Contributions of the group Early Photography in the U.S.A.

Harvesting Grain, Landisville, Pennsylvania

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 03 Aug 2026 02:56:49 +0000

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of fields (cornfields, football fields, academic fields, or any other kind).

Handwritten note on the other side: "Landisville, Pa. Nissley Rd."

An early twentieth-century scene of men harvesting grain in a field near Landisville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. A reaper pulled by four horses is cutting the grain, and sheaves of cut wheat that have already been stacked into shocks are visible in the background.

This is an divided-back real photo postcard with a type of Azo stamp box (featuring four upward-pointing corner triangles) that suggests that the photo may date to sometime between 1907 and 1918. The card is unused with no message, address, or postmark on the other side.

Steamboat on the Street, Cleveland, Ohio, 1913

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 03:57:46 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of curbside.

This is a real photo exaggeration postcard showing a steamboat with smoke billowing from its smokestack as it navigates through the surging floodwaters on a city street. The water has stranded some pedestrians at the curb, where they were evidently waiting to cross the street.

Although the location isn't identified, one clue is the business name stamped in the lower right-hand corner: "The Dodd Rogers Co., Kodaks and Cameras."

According to the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, the Dodd-Rogers Co. operated in Cleveland under that name between 1906 and 1914. Just before the business changed its name to Dodd Co. in 1914, the Great Flood of 1913 inundated Cleveland and affected the rest of Ohio as well as other states (see The 1913 Flood: "Ohio’s Greatest Weather Event", an article by Sarah White on the Cleveland Historical site).

Other exaggeration postcards appeared after the flood. One was captioned The Big Flood in Cleveland, and a second one also used the the same title.

Although I haven't matched this photo with a specific street and it doesn't bear a date, I believe that it was created in 1913 as a humorous reaction to the flood in Cleveland.

This is an divided-back real photo postcard with an Azo stamp box (four corner triangles pointing up) on the other side, which suggests a time frame—1907 to 1918—that covers the year of the flood. The card is unused with no message, address, or postmark on the other side.

Skiff Decorated for a Fourth of July Regatta, ca. 1914

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 04 Jul 2026 15:56:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the topic of Fourth of July (flags, fireworks, patriotic, freedom, red-white-blue, barbeques, etc.).

"This is my skiff decorated for the regatta 4th July celebrations" is the description written on the other side of this photo.

This is divided-back real photo postcard with no address, date, stamp box, or postmark on the verso. The message written on the back of the card, however, includes some questions about events leading up to World War I, so it's likely that the photo dates to 1914, the year the war began (see Ultimatum of July 23, 1914, for background information).

See also the full version of this photo postcard.

This is the message written across the back of the card (I made it easier to read by creating paragraphs, but the text is the same):

This is my skiff decorated for the regatta 4th July celebrations.
L. Brown

Forgive me for not writing. It is just laziness on my part. My correspondence has got in an awful shape. I am sending this card to show I have not forgotten. I will get a letter written someday.

Here are some funny questions that sometimes enter my head. My socialist [Pro-Ger?].

--What was the Kaiser scared of even more than fighting all Europe?
--What big convention was to be held in Vienna one week after war started?
--Did not Servia [Serbia] accede to all points except one or two, and wished to arbitrate?
--Why was the war rushed?

Man with Long Beard, Valley Falls, Kansas

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 11 May 2026 03:44:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of hippies (certified or imitation).

Photographer: "[Arthur] Mason's Art Studio, Valley Falls, Kansas."

A nineteenth-century cabinet card photo of an unidentified man with a long beard. If he were alive today, perhaps his beard would have qualified him as a hippie or possibly a hipster.

For other hip longbeards, see Man with Beard, Topeka, Kansas, Rasputin and the Amorphous Enigma, and Benjamin Purnell, Founder of the House of David, Benton Harbor, Michigan.

Those Daring Young Men with Their Jaunty Bicycles

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 04 May 2026 03:27:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the monthly theme of CDVs and cabinet cards.

A nineteenth-century cabinet card photo of two young fellows posing with their bicycles in a studio located in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. See also a cropped version for a better view of the guys and their bikes.

Names written on the back of the photo: "Adam J. Althouse & Calvin P. Muhey."

Stamped in ink on the verso: "W. S. Anspach, Photographer, Cor. 3rd & Lehman Sts., Lebanon."

A Joyous Picnic Outing, August 1913

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 03:55:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of food.

Caption at the bottom of the photo: "A Joyous Outing." Date written vertically on the tree in the background: "Aug. 1913."

A photo of twenty-six men and women who have gathered around a picnic blanket covered with food and place settings. See a cropped version of the photo for a better view of the food.

This is a divided-back real photo postcard with no message, address, or postmark on the other side. The Cyko stamp box ("Cyko - Place Postage Stamp Here") printed on the verso indicates a date between 1907 and the 1920s, which matches the August 1913 date written on the front.

