Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: blueprints

Handwritten note on the other side of this calendar: "Ida Massimore. For faithful attendance at Sunday School. From your teacher, Mrs. E. W. Gregory." Mrs. Gregory is wearing a cross necklace in the blue-tinted cyanotype photo on this calendar, which she used as an attendance reward for her Sunday school students.

For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

A cyanotype real photo postcard for the Vintage Photos Theme Park theme of pick a particular format (daguerreotype, cabinet card, CDV, real photo postcard, cyanotype, slide, Polaroid, or what have you?) . Handwritten message: "It's been a long time since we saw this, and we will never see it again. I'm sorry it has been destroyed. I haven't forgotten the promised pictures of St. L. You shall have them some day. Yours, J.W." Addressed on the other side to Miss Virginia Stone, Pulaski, Va., and postmarked at Tazewell, Va., on Jan. 24, 1907 (the year is illegible on this card but I have another St. Louis cyanotype from J.W. that was postmarked on Aug. 25, 1907). J.W. and Miss Virginia Stone were two of the more than 19 million people who visited the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. The Ferris Wheel that's visible in this blue-tinted cyanotype photo was originally constructed in 1893 for the Chicago World's Fair . The wheel was disassembled in Chicago, transported to St. Louis, and rebuilt in time for the fair in 1904 (mouse over the image above for an enlarged view of the Ferris Wheel ). After the St. Louis World's Fair ended, the Ferris Wheel met its fate on May 11, 1906, when it was dynamited and sold for scrap. "It's been a long time since we saw this," said J.W. in his note to Virginia in 1907, "and we will never see it again. I'm sorry it has been destroyed." The Missouri Historical Society's World's Fair Ferris Wheel album on Flickr contains photos showing the installation and demolition of the wheel.

Handwritten note on the back of this small cyanotype photo: "Sonny carved this head out of a piece of stone up [in] the garden with an old chisel."

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo of squinting into the sun (subjects obviously struggling to keep eyes open while facing into the sun for the photographer; borrowed from a Flickr group) . For additional examples, see my album of Vintage Squinters . Handwritten on the front of this real photo postcard: "Aug. 28, '07. Dear Grandma: I told you I was coming Thursday, a [week?]. How do you like Helen and I? I am not very well, Mary." Addressed to: Mrs. Mary E. Mock, Stoyestown, Pa., Route 2. Postmarked: Friedens, Pa., Aug. 28, 1907.

A photo of flowers in the garden for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten note (above left): "Eleanor Henderson, Eva, Texas Co., Okla., Oct. 24, 1914." There's no message or address on the back of this real photo postcard. Little Eleanor posed with her dog among the flowers and plants, all rendered in blue due to the cyanotype photo processing.

A rather blurry and discolored cyanotype real photo postcard.

A cyanotypes photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "You can use this to keep the mice and rats away. Yes, I will keep the dog in and put out the key. A.S." Addressed to: Miss Maud W. Parker, North Lubec, Maine. Postmarked: South Lubec, ME, Oct. 18, 1906, and North Lubec, ME, Oct. 18, 1906. The joke about a photographic portrait being so bad or ugly that it scares away rodents, insects, and burglars was evidently a common one in the early twentieth century. Another version, for instance, appeared in a 1911 letter sent to American musician and composer William D. Dawson: "My Dear Mr. Armstrong: I duly received, welcome, and possessed myself of your portrait and am glad to have it. At the same time I am ashamed to recall that I have so long neglected to acknowledge it or to send the reciprocal photo to you. I have autographed one this evening and it will be shipped by freight tomorrow. It is warranted to scare away rats and burglars" (see W. T. Norton, William Dawson Armstrong, American Composer , New York: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1916, p 87). For another 1906 real photo postcard with a "scare away the rats" joke, see Guaranteed to Rid Any Cellar of Rats, Roaches, or Other Creatures (below).

Mouse over the top of this real photo postcard to see a close-up of the turkey . "With Thanksgiving seasons greetings." Postmarked: Big Rapids, Mich., Nov. 23 and 24, 1908. Addressed to: Ethel Finnan, 606 S. Mich. Ave., Big Rapids, Mich. Message on back: "Dear Ethel, Your card and letter both received and glad to hear you are prospering. We are very busy these days. All my turkeys to market besides the geese and chickens. I've made two pretty dresses the last two weeks. Tate Pearson came up and stayed while we both made her dress. She and Hoddie called this p.m. Lydia. These cards are our own make. Nov. 22/08."

See also the full version of this real photo postcard. "With Thanksgiving seasons greetings." Postmarked: Big Rapids, Mich., Nov. 23 and 24, 1908. Addressed to: Ethel Finnan, 606 S. Mich. Ave., Big Rapids, Mich. Message on back: "Dear Ethel, Your card and letter both received and glad to hear you are prospering. We are very busy these days. All my turkeys to market besides the geese and chickens. I've made two pretty dresses the last two weeks. Tate Pearson came up and stayed while we both made her dress. She and Hoddie called this p.m. Lydia. These cards are our own make. Nov. 22/08."

Cyanotypes seem to be getting mower and mower interesting!

A cyanotype photo cut to fit into an oval frame.