Books, Magazines, Libraries, Bookstores

For more information, see the original strip of five photos .

Over on Flickr, anyjazz65 kindly identified the Collier's magazine that the woman is holding in one of her five poses from a photobooth photo . It's the September 1908 issue, and I've put together this composite image in order to compare the original magazine cover (at left) with the part of the cover that we see in the woman's hands (on the right). For the full cover, browse down to the 9/1908 issue on the Collier's page at the Cover Browser site, or go directly to the image for the September 1908 cover . For more information, see the original strip of five photos , or take a look at my rearranged copy with the photos in two rows .

A photo of readers (people reading books or magazines) for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. (Or people reading newspapers? Hopefully my fellow VPTPers will indulge my topic drift from magazines to newspapers.) A real photo postcard of a young girl holding an issue of the North American newspaper (mouse over the image for a close-up view of the paper —I haven't been able to determine a date or decipher any of the headlines, unfortunately). The girl has a smirk on her face and a pair of pince-nez glasses on her nose as she looks down at her newspaper. I'm not sure what might be in the case that's on the floor next to her chair.

A detail showing a close-up of the North American newspaper from a real photo postcard. For more information, see the original photo .

A home sweet home photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Caption on the front of this real photo postcard: "Home Sweet Home." "A quiet Sunday." Handwritten message on the other side: "We are still enjoying the front porch but it is fierce here lately. HOT. We leave for N.H. July 29 via New York. Visit for a week at Groveland, Mass., en route. Regards to Mr. C. Have gotten five (only) new dresses." A man and a woman are enduring the summertime heat as they sit on rocking chairs on the front porch of their row home (mouse over the image for a better view of the couple ). The man is reading a newspaper, and the woman is reading a book (the book is in her left hand, and she's reaching up with her right hand to hold the back of her rocking chair).

For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

A 35 mm slide for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. I believe that this couple is related to the Pipe-Smoking Man , who smokes a pipe, wears yellow socks, and appears in some other slides I've posted (see, for instance, The Silence in the Room Was Deafening , below left). This woman and man, who may have been Pipe-Smoking Man's parents or in-laws, didn't always seem to be in such bad moods. Take a look at Here's the Lady You Ordered! (below right) to see the hilarity that ensued as the man and another fellow carried the woman through a doorway into a house (judging by the corsage that the woman was wearing and the flower in the man's lapel, I suspect that they were celebrating a wedding anniversary). I wasn't able to see a date or determine who's on the cover of the Life magazine on the coffee table, and it looks like there's also a Toby jug on the table near the magazine. Update: Thanks go to goenetix for identifying the Life magazine issue! It was published on October 9, 1950, and that's British actress Jean Simmons on the cover. See the comments section below for additional details.

For more information, see Grumpy and Grouchy (below):

A photo from Budapest for the Vintage Photos Theme Park in memory of our dear friend, Nori (see Sad News ). A mother and her two daughters posed for this cabinet card photo in the Budapest studio of Elbl and Pietsch sometime after 1897 (see below for the back of this photo). Note the girls' unique hairstyles and their fashionable dresses with enormous leg-of-mutton or gigot sleeves. The painted backdrop is somewhat indistinct but what looks like the bottom of an elaborate staircase appears on the left. The chairs are made of bamboo (or perhaps faux bamboo) and are decorated with tassels. As one girl sits in a chair holding a book, the other girl stands with one hand resting in a comforting gesture on her mother's shoulder. Her other hand is holding some flowers alongside the arm of her mother's chair. So let's remember dear Nori and cherish the treasured images she has shared with us here on Ipernity and over on Flickr . Perhaps you'll want to compare this photo with the dozen other photos and backmarks from the same studio that Nori collected in her Elbl & Pietsch album on Flickr.

Elbl és Pietsch, udvari fényképész, Fő utcza 18, Budapest. Approximate translation: Elbl and Pietsch, royal photographer, 18 Main Street, Budapest. Can anyone figure out the handwritten words at the bottom? Perhaps they're the names of the three women who appear on the front of this cabinet card:

A real photo postcard, probably from Iowa, circa 1910s. There are newspaper pages underneath the ears of corn that the guy is holding, and details from the top corners of two pages are barely visible under enlargement. The headline of an article on one page begins with "Iowa M," and "[In]heritance" seems to be part of a section header on another page. At the top of the Inheritance page, the partial newspaper name and date looks like: "and Leader, Sunday Morning, November 14, 1910" (Leader, Sunday, Morning, and November are the only words that I'm reasonably sure about; another problem is that November 14 in 1910 wasn't a Sunday). If "Iowa" is a clue about the newspaper's origin, then perhaps the paper was the Davenport Democrat and Leader or the Des Moines Register and Leader .