Ruth and Sara on Board the L-21 Submarine, August 25, 1917

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 17:44:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of fancy studio backdrops.

A novelty photo with two young women in sailor costumes. The elaborate painted backdrop depicts an ocean of heavy waves with two ships billowing smoke on the horizon. A biplane is barely visible in the sky above them. The painted foreground features a submarine labeled "L 21 U.S." The submarine's hatch is open, its periscope is up, and it's flying an American flag.

Submarine hull: "L 21 U.S."

Handwritten caption: "R. Dodd. Sara Miller. 8-25-1917." Writing on the back also identifies the young women as "Ruth Dodd" on the left and "Sara Miller" on the right with the date given a second time as "8/25/1917."

For a similar real photo postcard, see Daddy on the Deck of the F-6 Submarine.

Deturk's School House, ca. 1913

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 02:37:34 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of schoolhouses and/or schoolchildren.

Caption: "Deturk's School House."

Handwritten note on the other side (no address, stamp, or postmark): "Stanley E. Romich [1905-1985]. Spend his first School days at this school. Age 8. Dec. 31, 1913."

This one-room schoolhouse is still standing along Limekiln Road near Douglassville, Berks County, Pennsylvania. The building is now a private residence with a room added to the front. The stucco covering has been removed, and the underlying stone construction is now visible.

This is a divided-back real photo postcard with a Cyko stamp box ("Cyko - Place Postage Stamp Here") printed on the back. This stamp box design was in use between 1907 and the 1920s.

A Hearty Party

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 04:58:14 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of guess what's going on (you know but viewers have to guess).

Photographer Charles H. Venus (1872-1959), of New Berlin, Union County, Pennsylvania, took this picture of twelve men and eight women at a get-together. The photo likely dates to the early twentieth century, and many of the participants are pretending to eat something that they're holding up to their mouths. I think I know what it is. Can you guess what they're eating?

For clues, see cropped versions of the left-hand side and the right-hand side of the photo and the handwritten message that's on the back of the photo.

Hailstorm Damage, Office Building, Emerson-Brantingham Company (Geiser Works) , Waynesboro, Pa., June 6, 1917

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 03:47:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of damaged or broken down (buildings, vehicles, machines, and whatnot).

Caption: "Hailstorm, June 6, 1917, Waynesboro, Penn."

Sign at the front entrance of the building: "Office of Emerson-Brantingham Co., Geiser Works."

A hailstorm with baseball-sized hailstones hit the town of Waynesboro, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on June 6, 1917. The storm caused widespread damage with flooded streets and thousands of broken windows. Almost all of the windows in this office building sustained damage.

For additional photos, see the Hail Storm of June 6, 1917, section of the Luty Collection: Waynesboro Area Postcard Collection.

City Band of York, Pennsylvania, 1915

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 02:18:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of stripes.

Drumhead: “City Band of York, Pa."

Credit line: "Photo by M. J. Murnane, York, Pa., 1915."

Printed on the back: "M. J. Murnane, No. 227 W. Market St., York, Pa. At the Bridge."

This is a divided-back real photo postcard with an Azo stamp box design (four corner triangles pointing up) on the other side. The time frame of 1907 to 1918 is commonly associated with this type of design, and that matches the 1915 date of the photo.

The name of "Elwood Slaugenhaupt" -- he was born in 1917 and died in 2000, according to Find A Grave -- is written on the other side. Slaugenhaupt would have been too young to have been one of the musicians pictured in the photo.

Workers in a Doorway

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 03:58:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of rumpled or wrinkled.

Two men, dressed in dirty and rumpled overalls, stand in the doorway of an unidentified workplace. See also the full version of this photo.

This is a divided-back real photo postcard with an Azo stamp box design (four corner triangles pointing up) on the other side. The time frame of 1907 to 1918 is usually associated with this type of stamp box.

Vina and Her Flowers

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 03:54:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of flowers or trees.

Vina is posing next to six containers of flowering plants arranged on the railing of her porch. The message she wrote along the left-hand side says, "Will write soon. Love to all. Vina."

This is a real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Miss Libbie Betallach, Walkerville, Montana. The card has an undivided back, which suggests a date before 1907. It bears a stamp, but there's no postmark.

See also a cropped version of the photo for a better view of Vina and her flowers.

Folded Arms and Crossed Legs

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 03:53:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of folded arms and/or crossed legs.

Three men are posing for a picture on a porch. The two in front are sitting impatiently on the edge of the porch with their arms folded and legs crossed.

This is one of four pictures combined together on a real photo postcard that dates to the early twentieth century. See Pictures on the Porch.

Like Father, Like Son

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 14:42:11 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

(Posting this a day late since Ipernity wasn't accessible last night.)

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of fathers and children.

