There are a lot of photos out there of men in uniform. From the clothing, my best guess is that this photo was taken around the late 1920s to early 1930s. Did this young sailor hope for deployment in Hawaii or the Philippines? Plum assignments before the Japanese attacks that brought the United States into World War 2.
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Friday, September 15, 2023
Sunday, July 16, 2023
Monday, June 5, 2023
Desolate Places
I'd love to know where this picture was taken and what it took for these two ladies to get there, dressed as they are. The woman on the left is wearing a veil, at least when it's blown up, you can see netting over her face. And the woman on the right is holding a folding camera.
Saturday, March 18, 2023
Mystery Word
This photo was once pasted into a photo album. There's a bit of a word sticking out from under black construction paper, but when I tried to peel it back I was beginning to damage the print, and I thought the print was more important than a single word. "Vaien"
Friday, March 10, 2023
A Family in the Woods
The guy on the right looks younger than the others, so I'm betting a family portrait rather than dating couples. But what are they standing by? It looks like some sort of excavation.
Monday, March 6, 2023
Sunday, January 22, 2023
The Rich Family
If you are a fan of silent movies, you've probably seen a film where a family with a large car, drives around a city, and don't do much of anything but run over things, and generally causes a major mess. It's hard to believe, but when those films were made, very few Americans actually owned a car, and those movies were as much about class as they were about cars. There's black construction paper on the backs of the prints, so at some point, they were cut out of a photo album. I thought about trying to peel the paper off and see if anything was written on the backs, but the risk of damaging the prints is too great.
Friday, August 26, 2022
Barney Seamon's
I did a bit of research and found some information about Barney Seamon's Modern Clothing Store. In February 1917, Barney was liquidating his store. He had to retire due to ill health. There is something written on the back, "Out on the State road near Coffin Crops-the same day we stopped at Coffin's & returned to the gorge behind Aunt Min's." Well, I'm not sure about Coffin Crop's. It could be Coffee Drop's, or perhaps Coffin Drops. It's bad when someone has worse handwriting than me. There are over 150 waterfalls in the Ithica area, all with their very own gorge. I have no idea which one is behind Aunt Min's.
Tuesday, April 5, 2022
Friday, May 28, 2021
Wednesday, January 13, 2021
A Dapper Gentleman
The guy facing the camera is the definition of an older dapper gentleman. The hat, the cane, the glasses. Just a great look.
Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Monday, July 27, 2020
Party Hats
Bored looking people, smoking, drinking, funny hats and the family dog who wishes everybody would go home.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
A Whole Bunch of Women
And one person didn't make the cut. I hope there is another version of this where the photographer handed off the camera and got to be part of the fun. I wonder how many of them fit into the car in the background?
Monday, December 9, 2019
Sunday, November 10, 2019
Big Hat Collection 6
I cropped the large white bar at the bottom of this card. I mean, who want's to look at that. As usual, click on Big Hat Collection in labels to see the rest. Or, since I'm posting these without interruption, don't be lazy and just navigate back to see what's already up.
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Big Hat Collection 5
There are some identifications on the back of this one. "Maye Blake age 33, Fannie age 30, Maye Baker age 16 Taken Feb 23 1..., Redondo Beach, For Maye to keep." As far as the year taken goes, there's black album paper glued to the back, and I didn't want to damage the card to uncover the exact year, especially when it wasn't necessary. The second card in this series has Fannie age 36 taken in 1911. Subtract six years and we've got 1905. I suspect Fannie and Maye Blake are sisters and Maye Baker? Well that's a tough one. If Maye is Fannie's daughter that means Fannie gave birth round 14 years of age. (Perhaps 15 depending on birthdays.) Not unheard of, especially in an era when women were more likely to wed at younger ages, but still very young. Perhaps a sister-in-law or cousin.
As usual, click on Big Hat Collection in labels to bring up the whole collection.
Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Big Hat Collection 4
This one looks more like Los Angeles than Guthrie, Oklahoma. Again, click on Big Hat Collection in labels to see more.
Friday, November 1, 2019
Big Hat Collection 2
There is actually some useful information written on the back of this one. "Taken Fri. Apr. 21-1911, Fannie M. Baker age 36, Elliott F. Baker age 20, Guthrie, Ok. For Maye Baker" Oklahoma became a state in 1907 so the photo used to make this real photo postcard was made just a few years after statehood. I couldn't find any information on these two which isn't to surprising. I have to wonder, mother and son? Step mother? Siblings?
Click on Big Hats Collection in labels to see more.