An elementary school photo taken by a professional photographer for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Sign: "Savage Elementary School, Mrs. Rhoads, Grade 3, 1964-65." Studio name on accompanying photo folder: "Mealey - Maryland." Although some students undoubtedly find their school to be a savage and unforgiving place, the name of this Savage Elementary School came from its location in the town of Savage , Maryland. The students have assembled in the library for their class photo. Some of the books on display on the top shelf behind them include Hercules: The Story of an Old-Fashioned Fire Engine (1940), A Fly Went By (1958), The Little Twin (1953), Stagecoach Sam (1940), and Caps for Sale (1940). Many of the students are wearing red-colored clothing, but the boy standing at the end of the fourth row in the upper right-hand corner of the photo is dressed in a grey shirt and pants with a "U.S. Army" patch over one shirt pocket. Similarly, the boy sitting on the floor at the end of the first row in the lower right-hand corner is wearing a blue uniform-like outfit with an "Air Force" patch on his shirt. Finally, notice how the boy at the end of the third row closed his eyes and scrunched up his face as the photographer snapped the picture.

What else can you do with a stray M, a couple of Os, and an exclamation point!

A photo of books for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A real photo postcard of the lighted tables and two-level book stacks in a library, location unknown, unfortunately. Notice the bridge on the far wall that connects the upper level of stacks on the left with those on the right. For another view of a library interior, see Krauth Memorial Library, Mount Airy, Pennsylvania .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of college memories (your own or someone else's) . This is a real photo postcard of a female student sitting at a desk and pretending to read a book as she poses for a photo. On the back of the card is an Azo stamp box design (with squares in the corners) that indicates a time frame ranging from 1924 to 1949. A small "Sargent" pennant on the wall above the desk (see a cropped version of the photo for a better view of the pennant) suggests that the woman was a student at Sargent College, which is known today as the Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College . An enlargement of the bookshelf on the desk revealed the following titles: Textbook of Anatomy and Physiology , 9th ed., College Zoology , by Heg[ner], and Organic Chemistry . I was able to identify the first book as the ninth edition of Textbook of Anatomy and Physiology , by Diana Clifford Kimber, Carolyn Elizabeth Gray, and Caroline E Stackpole, which was published by Macmillan in 1934. The second book, College Zoology , was authored by Robert W. Hegner and was also published by Macmillan, with a third edition in 1932 and a fourth in 1936. Although I didn't attempt to track down details about Organic Chemistry , the presence of the other two books confirms that this photo dates to 1934 or later.

A college student sitting at her desk. Notice the small "Sargent" pennant on the wall (upper right-hand corner of the photo), which suggests she was a student at Sargent College (now Boston University College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College ). For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard and an enlargement showing the books visible at the side of the desk.

An enlargement of the bookshelf on the college student's desk revealed the following titles: Textbook of Anatomy and Physiology , 9th ed., College Zoology , by Heg[ner], and Organic Chemistry . I was able to identify the first book as the ninth edition of Textbook of Anatomy and Physiology , by Diana Clifford Kimber, Carolyn Elizabeth Gray, and Caroline E Stackpole, which was published by Macmillan in 1934. The second book, College Zoology , was authored by Robert W. Hegner and was also published by Macmillan, with a third edition in 1932 and a fourth in 1936. Although I didn't attempt to track down details about Organic Chemistry , the presence of the other two books confirms that this photo dates to 1934 or later. See also the original photo and a cropped version .

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of a school, library, or any kind of educational building . Caption: "Public Library, Bemidji, Minn. 787." This is a real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Mrs. Mary Andrews, 8217 Goodman Av., S.E., Cleveland, Ohio, and postmarked in Bemidji, Minn., on June 18, 1924. Handwritten message: "This is to let you know that I am enjoying my vacation in northwestern Minnesota. Fine scenery here. Lawrence." This building served as the public library in Bemidji , Minnesota, from 1909 to 1961. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and underwent restoration in 2019. For more information, see the Bemidji Carnegie Library entry in Wikipedia. The former library is located a short distance -- less than a quarter mile -- from Bemidji's famous statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox . See also cropped versions of the left side and right side of the photo.