Photos, videos and docs of Alan Mays, with the keywords: "Pa."

Reider Family Picking Blackberries, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1913

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 02:12:02 +0000

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

Caption (vertically along the left-hand side): "Reider Family Picking Black-Berries, Lanc. Co."

A real photo postcard of Edward H. Reider (1875-1942) and his family. It's addressed on the other side to Mr. David Spangler, Lebanon, Leb. Co., Penn., Rout. 2, and postmarked in Elizabethtown, Pa., on September 10, 1913.

Message: "Elizabethtown, Pa., Sept. 1, 1913. Friend, We are all well as you see on the face of this card. Hoping youence [i.e., you-uns or youns] are all the same. Truly yours, E. H. Reider."

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.

Telephones and Stoves

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 03:05:34 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

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

This is a real photo postcard used as an advertisement by the Keely Stove Company of Columbia, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The card dates to 1920, and it shows a woman with a candlestick telephone. She's getting married and wants a Keely Columbian Stove just like her mother has, so she's telephoning Herr & Co. in Lancaster, Pa., to order one. In other versions of the ad that I spotted online, the same woman is phoning J. A. Best & Co. in Allentown, Pa., and Bennett & Billington in Canajoharie, N.Y.

I have another copy of this postcard that was addressed to Miss Fannie Groff, Kirkwood, Lanc. Co., Pa., R.R.#1, and mailed in New Providence, Pa., on Nov. 3, 1920. The handwritten message on that copy doesn't refer to the advertisement itself but the writer does mention "phoning" and "call[ing] . . . on the phone":

"Tue. eve. [Nov. 2]. Dear Fannie, I received your letter this morning. I guess you think I am a great one for not phoning to you, but I was so busy today. And Jacob came up to vote [Warren G. Harding won the U.S. presidential election held that day], and because it rained he is staying up so I was not at Margie's to stay all night. Fannie, I won't be down this week, but I will come next Fri. eve. as far as I know now, if it suits you. We are invited to a kitchen shower on Sat. eve. Write to let me know if it will suit. And I will write later or call you up on the phone. R.E.M."

History of this Genuine Photo

The mother of this young lady has a Columbian Stove manufactured by The Keely Stove Co., Columbia, Pa. She is about to get married and telephones to Herr & Co., 7 E. King St., Lancaster, Pa., for she wants one just like Mother's.

515. Schaefer Ross Co., Inc., Rochester, N.Y.

Geo. W. Kissinger, Flour, Feed, and Potatoes, Reading, Pennsylvania

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 03:18:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A small Victorian-era trade card for George W Kissinger (1855-1935), a merchant in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Geo. W. Kissinger,

Flour, Feed & Potatoes,
No. 929 Penn St., Reading, Pa.

Bufford

Prof. George Roch, Music Teacher and Tuner of Organs and Pianos, Lebanon, Pa., 1885

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 03:01:35 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

This is a bright orange nineteenth-century business card for George Roch (1852-1913). A number of directories list him as a music teacher or musician, usually with an address in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, rather than Lebanon. John H. Long (1850-1925) was a carpenter and organ manufacturer in Lebanon.

Prof. Geo. Roch,

Music Teacher and Tuner of Organs and Pianos,
at J. H. Long's Organ Factory,
Lebanon, Pa.

174 Instruments tuned between February 1, 1885, and September 7, 1885.

Two Girls and One Doll (Cropped)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 27 May 2024 03:34:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A real photo postcard of two girls and a doll taken by photographer C. C. Kuhn.

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

Two Girls and One Doll

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 27 May 2024 03:34:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of holding a doll.

Notation on photo: "C. C. Kuhn. Photo.#716."

A photo of two girls -- one standing and one seated -- posed on a piece of carpet among some shrubbery and potted plants. C. C. Kuhn (Carl C. Kuhn, 1888-1948) was a well-known photographer who lived in Cashtown, Adams County, Pennsylvania, at the time he took this photo.

This is an unused real photo postcard with an Azo stamp box design (four corner triangles pointing up) on the other side, which suggests a date that may be as early as 1904 to 1918.

