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

Escort Card, 1880s

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 03:19:02 +0000

"M________. May I have the pleasure of your company to attend a ________ to be held at ________ on ____ day of ________ 188__ at ____ o'clock __M. If so, please sign your name on the back of this card and return to me. ________."

An escort or acquaintance card from the 1880s. For a discussion of these types of cards, see the article "When 'Flirtation Cards' Were All The Rage," by Linton Weeks, on NPR's Web site.

I Am Uriah E. Heckert

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 27 Apr 2015 14:20:09 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Rebus: "Eye AM Uriah E. Heckert. W-Hoe T-He Devil R Yew?"

Translation: "I am Uriah E. Heckert. Who the devil are you?"

Acquaintance cards--like this rebus version--continue to attract some media attention. The latest is a Daily Mail posting by Annabel Fenwick Elliott on April 24. See her discussion of these "cheeky cards": "May I Have the Pleasure of Seeing You Home?' The 'Flirtation Cards' 19th-Century Men Used to Woo Ladies (But They Had to Be Returned If She Wasn't Interested)."

May I. C. U. Home? Yes! / No!

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 21:33:34 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"May I see you home?"

May I See You Home?

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 21 Apr 2015 21:33:32 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"W. L. Alexander. May I see you home? Or will I have to set on the fence and watch you meander by?"

Wet or Dry?

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 21:58:52 +0000

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Cover of Francis D. Nichol, Wet or Dry? A Brief, Candid Examination of a Moot Question in American Life (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1932), which was published prior to the repeal of Prohibiton in the United States in 1933.

Where Shall I Spend Eternity?

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 00:09:09 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

The chart on the right-hand side provides details for a "Bible Plan of Salvation."

Guess Who Sends This Valentine?

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 20:30:52 +0000

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A small calling card-sized, Victorian-era valentine, circa 1870s-1880s.

May I C U Home?

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:16:14 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Or to put it more straightforwardly, this acquaintance card asks, "May I see you home?"

The Encyclopedia of Ephemera (New York: Routledge, 2000), p 4, provides additional information: "A novelty variant of the American calling card of the 1870s and 1880s, the acquaintance card was used by the less formal male in approaches to the less formal female. Given also as an 'escort card' or 'invitation card,' the device commonly carried a brief message and a simple illustration.... Flirtatious and fun, the acquaintance card brought levity to what otherwise might have seemed a more formal proposal. A common means of introduction, it was never taken too seriously."