Category Archives: Old Photos

antique and vintage photos and snapshots

A Snap Of John Taken Unawares

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1900s to 1920s.

Price:  $2.00          Size:  3 and 1/8″ x 4 and 1/4″

I bought this one for the rather poetic description written on the reverse (We imagine it was his wife that wrote it.) But here’s John, in vest and suspenders and the inevitable hat, his surname and location unknown. He’s deep in thought, and holding what looks to be a tape measure. Maybe he was out looking at property lines. You can see some short wire fencing behind him, and then a nice view of some hills in the distance. The term snapshot came into use in the photographic sense around 1890. We found the short version, “snap” for snapshot (also written snap shot), in historical newspapers as early as 1907, (though this was from a quick search so it may have been in use a little earlier.)

Sources:  snapshot (n). https://www.etymonline.com/word/snapshot (accessed June 14, 2020).

Marshall, Carrie. “A Trip To Idaho – No. 3.” Woodford County Republican, (Eureka, IL) Thursday, September 26, 1907, Vol. 13, no. 34. (Newspapers.com).

Another Log Cabin

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Old photo, circa 1920s – 1930s.

Price:  $4.00     Size:  2 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

Might as well use the blank bar space for the watermark, kinda cool! So, here’s another cabin. We need the Barnwood Builders on this one, but from our inexpert eye, it looks like most of the chinking is gone or very hard to see (rather than a new cabin not yet chinked). Seems pretty tall, and then also there are no windows, so maybe it wasn’t finished yet? No, but then some of the logs have rotted or are bug-chewed so, that doesn’t make sense. Maybe this was the view from the back and all the windows were in the front. And that supposed door there is kinda weird-looking, it almost looks like (click to enlarge) it’s been Photoshopped on – where is the door frame? Still, it’s a cabin with rather a majestic look to it. A beauty with some stories to tell.

Log Cabin Home, 1934

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Photo, white border. October 2, 1934.

Price:  $7.00       Size:  3 and 1/2 x 1 and 7/8″

A child in overalls, standing outside their log cabin home, location unknown. This is a beautiful photo, for content and composition:  There’s the path, right from our viewpoint, leading up to the doorway; the home nestling in the woods and off-center of the image; evidence of the wood-burning stove currently in use; and other details to notice, such as the wash basin hanging next to the door, and the somewhat concave appearance of the cabin’s side. And it’s almost like you could hit “play” and see video – the child walking towards us, smiling face appearing out of the shadow, or maybe turning to go into the house, the stovepipe smoke blowing easterly….

On the back is written,  “At least they have a roof. A well-to-do Indian half-breed.”  Well, maybe the individual that wrote the comment had just come from seeing some other cabins not as well put together. Also it was 1934, so better terminology was not yet common, evidently.

But for me, it looks like a small slice of heaven (as I sit typing this with the heavy traffic rolling by).

235 N. Normal Ave, Burley, Cassia County, Idaho

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Old photo, circa 1919 or 1920.

Price:  $15.00

A hipped roof house, photo a little blurry, but still a gem….And it’s been printed on the type of stock that was used for Real Photo Postcards though, as we can see, it couldn’t have been a postcard since the usual postal printing does not appear on the back.

“house faces west, this is front.  Dear Carrie  This does not Flatter the house as I really think this looks rather shabby but I dont know why this looks worse then it realy is to me. I will have another view taken not so close and more landscape. the Brick School is on the next Block south of us with no buildings between us yet. when I get it Painted it will look better. I have a little garden, a few beans, Peas, Radishes, Potatoes, tomatoes, Planted lots of seed that never came up for want of water, sowed more Beets, are coming nicely now not large but will make small Pickles hope tomatoes will too. The number on the house is 235. Can you see it? I Just got my old Shack moved the 25th. C. C. went that day, and made the man move it before he went, been Paid for ever since April, am using it for storehouse and coal house, may fix it up to rent not quite sure as it will take some money to do it, wish I could tho as it would be a good help this winter. do you write to Susie. I owe her & John a letter, do you write to Florence. I haven’t said half but good night. love from Harold to all, mother, me too.”

Ahhh, another beauty of a find that’s filled up with writing on the reverse! (We put up an RPPC a few posts ago.) This was written by Mary Bowne, who was born in Connecticut about 1866, of Irish/English descent, and widow of Linus Bowne. Mary’s occupation was private nurse, from the 1920 Federal Census for Burley, Cassia County, ID. The census and city directory show her at 235 N. Normal Avenue, and the census lists her as head of household for herself, son-in-law, Charles Moeller (a widower), and twelve-year-old grandson, Harold Moeller.

Sources:  R. L. Polk & Co.’s Polk’s Twin Falls, Blaine, Camas, Cassia, Gooding, Jerome, Lincoln and Minidoka Counties Directory 1920-1921. Page 351. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Burley, Cassia, Idaho; Roll: T625_290; Page: 10B; Enumeration District: 134. (Ancestry.com).