For a closer view of the girls and the doll, see a cropped version of the photo. For a close-up of the doll and Kuhn's name on the photo, see an even smaller detail.

Grand Spelling Bee, Fair View School, Mechanicsville, Pa., March 24, 1906

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 03:09:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Katharine Hostetter Kauffman, later known as Katharine “Katie” Kauffman Herr (1886-1986), was the teacher who organized the spelling bee advertised on this handbill.

For a similar item from a later event, see Spelling Bee, Terre Hill, Pa., April 3, 1925.

Come One! Come All! To a Grand "Spelling Bee"

To Be Held at the
Fair View School
Near Mechanicsville
along Manheim Trolley Road

Saturday Eve., March 24, '06

Classes are as follows:
Class I. Open to Pupils of 11 years and under.
Class II. Open to all Public School Children.
Class III. Arithmetical Contest, open to all.
Class IV. General Information, open to all.

16 Valuable Prizes to be Distributed
The Program will consist of Music, Phonograph and School Recitations and Dialogues

General Admission - 10 Cts.
Proceeds to be used for the School Library.

Doors Open at 7 o'clock. Exercises begin at 7:30 o'clock.

Katharine H. Kauffman, Teacher.

Should the weather prove too unfavorable the Bee will be held the first fair evening following Monday.

L. B. Herr Print, 51-53 N. Queen St., Lancaster, Pa.

Juniata River Near Amity Hall, Perry County, Pennsylvania, ca. 1930s

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 04:24:12 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of the long and winding road (road photos, winding or otherwise).

Caption: "The Juniata Near Amity Hall. 9."

This is a real photo postcard with a scenic view of the Juniata River in Perry County, Pennsylvania. The road in the photo is now US 22/US 322 (U.S. Route 22 concurrent with U.S. Route 322). The location is near Amity Hall, which refers to a landmark inn that closed in the 1980s, suffered a fire in 2009, and has since been torn down.

The tire cover on the back of the automobile parked along the road says, "See Bob" and "Auto Supplies." The license plate on the car is 69M52, and I believe it's a Pennsylvania plate. Unfortunately, I was unable to make out the year, which appeared on license plates at the time the photo was taken.

On the other side of the card is an Azo stamp box (squares in each of the four corners), which indicates that the photo likely dates to sometime between the 1920s and the 1940s. There's no message, address, stamp, or postmark on this card, but other copies that I spotted online had postmarks dating to 1935 and 1939.

Get Right with God at the Anderson Campaign Tabernacle, Coatesville, Pa., 1914

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 00:22:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of church, chapel, or any other religious building.

Caption: "Get Right with God." Painted on the side of the building: "Anderson Campaign Ta[bernacle]."

This is a real photo postcard with a photomontage consisting of five giant heads peering over the top of a large wooden building. "Get Right with God" is the admonition at the top, and the sign on the building identifies it as the "Anderson Campaign Tabernacle."

I also have a second copy of this card that has the name of a photographer -- "D. W. Faulk, 7 Second Ave., Coatesville, Pa." -- embossed on it.

A different version of this real photo postcard that I spotted online is captioned, "Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out," with the location given as "Coatesville, Pa." On the back of all three of the photo postcards is a Noko stamp box design (with "NOKO" on all four sides) that indicates a time frame ranging from 1907 to 1929.

After some searching, I discovered that "Anderson" refers to George Wood Anderson, a minister who ran some of his first large-scale revival meetings in a tabernacle building in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, in 1914. As reported in the Christian Advocate, December 3, 1914, p. 36:

"The Rev. George Wood Anderson, pastor of Elm Park Church, Scranton, Pa., has been conducting for six weeks an evangelistic campaign at Coatesville, Pa., an industrial town of 11,000 people. The service has been carried on in a tabernacle specially constructed. The local paper tabulates results, showing total attendance 140,700, with 2,208 conversions.... Beginning next spring, Dr Anderson will leave the regular pastorate, to devote his life to evangelism, in obedience to an impulse which he has long felt."

