with foal, colt to stand and suck. Anyone parting with mare will be held for the insurance. If mare is parted with, insurance due at once. Description:--Dark roan, fine style and heavy bone, close jointed, sixteen and one-half hands high, weight, fifteen hundred lbs. George H. Hummel, owner and keeper

Caption on the front of this postcard: " C.V.R.R. Yards, Williams Grove, Pa." Printed on the back: "14546 - Pub. by A. M. Deichler, Lancaster, Pa., for J. Hurst Est., Mechanicsburg, Pa." Postmarked Mechanicsburg, Pa., Aug. 30, 1918, and addressed to Miss Grace Hoy, 730 S. Duke St., York, Pa. Handwritten message: "Dear Cousin, Expected to see you at the Grove but failed to see you there. Such a crowd of people I never seen as was there on Thursday. All well. Hope this will find you all the same. Emma." A photographic version of this scene appeared in " Grangers at the Grove: Annual Farmers Exhibition Ended Nearly a Century Ago ," a newpaper article by Joseph Cress, which was published in The Sentinel (Carlisle, Pa.), Sept. 5, 2015. "Engine Number 30 arrives in Williams Grove during the Grangers' Picnic in 1916" was the caption of the photographic version, which was provided by the Cumberland County Historical Society.