Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: walls

A signs photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Sign: "Candies, Ice Cream, and [Soda?]." Five guys pose for a picture in this unused real photo postcard (the Azo stamp box--with four corner triangles pointing up--on the other side of the card suggests a date that may be as early as 1904 to 1918).

A Halloween postcard addressed to Master Samuel Hauenstein , Lincoln, Pa., and postmarked on Oct. 31, 1912. There's nothing written on the back other than the address. Printed on the other side: "Raphael Tuck & Sons' 'Hallowe'en' Series of Post Cards No. 174."

For more information, see The Ghost Card, or the Skeleton on the Wall (below). For the back of the card, see Whip and Fan Flirtations (below).

A novelty card with instructions for experiencing a ghostly afterimage of a "skeleton on the wall." For a vertical view of the skeleton, see a rotated version of the card (below). The other side contains a list of Whip and Fan Flirtations (below). For other cards that use the afterimage effect, see Hank Keene's Magic Picture and Lasting Impressions . The Ghost Card, or the Skeleton on the Wall Directions . Select a small black spot on a white wall, or white sheet—a spot that you can find again at once; let this spot be in a deep shadow . Then holding the card in the hand gaze intently on the eye of the skeleton, while the light falls brightly on the card. Keep the eyes on this one spot without moving or winking for two minutes; then suddenly look at the spot on the wall for two minutes. Keep the eye very steady in both cases, you will then see distinctly the same skeleton on the wall. For a parlor entertainment this is one of the grandest things ever witnessed.

A photo of fences, walls, or other boundary markers for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This slide, taken in La Paz , Bolivia, in the 1950s by an unknown photographer, shows some of the stone heads on one of the walls surrounding a replica of the Semi-Subterranean Temple, which is located at the Pre-Columbian Tiwanaku archeological site near Lake Titicaca in western Bolivia. The walls of the original temple at Tiwanaku are decorated with 175 carved stone heads, which apparently reflect "an earlier practice of exposing the severed heads of defeated enemies in the temple" (see UNESCO's description of Tiwanaku: Spiritual and Political Centre of the Tiwanaku Culture ). The replica of the Semi-Subterranean Temple was constructed in La Paz to hold the Bennett Monolith (see Monolito Bennett for a Spanish-language Wikipedia article), which was removed from Tiwanaku in 1933. See below for a second slide from the 1950s or 1960s that captures a view of the temple that includes the back of the Bennett Monolith. For other images of the Semi-Subterranean Temple replica in La Paz, check out the Wikimedia Commons photos of Monolitos Miraflores La Paz Bolivia , which presents a close-up of the layout of the temple replica, and Estadio Hernando Siles, Barrio Miraflores , which shows an overview of the temple with the nearby soccer stadium looming in the background.

An Art Deco mechanical valentine (moving the cape causes the arms to move up and down) from the 1930s. Sort of scary--hope she was able to escape! You built a wall So fast and strong, But with my magic ray It won't last long!

Handwritten note on the back of this photo: "Andy's Pants. 7/20/35."

"McNeil's Pain Exterminator, liver and blood pills. The J. X. Quigley Co., proprietors, Harrisburg, Pa."

"Notice! Pictured Truth Meeting. East Bapt. Ch. Thursday afternoons at 4 o'clock. Magic Lantern Views. April 14, 1892, Pilgrim's Progress. Admission 3 cts. for children's Easter offering. Meeting for young and old." A ticket for a Maundy Thursday magic lantern slide show at the East Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa., April 14, 1892. "Pictured Truth" in this context seems to refer to the same sort of activities that Robert F. Y. Pierce described three years later in his book, Pictured Truth: A Hand-book of Blackboard and Object Lessons , (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1895), which suggests the use of blackboard drawings (also called chalk talks) and everyday ordinary items (objects) to relate religious messages and lessons. Or perhaps it was just the magic lantern slide show depicting scenes from Pilgrim's Progress , John Bunyan 's Christian allegory, that was supposed to provide pictures of religious truth as well as raise funds for children to donate during the Easter services that were held three days later on April 17. To attend those relgious services on Easter Sunday 1892, which also included baptisms , churchgoers had to present "cards of admission" (tickets) for either the morning or afternoon services. For examples of the cards used that Sunday, see Admission Cards, Easter Sunday, East Baptist Church, Philadelphia, Pa., April 17, 1892 .

Printed on the back of this real photo postcard: "Glad-U-Kum, 543 Main St., Johnstown, Penna."

An undated red-border Kodachrome slide (probably late 1950s). This pipe-smoking fellow reminds me of J. R. "Bob" Dobbs of Church of the SubGenius fame. In another slide (see The Silence in the Room Was Deafening , below), this same man is holding his pipe as he sits in a chair. A third slide (see Birds at Home , below) shows the same room from a different angle (compare the lamp, table, and floral-print chair).

A real photo postcard. Written on the basketball: "Seniors, '19."

Stamped on back: "Hill Studio, 1415 Derry Street, Harrisburg, Pa." Handwritten on back: "Dec. 23, 1947." A puzzling photo of a masked Santa Claus (evidently a woman wearing a skirt) sitting next to a pile of wrapped presents and a Christmas tree. Newspapers are strewn about on the floor, and the walls in the background seem to be either water-stained or wet (could it be the inside of an unheated shed or trailer with condensation running down the walls?). The tips of what appear to be ironing boards surround Santa on both sides. Could this show early preparations for a gift distribution of some sort? Or has a downtrodden Santa taken up residence in a storage unit?