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.
Tag Archives: 1910s
That American Banjo Player
The German man with the scarred cheek
Scarred cheek German man. CDV. Private Collection.
This German man may have been a veteran soldier in civilian suit. Something got him good on the side of the face, perhaps a knife. I’m thinking he was a soldier for the ribbon across the chest. He’s also wearing the black visor hat I mentioned before that was so popular in Germany at the time, and both worn by boys and men.
The bottom of the card was clipped to fit into an album. I can’t make out the message or handwritten name, only the year: 1910.
Photographer: Carl Thies. Hannover. Germany
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.)
1910s portrait
Late 1910s portrait. RPPC. Private Collection.
RPPC: AZO 1904-1918
Falling On Ice
Falling On Ice. RPPC. Private Collection.
The ice didn’t miss him. This funny RPPC was taken some time in the 1910s on a frozen lake in the Northern USA. This young man fell on his backside, hat rolling away. I wonder what it was he used as a cane to check the ice. It looks like a small street pole or table leg!
RPPC: AZO 1904-1918
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