A later photo of the "George Wood Anderson Evangelistic Party" appeared in the Christian Workers Magazine, May 1916, p. 712, and allowed me to identify some of the giant heads on this photo card. That's George Wood Anderson himself on the left, his wife Nellie Anderson next to him, and Miss Agnes Smith, director of women's work, in the middle. The man on the right is Carl Leonard, business manager, but I haven't been able to determine who the man next to him is.

George Wood Anderson went on to build tabernacles in other states to continue his revival campaigns. A recent Facebook posting by the Logan County History Center, for instance, describes his evangelistic services and provides photos of tabernacles in Bellefontaine and Belle Center, Ohio.

Boy with Strunk's Studio Horse, Reading, Pennsylvania

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 03:59:04 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of rocking horse.

On the other side of this real photo postcard is an Azo stamp box (with four corner triangles pointing up) that indicates that the photo may date to sometime between 1904 and 1918. The back of the card also gives its origin: "Strunk's Studio, 750 Penn St., Reading, Pa."

At first glance the boy in the photo appears to be posing with a rocking horse, but a closer examination reveals that the horse's legs are attached to a wooden platform. It may be the same toy horse mounted on wheels that appears in other Strunk photos. See, for instance, a cabinet card with Roy Peiffer on Strunk's Studio Horse, Reading, Pennsylvania.

E. Oettel, Philadelphia Reliable Fancy Bakery and Confectionery, Lancaster, Pa.

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 03:33:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

An elaborate business card printed by David Bachman Landis of Pluck Art Printery (later known as Landis Art Print).

The wavy, wiry vertical lines that Landis used to separate the "Special Attention" section on the left from the main "E. Oettel" portion of the card come from a set of "Capital Ornaments" dated 1891 that was available from the Barnhart Brothers & Spindler (BB&S) type foundry. Landis also used these separators in a number of other printed pieces. See, for instance, the following examples:

-- Charles S. Frantz, Graduate Ophthalmic Optician, Watchmaker, and Jeweler, Lancaster, Pa.
-- A. H. Herr, Mill Creek Dairy, Lancaster, Pa.
-- J. M. Trout, Fire Sand Quarries, Landisville, Pennsylvania, ca. 1890s

BB&S also sold a set of "Brownies" characters that included the tiny owl in the upper left-hand corner.

Typefaces: Duerer ("Fancy Bakery and Confectionery"), Pynson ("All kinds of Cakes, Pies, Creams, Water Ices, and"), Hansard ("Home Made Bread"), Dante ("No. 506 Manor Street, Lancaster, Pa."). The unidentified typeface used here for "E. Oettel" appears to be the same as the one selected for "J. M. Trout" on the J. M. Trout, Fire Sand Quarries card.

E. Oettel, Philadelphia Reliable Fancy Bakery and Confectionery.

All kinds of Cakes, Pies, Creams, Water Ices, and Home Made Bread.

No. 506 Manor Street, Lancaster, Pa.

Special attention given to wedding and party orders.

Stands at Eastern, Central, and Southern Markets.

Peculiar Peek-a-Boo, July 3, 1908

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 20:04:41 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

What appears to be an odd game of hide-and-seek in a spooky forest is captioned "Peek-a-Boo, July 3, 1908," on the front of this real photo postcard. The image's irregular edges add to the strangeness of the scene.

The imprint on the back—"W. W. Deatrick, Kutztown, Pa."—identifies this as a photo by William Wilberforce Deatrick (1853-1925), who was a longtime faculty member at what is now Kutztown University.

Additional examples of Deatrick's photos are available for viewing in the Kutztown University Postcard Collection. See also "W. W. Deatrick Left His Mark at Kutztown," an article by George M. Meiser that appeared in the Reading Eagle, April 6, 1983.

The Deestrick Skule, Strasburg, Pennsylvania, ca. 1910s

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 01:59:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of when I grow up (children dressed as adults or dressed for work, e.g. as policeman, nurse, train driver, etc.). It also fits the monthly theme of group portraits.

