Banjo player and friend. CDV. Private Collection.
They have boutonniere flowers on the lapels. This was taken at a formal event sometime in the 1890s or 1900s, maybe at a wedding.
Category Archives: Groups
That American Banjo Player
1920s Streetscape USA
1920s Snapshot. Private Collection.
Hm…woman or not?
Woman or Victorian Crossdresser? Cabinet card. Private Collection.
So once in a while I’ll spot a Victorian woman I find suspiciously looking like a man. Not a very flattering thought if indeed this woman in bustle dress was her own gender. She has some thick brows and a masculine jawline. The idea intrigues me.
I don’t see a crossdresser posing with family in this way either, and these don’t look related enough to be siblings…but maybe I’m wrong. Never say never…but this may not be her family either. The gent with the shaved head above her does look like her some. A possibility could be these are stage actors and the man is dressed as a woman for a role. A bit far fetched but…
To note the mustached gent standing up looks so very Victorian!
You be the judge.
And look at her tousled hair (or wig). And the crazy looking hat…By the style of dress I’d say this was taken in the 1880’s.
Photographer: Beach. Bryan O.
1911-12 Springfield Medway Collegians basketball team
1911-12 basketball team. Collegians. RPPC. Private Collection.
These players wore ‘plus fours’ over high socks. Two players are partially IDed as Felix and Harry, with their coach Evan (who doesn’t look too much older).
Aunt Cary -Please be sure to return this. C.W.H
This is our Medway Collegians. All home boys and graduate of our High School, Olive Branch, and they belong to the YMCA league in Springfield. Play every Wed. night – and we are proud of them.
To note, the game was invented in 1891 in Springfield, Massachusetts by James Naismith as a way to condition athletes in winter. The YMCA was key to popularizing this sport around the world. During WWI, the American Expeditionary Force brought basketball wherever it went. Together with the troops, there were hundreds of physical education teachers who knew and spread the game of basketball. Naismith spent two years with the YMCA in France in that period.
(There are 38 Springfield cities and towns in the United States. Was this picture taken in the birth city of basketball in Massachusetts? It would be kind of cool but it needs more research.)
There’s room for one more…
Studio car RPPC. Private Collection.
No painted backdrop here, just the car and a nice trio of friends.
RPPC: PMO 1907-1915
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