This is a real photo postcard of a man and a boy -- probably a father and son. Both are similarly dressed in hats, suits, and button shoes, and they're both sitting with their legs crossed.

The photographer's name printed on the other side is "C. G. Blatt, Bernville, Berks Co., Pa." Since the photo postcard has a divided back with space for both a message and an address (only the address was permitted prior to 1907) and since the photographer -- Cyrus Gerhart Blatt (1841-1915) -- passed away in 1915, it's likely that the photo dates to sometime between 1908 and 1914.

Dead Gamers, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, ca. 1909

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 09 Jun 2025 02:51:08 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of something beginning with D.

This is a real photo postcard with a divided back, and the type of Azo stamp box (with four corner triangles pointing up) printed on the other side suggests a date between 1907 and 1918. The text on the banner in the photo is "Dead Gamers, Orgd. 1898, Lancaster, Pa." The lettering on the drumhead is "Dead-Gamers, Lancaster, Pa." Both the banner and the drumhead include an illustration of a rooster that's saying, "Hur-ray."

The Dead Gamers' Camping Association was a fraternal group based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. This same photo appeared in "The Lancaster That Was" column in the Lancaster Sunday News, October 22, 1978, p. B-2, with the headline, "When the Dead Gamers Were a Lively Bunch of Robust Lads."

The column said, "The club, replete with its band, is seen in [this] photo as it took its departure from the old Reading Railroad Station, at Prince and James Streets, in Aug. 1909 for an encampment at Bedford, Pa." I'm not sure this information is accurate, however, since Heather Truckenmiller's article, The Dead Gamers Camp in Allenwood, Pa., cites sources that place the Dead Campers in Allenwood, Union County, Pa., rather than Bedford, Pa., in August 1909.

"The Dead Gamers," the column explains, "were typical of a number of camping clubs that flourished in this community in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. The lads, we are told, were banded together as all-male social organizations . . . to eat, drink, and make merry with joyous song. And when the spirit moved them they took off for extended camping trips into the wilds."

A handwritten note on the other side of this photo identifies one of the men as "Eugene E. Gates, Sr.," and tells the viewer to "look for man with beard, dot on shirt, in centre (back) of [the group in the] photo."

For a better view of the group, see a cropped version of the photo. I also created an enlargement of the image that shows where Eugene E. Gates, Sr., is standing.

For another real photo postcard related to this camping association, see Caught Napping with the Dead Gamers.

Help Wanted

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 03:40:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of socks - striped, Argyll, tights, fishnets, men's/women's garters, etc.

"Help Wanted. W-22."

A real photo postcard of a woman with a parasol. The woman's dress and stockings are hand tinted with blue stripes, and her hat is yellow.

Printed on the other side: "This is a Genuine Photograph, Hand Colored. Made in the United States."

Addressed on the verso to Miss Laura Mengel, Hamburg, Pa., and postmarked in Reading, Pa., on October 10, 1917.

Handwritten message: "From your girl friend Verna. Ain't she cute on the other side?"

You Can See Mischief

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 04:04:11 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of making mischief -- the photographer or the subject being mischievous.

Message (punctuation added): "Hello, how are you getting along? You can easy see mischief on this. J.C.A."

In this photo, the mischief that is easy to see is the result of one woman holding a clump of snow as if she's going to push it into another woman's face. The second woman is grabbing the first woman's arm to prevent her from moving the snow any closer.

This is a real photo postcard with an undivided back. It's addressed on the other side to Mrs. T. A. Camer, Jamison City, Pa., R.F.D. The stamp bears a cancellation but there's no postmark with a visible date or location. A penciled notation -- probably added by a postcard dealer -- indicates a date of 3/28/06, though I'm not sure where that came from.

Josie and Her Bicycle, 1908

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 04:52:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of a real humdinger - a photo apparently intended to show off the appearance of a person or thing.

Handwritten message on the back of this real photo postcard: "Dec. 25 '08. Merry Christmas, Josie." The card is addressed to "Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor, Salem, Ohio," but there's no postmark.

Josie spruced up her appearance, donned her flowery hat, and wheeled her bicycle to a photo studio, where she posed in front of an elaborately painted backdrop for a picture worthy of sending out as a Christmas greeting.

Smoking on the Porch

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 04:27:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of hands in pockets.

A man stands on a porch as he smokes a cigar. He's dressed in a suit, and he has his right hand in his pocket. His left hand is holding the cigar, and there's a wedding band on his ring finger.

A sled, propped up against the porch railing, is partially visible on the left, and there are piles of snow on the ground beyond the porch. It must be a sunny winter day judging by the bright washed-out appearance of the house next door.

This is an unused real photo postcard with a divided back. There's no message, address, or postmark on the verso. A Solio stamp box (with diamonds in the corners and "Place Stamp Here" in the middle) is printed on the other side, which indicates that the card may date to sometime between 1907 and the 1920s.