Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: wooden

A Halloween postcard dated 1908.

"Reward of Merit presented to Oliver K. Ott, by William C. Weiss, teacher. An honorable testimony of approbation for industry, punctuality, & good conduct." Probably the same Oliver K. Ott (1860-1944) who's listed on Find A Grave.

"Travers American Hammock. Trademark. Patented July 29, 1879. New style, perfect in shape, beauty & strength; brass mounted, cardinal binding. Samples by mail, $3.00, postage, 50 cents. Hellerson." Vincent P. Travers, who was one of the officers in the company that manufactured Travers American Hammocks, held a number of hammock patents, but I haven't been able to locate one dated July 29, 1879. Perhaps the patent cited on this trade card was actually Improvement in Hammock-Supports (U.S. Patent no. 221,984), which the Patent Office approved a few months later on November 25, 1879.

Postcard addressed on the back to Earl Elliot, Douglassville, Pa., and postmarked at Douglassville, Pa., Oct. 31, 1906. The handwritten message on the front is "Greetings for the day," and the initials "L.U."--presumably those of the sender--appear in a number of places on the front, including on the wall next to the fireplace. The clock strikes midnight on Halloween as a woman gazes into a fire and children bob for apples in a wash tub and on a string. Jack-o'-lanterns form a border around the scene, and ghostly figures hover in the message box at the bottom. The woman in front of the fireplace may actually be playing a fortune-telling game involving three nuts, which she has named after three of her suitors. After placing the three nuts in the fire (I think the nuts are visible here on the top of the grate at the front of the fireplace), she watches to see how they burn. The following poem, which appeared in 1900 in The Jolly Hallowe'en Book , by Dorothy M. Shipman, p. 68, describes the practice. The Test of the Nuts I've named three nuts and placed them Side by side on the grate, The one which cracks is unfaithful, The lover I know I should hate. The one which blazes with brilliant fire, Tells of high regard, 'tis said, But the one which burns with a steady flame Names the man whom I shall wed.

Message on the back of this postcard: "Wish you a Merry Halloween from Isabelle." Addressed to: Howard Knicley, Brookville, Pa., R.F.D. No. 2. Postmarked: Punxsutawney, Pa., Oct. 27, 1909. Printed on the back: "Raphael Tuck & Sons' 'Hallowe'en' Post Cards, Series No. 160." In the scene on the front of this Raphael Tuck & Sons postcard, anthropomorphic apples jump into a wooden wash tub filled with water to initiate bobbing for apples on Halloween. Here are some other colorful Tuck Halloween postcards:

A photo of folded arms and/or crossed legs for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "...Base-ball Club, Boswel....weg. [or neg.?] by Wm. Hicks." This is a damaged real photo postcard of a baseball club from Boswell , Somerset County, Pennsylvania, dating to the 1900s or 1910s. Although part of the handwritten caption is missing due to the torn-off corner, the baseball club name appears to have been the Regulars, judging by the shirt worn by the man standing on the left with his hands on his hips. Other players are standing with their arms folded, and some are sitting cross-legged on the ground. William Hicks was a 24-year-old resident of Boswell when he listed his occupation as photographer on a marriage license application dated November 25, 1907 (as viewed on the Ancestry web site). His wife-to-be was Catharine E. Henry, who was 18 years old and also lived in Boswell. I haven't been able to locate any additional information about William Hicks and his photographic work, but I'm guessing that he may have been the photographer for two other real photo postcards from the same town: Nicollette at Boswell, Pa. , and Atlantic Coal Company's Mine, Boswell, Pa.

"Caution. Dear Miss: The accompanying Chromo is a good illustration 'done in ile' of the gent who escorted you home last Sunday evening, as he appeared at three in the morning while ascending to his room. The Society for the 'Invention of Cruelty to Animals' wishes me to caution you against keeping him up so late again!"