A Formal Occasion, Onboard Ship

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Photo, white border. Circa 1910s – 1940s.

Price:  $6.00         Size:  About 2 x 2 and 7/8″

A snapshot found in a loose box of photos, location and ship name are unknown, and the date is unknown. If you enlarge the photo you’ll see three men in non-military type hats, that are walking with the officers. Maybe they are dignitaries of some sort.

Thunderbird Park, Vancouver Island, 1958

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Photo, snapshot with white border, June 1958, Vancouver Island, BC

Price:  $5.00       Size:  About 3 and 1/2 x 3 and 1/2″

Tourists in June 1958 posing at the foot of a totem pole (not sure if this particular one is still there) and in front of the Mungo Martin House which was built in 1953.

Mungo Martin. n.d. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mungo_Martin. (accessed March 14, 2020).

Totems At Ketchikan Ball Park

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Old photo, circa 1930s, white border.

Price:  $10.00

Yes, the focus is not great, we’ll agree with whoever it was that wrote the description on the back. There are a few commercial photos (a good thing, for sure!) that we found online, that are much better, and actually show the rest of the poles that were standing to our left as we gaze into the shot. But there’s always something about an image from someone’s personal camera, well for one thing, because they’re unique (excepting the person made duplicates, of course) and probably also because we get a sense of being with that one individual as they took the photo, so it seems more personal.

Screen shot below right, from a Google search shows one such commercial photo, for sale on eBay, as of our post going up today. The photographer’s surname was Schallerer.

But the curious thing (to anyone who may not know the history of the city) is that there was a baseball field at the park that was comprised of part of the beach, which was underwater when the tide was in. We’re not sure where the ball field was in relation to the totems, but apparently the tide flats were the best place (at the time) to host games, due to the topography of the area.

Below, a January 1932 clipping from a Bristol, Tennessee newspaper regarding the end of the tide-flats ball field. And we appreciate the unknown journalist’s turn of a phrase, conjuring images of ballplayers that had been……

Cavorting in water up to their knees

Sources:  Google.com screen shot result for search under “old photos by Schallerer of Ketchikan.” March 1, 2020.

“Alaska ‘Tide’ Ball Park to Wet No More Players.”  The Bristol Herald Courier. (Bristol, TN). January 2, 1932. Saturday, p. 5. (Newspapers.com).

Allen, June. “100 Years of Baseball in Ketchikan!” Stories in the News. April 26, 2003, Saturday 12:30 a.m. http://www.sitnews.net/JuneAllen/Baseball/042603_100_years.html. Accessed March 1, 2020.

http://www.sitnews.net/JuneAllen/Baseball/042603_100_years.html

Carl Stockdale and Mary Dowds

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Old photo, circa 1900 – 1920s.

Price:  $7.00      Size:  About 3 and 3/4 x 2 and 1/2″

Here’s a great one for New Year’s Eve, a couple of partiers…..even though probably this was not taken in winter. Is that an open window? In any case, it’s Carl Stockdale and Mary Dowds seated on the floor and having a great laugh. We’ll have to research for the possible year according to Mary’s style of dress, for starters. But for now, just to get this one posted…..and Happy New Year!

It’s fun to pick out the details in old photos. Notice the photo within a photo on this one, top right, and the nail pattern in the sole of Carl’s shoe. (Another possible clue for the age of the photo?) And that’s a nice wallpaper pattern and then there’s the beautiful lace on the curtains.

Santa In An Airplane

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Old photo, white border. Circa 1920s to 1930s.

Price:  $4.00

We’re late getting to the Christmas posts this year…..Here’s the first, a subtle one, maybe taken in Southern California, due to the palm trees in the background. That is Santa in the monoplane with propeller and open cockpit, though you have to click to enlarge the photo to see him. Note the teddy bear attached just on the body of the aircraft, near the wing, and the draping tinsel. And maybe someone can tell us (or is it obvious?) Was this aircraft really used to fly or was it built for the parade? Probably the latter.

Gertrude Alene Crotzer

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Photo, circa 1901. Photographer unknown.

Price:  $8.00             Size including matting:  About 2 and 1/4 x 3″

A cute photo of Gertrude Alene Crotzer, daughter of Irvin and Ida Crotzer. Gertrude was born about August 1897 in Lena, Illinois and married Ewald A. Dominik, September 6, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois.

Sources:  “Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871–1920.” Index. FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2010. Illinois Department of Public Health records. “Marriage Records, 1871–present.” Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois.

Year: 1900; Census Place: West Point, Stephenson, Illinois; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0110; FHL microfilm: 1240346.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Freeport Ward 2, Stephenson, Illinois; Roll: T624_327; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 0101; FHL microfilm: 1374340.

St. Petersburg Times/North Pinellas Times. September 13, 1987. Sunday, p. 25. (Newspapers.com).