Category Archives: Types of Subjects

June 30, 2015

Turn of the century duo of circus performers

By C.E. Ryan
1890s-1900s European circus dancers. CDV. Private Collection

1890s-1900s European circus performers. CDV. Private Collection

The CDV is blank, back and front, but someone wrote their names and even the circus they toured with. Unfortunately I haven’t found info on either the circus or this pair of dancers/circus performers. I can’t even begin to imagine what their lives were like performing on the road back then. What do you think, siblings or a couple? It would make sense to imagine siblings growing up training how to dance, and they look similar.

cdv-circus

Robert og Hilda Smith
Cirkus Frank C. Louis

4 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in CDVs, Couples

June 30, 2015

The bright eyed Edwardian violinist in the snow

By C.E. Ryan
Violinist in the snow. RPPC. Private Collection.

Violinist in the snow. RPPC. Private Collection.

This musician in his late teens has impossibly light eyes, accentuated by the bright lights of the snow covered yard or street. A beautiful portrait of him posing with his instrument.

A close up:

Detail. Private Collection.

Detail. Private Collection.

RPPC: AZO 1904-1918

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June 29, 2015

Bespectacled Victorian Czechoslovakian in profile

By C.E. Ryan
CDV. Private Collection.

1890s CDV. Private Collection.

A very interesting little CDV, both unique and beautiful, of a young man in profile with glasses on his nose.

He’s wearing some fine and unusual evening wear. The details are amazing like the diamond shaped buttons on the white shirt, and the looped ones on the slim coat. His bowtie looks made of velvet.

His hair also feels like an anachronism.

Back of CDV. V. Donat & J. Tomas

Back of CDV. V. Donat & J. Tomas

Photographer: V. Donat & J. Tomas. Prague. Czech Republic (the Austro Hungarian Empire at the time).

3 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , | posted in CDVs, Gentlemen

June 29, 2015

‘Mary’ is so wrong!

By C.E. Ryan
Mary. Postcard. Private Collection.

1905 Mary with the umbrella. Postcard. Private Collection.

First of all, this isn’t Mary, more like Marc in a skirt and wig. This postcard got me in stitches. Wrong Mary is, on so many levels! The picture is only half of it, the text is priceless. The umbrella looks quite threatening too.

Photographer: Robert McCrum. 1905.

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June 29, 2015

Catwalk on Main Street USA

By C.E. Ryan
RPPC. Private Collection.

1940s gentleman walking in a three-piece suit and fedora. RPPC. Private Collection.

A WWII era gentleman on Main St. U.S.A strutting his stuff hand in pocket, the other holding a cigarette. I love the white shoes to match the fedora, even though on this picture they’re blending into the sunlit ground.  The three-piece suit with the fitted waist and loose pants gave this man the very classic business-like and sharp look of the decade.

The store behind the man is Kress (S.H. Kress & Co.), a popular American “five and dime” department store chain which operated from 1896 to 1981.

RPPC: AGFA/ANSCO 1930s-1940s

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