Working All the Live-Long Day

A real photo postcard showing miners at the Atlantic Coal Company's Mine, Boswell, Somerset County, Pa.

The dealer from whom I bought this real photo postcard identified it as a North Dakota scene, and I'm guessing that it shows a threshing crew. I'm not sure what kind of steam engine they're using to power the threshing machine (which is presumably connected to the other end of the belt that extends beyond the left-hand side of the photo).

Posted for "Smoking" theme week in the Vintage Photos Theme Park group. The man in the middle of the photo is smoking, and I just hope he doesn't burst into flames! 8-) Actually, I suspect that this photo shows a group of teachers or chemists (notice the bottles of what may be chemicals on the shelves at the back of the room, and is that a periodic table chart hanging on the wall at right?) hamming it up for the camera in a school or workplace.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of up a tree (person, creature, thing) . This photo, which was labeled as an "unknown cigar factory" when I bought it at an antique mall, shows sixteen men posing in front of a house. Seven of them are standing, two are seated on the wooden sidewalk that runs along the street, five are leaning against a fence, and two are perched up in a tree. Five of the men are wearing striped work aprons. Similar photos at the same stand at the antique mall were identified as cigar factories in Akron , Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, so it's possible that this photo was also taken in Akron. See a cropped version of the photo for a better view of the men in the tree and on the ground.

Sixteen men pose in front of a house that served as a cigar factory. Note the two fellows who are perched precariously in the tree. For more information, see the full version of this photo.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of furniture (one piece or a roomful; extra credit if your photo includes something instead of—or in addition to—a chair or a table, which we featured in previous themes) . Penciled notation on this photo: "Lewis Walker Co., 2/25." I haven't been able to locate any definitive information about the Lewis Walker Company, but I believe that it was located somewhere in Pennsylvania, possibly in Pittsburgh. The photo shows an office full of furniture and equipment. A solitary man sits at a desk , and additional desks, tables, chairs, and bookcases fill up the rest of the room. Interesting items in the middle of the room include a Dalton Adding Machine on its own stand, a Comptometer case on a desk, and a calendar hanging on the wall. See also close-ups of the man seated at the desk and the equipment in the center of the photo .

A number of interesting details are visible in this detail from the center section of this 1925 photo of the Lewis Walker Company Office . First, a Dalton Adding Machine is positioned on its own stand in the foreground. The machine was capable of printing calculations onto the paper from the roll that's positioned on top. Secondly, a case for a Comptometer —"the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator"—is lying on the desk located behind and to the left of the Dalton machine. The label on the outside of the Comptometer box says, "Comptometer (Pronounced like thermometer). Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Co., Chicago, U.S.A. Adds. Divides. Multiplies. Subtracts." Finally, an advertising calendar hanging on the wall at the back of the room confirms that the photo was taken in February 1925 and suggests that the location may be Pittsburgh or somewhere else in western Pennsylvania. The advertisement on the calendar says, "Brown & Zortman Machinery Company, machinists supply company, machine shop equipment and supplies, Pittsburgh, Pa. February 1925." See also the full version of this photo and a close-up of the man seated at the desk .

In this detail from a 1925 photo of the Lewis Walker Company Office , a young man is working diligently at his desk as he ignores the photographer who's taking his picture. The man is surrounded by the tools of his job. A clock and a holder with several rubber stamps are among the items I could identify on the desk. There's a pencil sharpener mounted on the windowsill, and a candlestick telephone is visible on another desk that's situated behind the man. See also the full version of this photo and a close-up of the equipment in the center of the room .

A real photo postcard, date and location unknown.

Handwritten on the back of this real photo postcard: "John W. Taylor after a hard day's work, July 27, 1921, Clarksburg, W.Va., 633 Dale Ave."

Looks like they're loaded up and ready for the day's deliveries! No date or other identifying info.

In this real photo postcard, the hostess for the local WGAL-TV version of the Romper Room children's show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is standing in front of the station's "Color Television" camera (the show was broadcast in color beginning in 1957). The unnamed hostess is holding a drawing of the show's logo, which featured a jack-in-the-box . Behind the hostess is a board with illustrations of "Don't Bee" and "Do Bee." The message on the right-hand side of the board is "Don't be toy selfish," and although we can't see the left side, the sentiment there was probably "Do be toy sharing." Wikipedia's Romper Room article mentions the Bees in its description of a typical episode : "A recurring character was Mr. Do-Bee, an oversized bumblebee who came to teach the children proper deportment; he was noted for always starting his sentence with 'Do Bee', as in the imperative 'Do be'; for example, 'Do Bee good boys and girls for your parents!' There was also a 'Mr. Don't Bee' to show children exactly what they should not do." Perhaps the most interesting and perplexing Romper Room prop--not visible in this photo postcard, unfortunately--was the magic mirror, whose appearance on the screen was always accompanied by a psychedelic mass of swirling colors (see the 1980 Romper Room Magic Mirror Clip on YouTube for an example). As Wikipedia explains, "At the end of each broadcast, the hostess would look through a 'magic mirror'--actually an open hoop with a handle, the size and shape of a hand mirror--recite the rhyme, 'Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?' She would then name the children she saw in 'televisionland,' saying, for example, 'I can see Kathleen and Owen and Julie and Jimmy and Kelly and Tommy and Bobby and Jennifer and Martin' and so on. Kids were encouraged to mail in their names, which would be read on the air--first names only." I'm not sure how long Romper Room continued on WGAL-TV, but the show apparently lasted into the 1990s in some areas. For another Romper Room-ination on Ipernity, take a look at arts enthusiast's Romper Room Exercise Book .

"Miss Rosemary, WKBN-TV, Romper Room, Channel 27." Miss Rosemary was the hostess for the local version of the the Romper Room children's show that aired on WKBN-TV in Youngstown, Ohio. For a similar real photo postcard featuring a different hostess, see Romper Room, WGAL-TV, Lancaster, Pa., ca. 1950s (below).

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of at work . A real photo postcard showing three fellows standing around the type cases in the composing room of a print shop. The upper cases typically contained capital letters, and the lower cases contained small letters, leading to the terminology we still use today to refer to letter case .

A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park showing how there's one in every crowd (a group of people posing with one silly/goofy person who throws the whole photo off, i.e.: sticking out tongue, bunny ears behind the head, etc.) . Oh, how nice! The carpenters and other workmen in this real photo postcard are posing with saws, hammers, and other tools to demonstrate how hard they've been working on the renovation of this house! But wait a second! One guy is lying down on the job!

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

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

"Curtis Candy Co. Mixed Bowling League. 1948. 1949. Sheridan Recreation, Feb. 3, 1949." Group photo of the participants in a Curtiss Candy Company bowling league. Games took place at Sheridan Recreation, a bowling alley and pool hall located at 1002 Wilson Avenue in Chicago.