The Girls of Union High

I've been gathering up old photos for decades, and this small group of images was one of the first collections of related photographs that I ever bought. Purchased in western Pennsylvania, it shows some young girls, and a few adults in a small town. My guess is that these images are from around the World War 1 era to the early twenties. But is this a company town, a community built by a coal company for it's workers, or just a poor rural township in the hills of Pennsylvania? Written on the back of the horizontal image, "Left to right. Mariam Cosley, Thelma Allenbaugh, Irene Forgie, Alice, Elma Evans, Freshman year at Union High School." I've always thought that Alice must have been related to the photographer, so no last name was needed. The two girls sitting on the railing, "Left to right. Thelma Allenbaugh, Elma Evans. Freshman year at Union High." On the picture with the winking girl, "Left to right. Irene Forgie, Elma Evans, Freshman year at Union High." I think Elma must have been the clever, fun one of the class. The two older woman in the long dresses. "Miss Helen Johnston Algebra I teacher U.H.S. at right. Miss Eleanor Fuller Geog. I teach U.H.S. at left. Freshman year." The longer shot with the girl standing on the rock, "Grace Cosley. Freshman year." Mariam's sister from the horizontal image? The three girls standing with the two sitting, "Standing from left to right are Grace Cosley, Bertha Kreiger, Elma Evans. Sitting Left, Thelma Allenbaugh. Right Irene Forgie. Freshman year." Elma is looking down in this one. Was Bertha the most popular girl in school, and did she make the normally gregarious Elma a little self conscious? Or perhaps she is worried that she might fall off the rock on which she is standing.