THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL PHOTO ARCHIVE • FRAMED PRINTS • STOCK IMAGES

Sylvester Clark, Woolly Chaps, Mayflower Gulch, MT 1924

W. S. Clark Family Post Card, used to solicit for family store in Renova, MT. 14 good reasons to buy from W S Clark

Self-portrait in a mirror, dated 1912.

Tintype of an infant dressed in dark clothing. Babies were usually dressed in white. Could the family have been in mourning?

A Victorian tintype of a handsome (and patient) dog.

Joseph Burns, my maternal grandmother's second husband, circa WWI in his military finery. This photo on a postcard was given to my mother at my grandmother's passing, then passed on to me! Grandma said Joe "was a great dancer" and she had 15 years of marriage with him before his passing...

Good comments, generally speaking, are brief and to the point, of interest to Shorpy visitors, and are about the photograph that is the subject of the post. Although it's hard to generalize much about good comments, we can say specifically what makes a comment likely to be deleted:

• Big huge text blocks copied from other sites. Please use a link instead. And in the case of Wikipedia, you probably don't even need a link. People know how to do a Wikipedia (Google, Yahoo, etc.) search. Mini encyclopedia articles with lots of links to various sites -- not really what we want either.

• Comments full of emoticons :( and excess punctuation. (!!!!) Which would include those ultra-annoying comments that .... for whatever mysterious reason .... use ellipses instead of periods ....

• COMMENTS AND SUBJECT LINES WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS or all lowercase without any punctuation at all please do not do this

• Comments that belabor the obvious or repeat information from a previous comment.

• Annoying comments. Which are often attempts to "correct" a previous commenter.

• Comments that call men "gentlemen." A middlebrow affectation that's one of your webmaster's many pet peeves.

• Comments that begin Is it just me, or --

A day at the beach circa 1901

Photo taken at, what looks to be, the intersection of Pont Du Mont Blanc and Quai Du Mont Blanc. Written in pencil on the back is the following:

One of Geneva's busiest corners - Carriage to the right is on bridge crossing Rhone. To the left port of Geneva with "Les Voirons" in back ground. Mountain in the center is the Môle.

After returning to the states from the South Pacific battles in late 1944/early 1945, Dad was stationed at Parris Island where he ran the NCO Club. He was finally discharged in April 1946. This photograph was found along with some of his discharge papers. I have no clue as to who the Marines are or what is going on. My guess is that the photograph was taken in the base brig. Could also be a bunch of new recruits. The war was over and life was good, even if this was the brig.

Gorgeous picture of my grandfather and aunt, taken around 1938, likely in Detroit. My grandmother was the photographer.

The milk wagon of William Widule, the owner of the Sherman Park Dairy of Chicago around the turn of the century. The wagon appears freshly painted, William is neatly dressed, and it is obvious that his partner is very well cared for. I like the way the horse's ears are pricked forward and he (or she) is gazing directly at the camera.

My mother (seated) and a good friend. Early to mid-1930s I believe.

My great-grandfather's mining crew circa 1915 in Mineral County, West Virginia. His name was Thompson Metcalf, and he is in the front row, crouched just to the right of the coal car tracks. The young boy in front of him was my great-uncle "Metty." Thompson died in the flu epidemic of 1918. My grandfather gave me the carbide lamp that Thompson wore. It appears they all had their lamps lit for the photo. They even included the most valuable members of the crew (at least to the mine owners). Some mine owners were of the opinion that "If you lose a man, there is always another one ready to take his place, but if you lose a pony or mule, you must BUY another one". This crew worked the mines in the Beryl, West Virginia area.

Actual photo postcard from Germany. All writing on back done with fountain pen, and in German, of course. Sent from Else Wagner to Ella Widulle, Chicago,Il. Postmarked 1909, with 10 pfennig stamp. Very creative photographer to have a stuffed chicken in his prop inventory.