Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: Montgomery County

For more information, see the full version of the tintype.

"Here's hoping Santa won't forget you. Santa Claus Warehouse." Info on the back of this postcard: "Genuine Frees Animal Series. Photographs of real live pets. No. 765. Christmas Comics. 6 designs....Publ'd by the Nyce Manufacturing Co., Vernfield, Pa." This printed postcard reproduces a photo by Harry Whittier Frees (1879-1953), who posed cats, dogs, and other animals in amusing scenes like this. For additional information about Frees, see All My Christmas Dreams Came True :

"All my dreams came true." Info on the back of this postcard: "Genuine Frees Animal Series. Photographs of real live pets. No. 765. Christmas Comics. 6 designs....Publ'd by the Nyce Manufacturing Co., Vernfield, Pa." This printed postcard reproduces a photo by Harry Whittier Frees (1879-1953), who posed cats, dogs, and other animals in amusing scenes like this for magazines, books, and other publications. Mary L. Weigley's fascinating article, " Introducing Harry Whittier Frees, World-Famous Animal Photographer ," which originally appeared in Pennsylvania Heritage , Spring 2014, describes how Frees captured these images: "Frees's photographs were uncommon because he used live animals and no tricks were involved... He attired them in dresses, work uniforms, smocks, shawls, robes, and aprons made by his mother or his housekeeper Annie Edelman. The clothes were held in place by pins so the animals could be quickly dressed and undressed. They were then posed in human situations--ironing clothes, cooking on an old-fashioned cast-iron stove, hanging laundry, playing a piano, pumping water, even casting votes in a wooden ballot box! The work was challenging, time-consuming, and nerve-wracking. It caused Frees so much anxiety that he photographed his furry subjects for only three months a year." Weigley's article goes on to tell about the popularity of Frees's photos and his success in publishing books (such as Animal Mother Goose, with Characters Photographed from Life , which came out in 1921) and providing illustrations for magazines, advertisements, and picture postcards. Sadly, though, Frees died alone and ended up in an unmarked grave (check out the article for the full story). His imaginative photos, however, continue to delight us today. Here's another postcard from the "Christmas Comics" series:

Tinted tinype in a CDV-sized paper mount. Mouse over the top of this image to see a close-up of the tintype . Printed on the reverse (see small image below): "Cope, artificial fly tyer and photographer, cor. Strawberry Alley & LaFayette Street, Norristown, Pa."

"Cope, artificial fly tyer and photographer, cor. Strawberry Alley & LaFayette Street, Norristown, Pa." This is the reverse of Tintype of Girl in Plaid Dress, Norristown, Pa. (see small image below).

"Clover Leaf Dairy sends holiday greetings and a toast to good cheer. Your Milkman." A die-cut paper wreath that a milkman could place over a milk bottle as a holiday greeting for his customers. Clover Leaf Dairy was located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania.

To My Valentine A lobster I am and always will be; But won't you have pity and please marry me? The early twentieth-century meaning of "lobster" was similar to today's " sugar daddy ." -------- Postmarked: Richland Center, Pa., Feb. 13, 1912. Sent to: Miss Lizzie Krout, Lansdale, Pa. Message: Guess.

"Lewis Kramer (successor to S. H. Bucher). Practical blacksmithing and horseshoeing. Repairing of wagons and machinery. Rear 332 Chestnut St., Pottstown, Pa."

An advertising ink blotter for Lee Tires. This automobile tire manufacturer went out of business in 1980, and the historic Lee Tire and Rubber Company factory buildings, located near Philadelphia, Pa., have been converted into an office complex known as the Spring Mill Corporate Center. For another Lee blotter, see Go Carefree! Lee Tires .

An advertising ink blotter for Lee Tires. A manufacturer of automobile tires, the Lee Tire and Rubber Company factory opened near Philadelphia, Pa., in 1912. See Burn Rubber to the Conshohocken Historical Society for a brief history of the company. For another Lee blotter, see Better Quality Lee Tires .

A cabinet card photo featuring a decorative mask that forms a tennis-themed border, with two crossed tennis rackets and three tennis balls at the bottom, netting along the bottom and sides, and leaves and vines at the top. This appears to be the same mask (although flipped horizontally) used in Photo_History's Woman with Tennis Racket Decorative Mask - Cabinet Card .