Recent Posts
Summer Farmers Markets
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Summer Farmers’ Markets are attracting thousands of customers seeking the best organic and locally grown foods to adorn their tables. Here is a 19th century image of a market in…
The Boys from San Angelo
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Here’s one of those unusual integrated teams featuring the boys from the Club in San Angelo, Texas, and the writing on the back of the card claims they were in…
Galactic Gourds
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When I saw this one page illustration of “Galactic Gourds” from a 1918 seed catalog, I had to go after it. This is not an advertisement in the usual sense,…
The First Cleveland Indian
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Here we see a large portrait of Lou Sockalexis, the first Cleveland Indian. He was a brief major league star for the Cleveland Spiders. The Cleveland Indians were said to have…
Ty Cobb in Cuba
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Real photo postcard 1908 .
The Babe’s Notorious Tour
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This is the Babe’s notorious post-season tour that got him in so much trouble. Commissioner of Baseball Kennesaw Landis warned the Babe that the tour was not sanctioned, but the events…
Leaders Lie. . . Cameras Tell The Truth
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Leaders lie . . . but cameras tell the truth (this time). Check out the photographers standing on whatever cast iron support they can find, getting shot after shot of…
The Robinsons – Frank and Brooks
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Everyone loved to watch The Robinsons, Frank and Brooks play, especially their managers and teammates. The hitting and fielding combination these two brought to the Orioles in the late 1960s…
Macabre Dance Postcards
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There is something extraordinarily creepy going on in both these macabre dance postcards by Alberto Martini of Treviso, Italy. Something political, too. This is pre-WWI Europe in the sights of…
Wait Hoyt & Wee Willie Sherdel-The Same Size?
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I never thought of Wait Hoyt as small as Wee Willie Sherdel, but I never actually thought about it, either. Here he hugs “Wee Willie”, pitcher for the St. Louis…
Baseball Photo Postcard Collages
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These two design-work baseball photographic postcards are a couple of my favorites. I figure it took the photographer quite a bit of work to create these local products. The Fenner Brothers…
Advertising Angels’ Gifts of Tobacco
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Despite continuing research, I cannot discover the origin of the legend telling of angelic spirits bringing tobacco to humans. It was part of the lore when tobacco-related imagery began to…
A Fish Font for an Advertising Trade Card
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It’s a fish font for this wonderful trade card printed by Stahl and Jaeger! You get eels, trout, cod, halibut, clams, and fishing rods. All this with a detailed description…
Erotic Hammock from the Victorian Era
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This lithographic counter sign of what appears to be an erotic hammock experience indicates that Victorian lithographic artists from printers Shober & Carqueville apparently knew what a female orgasm looked…
Warriors in Afghanistan
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Warriors in Afghanistan. My initial thought when I first inspected this 1860s carte-de-visite was – how similar it would be to a current photograph of tribal Afghanis? Instead of swords and…
Solstice at Stonehenge
News photograph 1933
RELIGION GONE WRONG – William Henry Jackson & Detroit Publishing
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In 1899 William Henry Jackson, founder and owner of the Detroit Publishing Company produced this photochrome image entitled “Utes – Chief Sevara and Family.” The photochrome was a process for…
CONTOUR THE BABE
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I’ve always enjoyed looking at this two-toned abstract facial design of the Babe. I knew right away it was Babe Ruth’s face, and so do most people familiar with the…
Wreck on Chesil Beach
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Real photo postcard
Watching the Comet
Advertising trade card 1880
Victorious Knight
Advertising trade card 1880
Victorian Gang
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Daguerreotype 1850
Train Wreck
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Real photo postcard 1910
Tornado Aftermath
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Real photo postcard 1910
Tight Thread Walker
Advertising trade card 1880
Three Quaker Abolitionists
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Carte-de-visite 1860
Third Reich Art
Museum poster 1938
Switzers Camp
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Real photo postcard 1910
Sunrise at Stonehenge
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Real photo postcard 1926
Stanley Finds Tobacco
Advertising trade card
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