Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: insects

Camp Grove School was located near Bownstown in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The ticket was printed by Landis Art Press, Lancaster, Pa. Spelling Bee Camp Grove School, November 27, 1931. 7:30 o'clock. Admission 15c.

"Putnam Fadeless Dyes-Tints." A late 1920s paper advertising fan with a wooden handle. The elaborate Art Nouveau design of the fan features a green nymph in flowing robes who's using Putnam Fadeless Dyes and Tints to paint colors onto the wings of a quizzical-looking butterfly. Two other leafy green creatures kneel on either side as they hold bowls of Putnam products. Purple gnarly tree trunks and branches along with green leaves frame the fantastical scene. See also the advertising copy on the back of the fan .

Partial transcription of the text on the back of the Putnam Fadeless Dyes and Tints Advertising Fan : Putnam Fadeless Dyes, Tints To dye, use boiling water. To tint, dip in warm water. Colors all materials. Putnam No-Kolor Bleach removes the original color, which enables you to dye material any color desired. No-Kolor will not harm any fabric that boiling water alone will not injure. Why Putnam Fadeless Dyes and Tints are best for you.... Tint with Putnam (no boiling is required).... A free offer if you have gray hair.... Putnam Dry-Cleaner. The original dry cleaner.... Monroe Chemical Company, Quincy, Illinois. The Regensteiner Corporation, Chicago. Compliments of Geo. F. Hoy, Hublersburg, Pa.

A katydid perches on the left-hand side of a Victorian-era calling card for someone named E. L. Houghton.

"Chas. H. Smith. Compliments." (I'm not sure that the middle initial is H, however.) An impressive example of ornamental penmanship on a hand-drawn and -lettered "flourished" calling card that likely dates to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Note how the bird appears to be eyeing an insect of some sort. Here are some other similarly ornate cards: Although it's not as ornate, this flourished card also features a bird chasing after an insect: This one's even simpler: The design on the following calling card is printed, but it imitates the hand-drawn and -lettered cards:

"Filene's, No. 18 Market Street, Lynn." A nineteenth-century advertising trade card for one of the early Filene's department stores. This one was located in Lynn, Massachusetts.

In this real photo postcard, the hostess for the local WGAL-TV version of the Romper Room children's show in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is standing in front of the station's "Color Television" camera (the show was broadcast in color beginning in 1957). The unnamed hostess is holding a drawing of the show's logo, which featured a jack-in-the-box . Behind the hostess is a board with illustrations of "Don't Bee" and "Do Bee." The message on the right-hand side of the board is "Don't be toy selfish," and although we can't see the left side, the sentiment there was probably "Do be toy sharing." Wikipedia's Romper Room article mentions the Bees in its description of a typical episode : "A recurring character was Mr. Do-Bee, an oversized bumblebee who came to teach the children proper deportment; he was noted for always starting his sentence with 'Do Bee', as in the imperative 'Do be'; for example, 'Do Bee good boys and girls for your parents!' There was also a 'Mr. Don't Bee' to show children exactly what they should not do." Perhaps the most interesting and perplexing Romper Room prop--not visible in this photo postcard, unfortunately--was the magic mirror, whose appearance on the screen was always accompanied by a psychedelic mass of swirling colors (see the 1980 Romper Room Magic Mirror Clip on YouTube for an example). As Wikipedia explains, "At the end of each broadcast, the hostess would look through a 'magic mirror'--actually an open hoop with a handle, the size and shape of a hand mirror--recite the rhyme, 'Romper, bomper, stomper boo. Tell me, tell me, tell me, do. Magic Mirror, tell me today, have all my friends had fun at play?' She would then name the children she saw in 'televisionland,' saying, for example, 'I can see Kathleen and Owen and Julie and Jimmy and Kelly and Tommy and Bobby and Jennifer and Martin' and so on. Kids were encouraged to mail in their names, which would be read on the air--first names only." I'm not sure how long Romper Room continued on WGAL-TV, but the show apparently lasted into the 1990s in some areas. For another Romper Room-ination on Ipernity, take a look at arts enthusiast's Romper Room Exercise Book .

"Orchilla Guano 'AA' the great soil enricher. R. A. Wooldridge & Co., importers, Baltimore, Md." Such a nice colorful Victorian-era advertising trade card for, uh, " guano ."

Celluloid medallion with a photo of a child on a colorful background of flowers and a butterfly. For additional examples, see my Celluloid Photographic Medallions album or head over to Flickr to see the George Eastman House's remarkable collection of Celluloid Medallions & Buttons .

"This is one card from our pack of 50 elegant assorted chromo cards. Gold, silver, tinted, shells, mottoes &c." A sample Victorian-era calling card.

A gigantic corn borer caterpillar that's standing in the way of a farmer plowing his field is the startling illustration on the front cover of this May 1927 issue of Farm Mechanics , "a monthly magazine featuring farm improvements, machinery, equipment, farm buildings--for the farmer and the dealer." The grotesque caterpillar on the cover serves as the dramatic backdrop for an advertisement extolling the virtues of the tractors manufactured by the Hart-Parr Company, which merged with three other firms in 1929 to form the Oliver Farm Equipment Company . The illustration reminds me of the oversized animals and crops on tall-tale and exaggeration postcards . Excerpts from the advertisement on the cover: "Battle the Borer with Hart-Parr Power. Plow deep with Hart-Parr power and 16" Vulcan plows, covering completely all corn stalks and corn borers. Battle the borer with powerful, distillate-burning Hart-Parrs, the only tractors recommended to burn cheap, low grade fuels.... Get the facts on the tremendous power of Hart-Parr tractors, which operate all corn borer control machinery efficiently through belt, drawbar, and power take-off.... Hart-Parr Company, founders of the tractor industry, Charles City, Iowa."

"I'm on my way--I'll be seein' yeh. Photo by F. D. Conard, Garden City, Ks. No. 49."

Real photo postcard. "Zanesville, Ohio. 8/29/15."

I have not been able to determine who Emmett A. Thomas was or why his head was superimposed on the body of a mosquito. Some kind of New Jersey joke perhaps?

See below for a similar item: Swat the Fly, Protect the Family . Swat the Fly, Save the Babies Make the way hard for the fly and easy for the baby. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health. Swat 'em. Flies transmit typhoid fever, diarrhea, infantile paralysis, cholera, etc. Swat every fly, save all babies. Hurry, children, here's an unscreened window. No race suicide with the flies. Uncovered food means a feast for filthy flies. Cover all food. Keep garbage cans clean and covered. Flies carry disease and filth on their feet. Health departments, civic clubs, schoolchildren, scouts, housewives, swat 'em. This is no place for me. Disease.

"A happy family is a healthy family. Swat the fly. Kill him, he spreads disease. Protect the family. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Health." See also Swat the Fly, Save the Babies .

"Choice Bohsemeem, the best & purest spices, Weikel & Smith Spice Co., Philadelphia." See below for another Choice Bohsemeem label .