Caption in the upper right-hand corner: "The Deestrick Skule." A penciled-in dealer's note on the other side identifies the location as "Strasburg, Pa."

This is a photo of children dressed in costumes to portray pupils, the schoolmaster, school committee members, and local citizens for a play about the funny goings-on at the old-time "Deestrick Skule" or district school -- the one-room schoolhouse of the early nineteenth century (not the school districts that resulted from the later consolidation of these small schools).

Mrs. M. H. Jaquith of Topeka, Kansas, was the author of The Deestrick Skule of Fifty Years Ago (1888) and "Exerbition" of the Deestrick Skule of Fifty Years Ago (1890). Both of these provided scripts and suggestions for producing local theatrical productions that could accommodate fifty or more participants (there are forty kids in this photo).

The Cyko stamp box (Cyko 5, variation A2.66) on the other side of this divided-back real photo postcard has an earliest known usage date of May 2, 1910, according to Brogan and Weseloh's Real Photo Postcard Guide (2006).

Robert and Maud Pulling a Wagon

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 03:43:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of horses, carriages, or wagons.

The handwritten message on the other side of this real photo postcard says, "This is our horses Robert & Maud in front of Fulton Miller's house." There's no stamp or postmark, but the card is addressed to "Mr. Glen[n] Lyle, RFD, Brookville, [Pennsylvania], c/o Herbert Lyle." The Velox stamp box (with diamonds in the corners and "Place Stamp Here" in the middle) indicates that it may date to as early as 1907-1917.

Miss Kline and Her Students, Rhode's School, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1913

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 03:58:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of school days.

This is a real photo postcard that's dated 1913 on the other side. The photo shows a teacher and her students at Rhode's School, a one-room schoolhouse -- now a private residence -- located along Old U.S. 22 about two miles east of Krumsville in Greenwich Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania.

A local publication reprinted this photo in 1969 with the following caption:

"The teacher in this picture was Miss Carrie W. Kline [1857-1931], a native of Richmond Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. She was a graduate of the Keystone State Normal School [now Kutztown University], class of 1877. She started teaching at the age of 19 and followed the profession for fifty years in the schools of Penna. She taught at Rhode's School from 1908 to 1915."

-- From Da Ausauga (Kempton, Pa.: Fereinicht Pennsylfawnish Deitsch Fulk, Inc.), vol. 9, no. 4 (June-July 1969), p. 1.

Midway Diner, July 13, 1950

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 03:06:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of this was the [you name the decade] (please explain why the photo represents the period).

"Midway Diner, where we ate our dinner. On our trip to Atlantic City. Thursday, July 13, 1950."

This was the 1950s -- just barely -- but diners like this have played a significant role in fifties nostalgia. As Wikipedia observes, "In television and cinema (e.g. The Blob, Happy Days, Grease, and Diner), diners and soda fountains have come to symbolize the period of prosperity and optimism in America in the 1950s. They are shown as the place where teenagers meet after school and as an essential part of a date."

Based on other photos I purchased along with this one, I believe that the family members who ate their dinner here on July 13 were traveling to Atlantic City, New Jersey, from their home in or near Allentown, Pennsylvania. This suggests that the Midway Diner was located somewhere in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, but I haven't been able to determine exactly where.

As I was getting ready to post this picture, I discovered that I used a different diner photo for a previous 1950s theme for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. See Good Food Federal Diner, Brookline Avenue, Boston, Mass., 1956.

Wishing You All a Happy New Year, 1908

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 01 Jan 2022 17:20:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Twenty-four adults and one child posed for this real photo postcard, which was used as a New Year greeting.

Handwritten message (at right): "Wishing you all a Happy New Year. Lovingly, Emma."

Addressed on the other side to Mrs. John Kreisel, 17 Cherokee St., S. Bethlehem, Pa., and postmarked in Allentown, Pa., on Jan. 3, 1908.

Compare this photo with New Year Gathering, Chicago, Illinois, 1912.

Horses, Cows, and Plows (Detail 3)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 20:50:18 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

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

Horses, Cows, and Plows (Detail 2)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 20:50:20 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

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