Bunches of People

 

I'm trying to figure out what the two photos were mounted on.  I'm thinking something to do with a silent movie star.  It's too bad it was cut down to fit the photos.  Honestly, it looks like it might have been more interesting than the photos themselves.  For those who can't make out the writing, the top image is labeled, "Whity, Marie, Aunt May, Loulla, Allen."  I'm assuming that Whity should be Whitey, and Loulla should be Louella.  The bottom, "Babe, Aunt Mamie, Mom, Aunt Gertie."  On the back, "Allen, Aunt Gurtie, Mom, Aunt Mamie, Babe."  So, is it Gertie or Gurtie?  Written quickly, or poor spelling?  You can also see just how little I spend on my collection. 

A Man and His Car

 

Mom, dad, three kids and creepy Uncle Bob in the background.  I have a soft spot for photos like this.  My father was born in 1919, lived through the Great Depression, and served in World War 2.  He was very proud of his cars and always kept them clean and polished. 

Sunday Best

 

I'm a lifelong atheist, but as a child I was forced to go to church.  Back then, people wore what was known as Sunday best, clothing that wasn't worn any other day of the week.  

A Big Family

 

Some people have legible handwriting, some don't.  Two people have written on the back of this print; one had good, readable handwriting, the other, not so much.  So, the not-so-readable first.  "Breyding House-Durand, Mich.-Vera born here."  I have no idea if I've deciphered what I assume is a family name, but Breyding is my best guess.  I really couldn't make out the town name, but I was sure of the first and last letter, so I scrolled through Michigan town names online, and the only one I found that made sense was Durand, a township with a 2020 population of 3,507.  There's no date on the picture, but late 19th century is about right, so how much did the population change in 130 years?  

The readable part, "Mother, Vera, Father Roy, Emma, Grandmother, Otto, George, Grandfather."  

Billie and Ruth

 

Written on the back, "Billie & Ruth Heard."  

Grady & May

  

Written on the back, "Grady & May with children & Don."  No date, but my guess is somewhere in the 50s. 

Random Japanese Snapshots 8

 

Time to finish up this small collection.  To recap, I bought a small envelope of photos from an eBay seller in Japan.  Do they all come from the same source, or are they just a bunch of random snapshots packaged together?  Anyway, I didn't see any people showing up in multiple images, so I'm going with random.  This is the one thing I keep wondering.  How many of these photos were taken before the war, and how many after.   Considering how many Japanese citizens died in the war, it's likely that at least some of the pre-war photos show people who were dead within four or five years.  And a lot of people in these photos are pretty young.  The bottom photo in the column is of schoolgirls. Click on Random Japanese Snapshots Collection in labels to see all the photos in the collection. 

The Trips Album 4

  

Back to the trips album that I actually found in the garbage.  A few years ago, my computer died, and while the scanner wasn't affected, I lost the software and it was too old, so the manufacturer wasn't supporting it anymore, so there went the color correction setting.  Too bad, I'd love to see these photos closer to what they looked like when they came from the photo lab.  Anyway, a collection of family vacation photos from multiple locations and multiple years.  These are all from Mexico, and it looks like they drove from Los Angeles.  Well probably, since that's where I found the album.  Click on The Trips Collection in labels to see everything that's been posted.  

Baby Boom

 

 I don't have an exact date when this photo was taken, but it looks like it's probably from the late forties through the early fifties, those years after World War 2 when all people wanted to do was embrace the ordinary.  And why wouldn't they.  

Random Japanese Snapshots 5

Since my scanner inexplicably stopped working and then, equally mysteriously, began working again,  I've decided to put up another post from the Random Japanese Snapshots Collection (Click on that in labels to see more.)  Anyway, there's nothing written on the back of any of these prints, but there is a stamp on the back of the middle photo with the truck.  "28. 2. 27" I'm tempted to think that's a date in the European style with the date first, then the month, and then the year.  But the truck doesn't look that old. My guess is it's from the forties or early fifties, which would make this a post-war photograph.  
 

Los Angeles Indiana 6

 

I'm closing in on the final few posts from this particular album page.  I have purchased a second page from the same seller that looks like it's from the same era, so when I get around to putting that one up it will have the same common label, The Los Angeles Indiana Collection. Great California car culture roadster, by the way, even if the family looks more Midwest farm than L.A.

Family Photos

 

Grandmother, father, mother and daughter? That's my guess, anyway. 

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. 

Los Angeles Indiana 2

 

When I put up an album page, I like to put the entire page up first to show how the photos were laid out. So, click on The Los Angeles Indiana Collection in labels to bring the whole page up.  As I noted in that first post, I purchased this lose page from an eBay seller in Indiana, but because of the L.A.-themed decorative borders, I'm guessing all the photos on this page were taken in the Los Angeles area. The two kids look happier in their swimming suits than in their Sunday go-to-meeting suits. Is that a hose on the sidewalk and were their parents cooling them down in a hot L.A. summer? 

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. 

Fun in the Forest

  

I bought this photo right here in southern California, and even though this is a fairly old photo, I have to say, the location looks familiar.  Perhaps one of the picnic areas in The Angeles National Forest.  I have to admit, though, I'm probably projecting.  There is the edge of a picnic table in the lower right corner, so perhaps that's why. 

Specs 1

A family with very bad eyesight. The little girl in the second photo isn't wearing her glasses, but she is in all the other photos from this very small, six-image collection to be designated The Specs Collection in labels.   

Colonial Drag

Costume party?  I looked at it with a magnifying glass and the grain is a bit soft, so it may have been shot out of focus, but it was also printed that way.  Anyway, because it's less than sharp, I'm not going to do any more than advise people to look at the chin lines of the two adults.  In the male costume, the chin line looks female.  In the female costume, it looks a bit male to me, though because of the focus and angle, I'm not going to give an opinion.  

L.A. Family Photos 3

   

I've been calling this the L.A. Family Photo collection because I've got photos from Topanga Canyon and Los Angles itself.  White Oak Lodge, very likely from Tehachapi, a not very long drive from L.A., and now, the top photo in the column labeled "Camp 7 Yosemite."  Again, California, though a lot farther north.  But we also have the bottom photo in the column labeled "Toledo, Ohio."  Interesting two dates, May 1929, and June 1930.  Somewhat between those two dates is September 4, 1929, and the beginning of the great depression.  Were Ralph and Joy visitors to California who lived full time in Toledo, or were they making a visit to see family back home in Ohio?  I bought these photos in an L.A. area antique store, so I'd say that somehow or another, Ralph and Joy ended up as Californians.  

Click on LA Family Collection in labels to see the full and completed collection. 

L.A. Family Photos 2

 

Each one of these three photos is labeled "White Oak Lodge."  The top photo is also labeled "Paul, Clara, Joy, Ralph."  Needless to say, there are a lot of White Oak Lodges, Oak Lodges, and variations thereof in the United States.  I'm going with the one in Tehachapi, Kern County, just north Of Los Angeles.  For those who were wondering, the white "1929" on the front of the prints was made by writing it on the negative with a dark ink.  Click on LA Family Collection in labels to bring everything up.