The amount of entertainment these old picture can provide! In looking at the bottom left hand corner of the picture, behind the legs of the gentleman picking his index finger (nervous; are we?), I noticed a wooden crate. As it turns out, it is a box belonging to: The G. Cramer [Photographic] Dry Plate Co., founded by German immigrant Gustave Cramer (b. in 1833), where the photographer must have purchased a portion of his supplies. I have attached a picture of a similar box. Thank you for these goods, and enlightening, moments.

[A previous commenter identified the crate, but thanks for the photo! -tterrace]

I love the way the men's breast pockets are set at an angle. When did that stop being done?

My eyes are known to play tricks on me, but I think Miss White-Dress-White-Gloves looks like a 5-years-older version of one of the Gunston Girls: 1905, specifically Miss Bottom-Row-Second-From-Right-What-ARE-You-Looking-At.

Charlene: For real?

To complain about men making catty remarks regarding another -- asking if this is how we act behind women's backs -- oy and gevalt.

We are woefully inadequate in this department when it comes to the other side. Plus, we aren't judged on beauty alone, which is good, because so few of us are. We are judged mainly on our abilities to hunt and gather...and most of us do it hoping to land a pretty girl.

That dewy look on Miss White Gloves' face actually says, "I'm about to faint in this corset!"

I'm just happy when a photo doesn't start a chorus of "Ew those ugly, ugly women!" from guys who can't just admire the pretty girls, but who also have to insult the women who aren't good-looking enough (or dressed scantily enough) for their personal tastes.

It's funny the first few times (they sound SO stupid), but after a while the chest-pounding becomes annoying, and you begin to wonder if they talk behind their female friends' backs like that (or if they have female friends with that attitude). But if you say anything you get shot down as some kind of bitter feminazi.

I'm not sure why guys act like that: I suppose they can't stand non-conformity. Sad, really, but only funny up to a point.

Dave, most of the H&E group portraits we have seen so far show a group with something in common, club or sports. This is the first I remember being Co-Ed. Are there other plates like this one that do have labels?

Another clue as someone else pointed out is the women's formal daytime public attire. So what social public activity allowed coed participation in late Edwardian times.

I note the guy second from the left may fancy himself a poet. And I bet the guy on the far right is a podium thumping capitalist.

[They're probably dressed up because it's their class portrait. There are plenty of coed photos in the H&E archive. One two three four. - Dave]

Quit picking on Dave and quit being so sensitive.
Sheesh.

I don't recognize anyone here, I hope you tell us soon! (I looked on my shiny new quarter and Geo Washington was on it so that didn't help either!)

[It wasn't a trick question. We don't know who any of these people are! - Dave]

We are all free agents at the Shorpy site. Nobody was drafted.

I love the pictures on Shorpy, but I especially enjoy the comments. My Shorpy experience is defined by surfing through the recent comments column. I enjoy all the interesting information offered by readers, and I really like Dave's clever captions and witty repartee. Thanks, Dave for everything you do!

[There were actually three longish comments explaining why that couldn't be Buzz Aldrin -- talk about not getting it. I really should have left them for the entertainment value. The ones below will have to do! - Dave]

Thanks for confirming what I was beginning to get the sense of. That post where Dave belittled the person for pointing out Buzz Aldrin's age was so odd and unnecessary, it prompted me to comment.

I do enjoy the photos, so perhaps ignoring those is indeed the best policy.

What prompted the snark, you ask? Well, mostly because Dave feels the need to belittle everyone and generally act like a superior ass if only to remind us that HE RUNS SHORPY. If you have any sense, you'll soon learn to ignore his (resident) genius and enjoy the public domain (and user contributed) photos alongside the wonderful and charming comments from everyone other than the big boob. Not that this message will make it to the comment section, mind you—but I feel better anyway merely submitting it.

-- H. Hawks (aka Saddened Sightseer)

I think he looks familiar because he's been in so many Edward Gorey drawings.

I love that you can see that the people in the back row have to stand on boxes; I thought they were fruit cartons at first, but through the legs of the fellow with the polka dot tie in the front row on the left, you can make out "G Cramer" and "St Louis" - Googling suggests this was a company that produced dry plates. Clever Harris and Ewing, reusing things lying around the studio as furniture!

PS: this is more likely to have been taken around 1900-05, judging by the ladies' full sleeves and pouchy bodices.

[According to the Library of Congress, 1905 is the earliest year for the H&E portrait series. - Dave]

and temptresses.

I don't understand?

[Evidently not? - Dave]

None of the ladies' hats looks as though it will do what hats of this type should be doing.* The widest part of the hats is too high from the ladies' faces to do much in the way of protecting their delicate skin from the sun.

See Edith Roosevelt's hat for a proper sun-shading style.

[Ahem, that's Ethel. Edith was her mother. - Dave]

The men all look slightly blurry, and ill defined. But the young ladies look like they could just up, and jump out of the image. Their clothes are superb, and could be in a museum.

If these people could have gone in a time machine to today's high school, I wonder what they would have thought.

Save Miss White Gloves, third from right, front row, who I swear is looking at me, me!

Buzz Aldrin was born in 1930.

[Here's a shiny new quarter. Now run along and get a clue. - Dave]

but Back Row Left is standing on a fruit crate.

Yes, they do look mature and sober, like they may have actually learned something. Quite a contrast to today's gangstas, goat-boys and strippers.

Front row, left end. That's Buzz Aldrin, right?

I'm pretty sure at least two of these girls (Miss Frilly Gondolier Hat and Miss Clamshell Hat) were in the Theta Pi photo of 1910 that appeared recently (last week?) on this site, but I confess I recognized the background first.

[This is the studio backdrop seen in many H&E portraits on Shorpy. - Dave]

Three things stand out that put these beautiful people in a class by themselves. 1) They appear more mature than those in previous class photos. 2) They are all beautifully and expensively dressed. 3) The women's style of dress appears closer to the 19th century than the 20th. Was there an institute of higher learning that catered to the education of the offspring, male and female, of the very, very wealthy? Or, perhaps, this is actually a photo of the instructors.

[This is from the Harris & Ewing series of high school class portraits. - Dave]

I am pretty sure the person on the bottom row, second from left, is my great-uncle Lawrence in drag.

No familiar faces, but these folks were swimming in dough. The tailoring on their clothing is exquisite.

Can't say I'm loving the giant white clam hat though.

Isn't that Redd Foxx around the lady's neck?

Why am I stifling the urge to comment that I hope none of them ever bred?

Front row, second from the right.

Well, Dave, since you asked if anyone here looked familiar....

The guy front row, left, looks like the actor (Harland Williams http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005558/) who played the hitchhiker/psycho killer who kept talking about his new product, a workout video called "Seven Minute Abs", in the movie "Something About Mary".

Oh, and the guy front row, second from the right, looks like he could be the grandfather of one of my old schoolmates, the only one out of the class of Kempsville High School in Virginia Beach in 1984 who earned admission to the Naval Acadamy. However, he, too, ended up with something about a psycho killer touching him: his kid sister would go on some 8 years later (1992) to murder a former boyfriend in the family house, and leave the body for a day before realizing she needed to call the police; she slept in the room with her dead boyfriend that night.

The guy seated on the left -- Michael Palin.

I think the famous person is 2nd from the right in the back row. I could be wrong, though.

My neck hurts just looking at the stiff collars!

What strikes me about these class photos is how mature the students appear to be. Even if they are college students they seem much older than a college kid today.

Don't look now, but I think that's Gene Hackman standing in the back row on the right.