Category Archives: Types of Subjects

September 2, 2015

The 1944 U.S Army Air Force pilot

By C.E. Ryan
June 8, 1944. Snapshot. Private Collection.

June 8, 1944. University of Missouri. Snapshot. Private Collection.

These two photographs are of the same pilot. The captions are annotations found on the back. We have dates and places. This pilot wrote everything but his name…On the first he’s at the helm of a single engine civilian airplane even though he’s wearing his uniform. I’ve tried to make out the model but can’t. On the second I see what looks like barracks behind him. Texas was the state for the USAAF to train during WWII. Well, at least we know he made it through!

August 3, 1945.

August 3, 1945. Texas. “Crazy with the Heat”. Snapshot. Private Collection.

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September 2, 2015

Student posing with book

By C.E. Ryan
Young man with book. Tintype. Private Collection.

Young man with book. Tintype. Private Collection.

This bright eyed assured young man is posing with a book in hands. He made sure the title shows, unfortunately it is unreadable! The book looks to be too thin to be a bible. I think he was a student or perhaps even, an author? I believe this tintype is from around the 1870s-80s. I got this one for a little above a measly dollar, a great find!

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September 1, 2015

Victorian teen Mc Bracken of Waterloo, Wisconsin

By C.E. Ryan

Close-up of cabinet card portrait. Private Collection.

Close-up of cabinet card portrait. Private Collection.

Photogenic teen Mc Bracken with the dark eyes is wearing a mix of patterns with a moon tie stack to bring it all together over the overlapping collar. I give this card a broad window from the 1880s to early 1900s.

The card’s also a rarer shade of pink with dark pink lettering on the front. The back is plain except for the sitter’s written last name.

Pink cabinet card. Private Collection.

W.H Drake cabinet card. Private Collection.

Photographer: W.H. Drake. Waterloo, Wisconsin.

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Cabinet Cards, Teens

August 30, 2015

Hm…woman or not?

By C.E. Ryan
Woman or Victorian Crossdresser? Cabinet card. Private Collection.

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.

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.

9 Comments   |  tags: , | posted in Cabinet Cards, Groups

August 29, 2015

1911-12 Springfield Medway Collegians basketball team

By C.E. Ryan
1911-12 basketball team. Collegians. RPPC. Private Collection.

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).

basketball-collegians-back

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.)

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Groups, RPPCs