Yes, the little dog is posing as the cow. I’m smiling because here I am on a cold day standing beside a big replica of a cow in downtown Appalachia VA. There are worse places.
(photo by Lee Stone)
Author Archives: Bob Lawrence
Big Cow
The “I’m Jesus” Sign
This is near Justice KY. The sign painter sort of lost his way toward the end of “tabernacle”.
Acts 9:5 refers to the Saul/Paul story
Dorchester Group
I couldn’t do too much with this old picture…it’s been roughly handled. But I did also want to preserve the stamp at the bottom “Williams Novelty Co., Dorchester VA.”.
Mr. Wide Sitter and his wife must have had a quite close marriage…five kids. The little girl next to her mother later moved on to destroy all the enemies of Democracy in one fell swoop.
The body of the oldest (probably) child in the back is unrecoverable…that area’s been abraded.
Great family picture, though. Dorchester was likely in its prime then…I’m guessing 1940s.
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See a Movie
This is the box office for an abandoned movie house in Drift KY. Drift’s a coal town and this home of wonders probably brought much needed fantasy to a grim life.
Raymond S. Stripling
I found these two photos at a flea market in Piney Flats TN. I was told they came from an estate sale in Knoxville. Both are of a man named Raymond S. Stripling. Here he is at age 2 (I believe he’s the one on the left):
The other, unnamed, kid seems to be commenting on something and Raymond appears to be gobsmacked by it. I cleaned this picture, a Real Photo card, a little bit in Photoshop…it’s not been treated well.
Now, here’s Raymond at 13 with Wag, his dog:
He’s a little stout and seems to have a lazy right eye. The photo was taken by McCoy Photo Studio, 313 South Gay Street, Knoxville.
In the 1940 census, he’s still in Knoxville working as an auditor for TVA. He’s married and his wife’s name is Alberta, also from Knoxville.
Distinguished Man
I don’t know who this is, but he looks distinguished and rather pleased with everything, it would seem.
The photo is glued to a heavy paper board. The board may have been, at one time, a rectangle to fit a standard frame, with the oval outlines you can see. Later in its life, it was cut down, apparently with scissors, to a smaller oval to fit in another frame. I had to trim it down again to get it to fit in my scanner. Even then, since it’s warped, it slid down in the scanner and I had to take the thing apart to retrieve it. It’s got what is either foxing or nicotine browning all over the photo. I removed some of it around the face area with a q-tip and a mild lens cleaning fluid. If this was my grandfather’s picture, I wouldn’t have done that. It’s also been cleaned up in Photoshop, big surprise.
Date? I would guess around the 1930s. Maybe earlier. It’s hard to date this style of clothing. Posh, and all that.
Man on a Rock
I was originally going to blow this one off with a cute caption like “this is my rock…”, but, then I got to really looking at it. I picked this up from a bunch of similar photos, one of which alluded to Texas.
Okay, look at the dude: he’s wearing glasses, he looks older than a recruit would be, there’s no insignia visible anywhere in the pictures…and his shoes just don’t look properly military (we used to have to shine the soles of our shoes for inspection in basic training).
The Smokey Bear hat, probably a Drill Sergeant’s Cover, is rather rakishly aslant.
The binoculars are a nice touch, but he’ll never get them up to eye level in that configuration. In truth, they’re worn that way to prevent them from banging around as you walk. I sometimes carry my camera like that, though not nestled up against my nipple.
John Steel
This is John Steel. The name is penciled in handwritten script on the reverse.
The photo was taken at Boy’s Photo Studio, 537 Main Street, Bristol, Tenn.
A little archive searching turned up another Boy’s Photo Studio portrait securely dated to 1910, so I feel certain that this dates to the early quarter of the 20th century. The Steel family came to the Bristol area in the late 18th century. This man is probably a non-professional worker, judging by the shirt, but he looks alert and healthy, though his face is pretty lined. I’m terrible at guessing age, but I think he’s in his mid- to late-40s.
A Golfing Man
A real post card. Azo stamp dates it to 1926 to early ’40s.
Touring cap? check
Bow tie with shirt stud? check
Jacket with pen and maybe a scorecard in the pocket? check
Cufflinks? check
Pinkie ring? check
Knickers? check
Argyle stockings? check
Good quality two-tone golf shoes? check
and a droopy rose. ah, check
This is a golfing man.
Sunset with Moon
I posted this on my Kingsport site, but I thought it’d fit here, too. Lucky shot.
Young Man With Boots
This is a ferrotype, but more commonly known as a tintype. No tin, just thin iron (it responds crisply to a magnet) coated with a black paint, then overlaid with an emulsion that can be exposed quickly. The image is actually a negative, but, because of the black background, it’s seen as a positive.
This was taken in a studio, with clunky props. The hat is a “gents’ or young mens'” hat that retailed in the late 19th century for around $2.25. The coat is likely wool, with velvet trim. He’s wearing a vest and a tie over a clean white shirt. The boots are worn and rather grubby. The emulsions of this period were sensitive to the red spectrum, so I think this hands aren’t dirty so much as slightly reddish around the nails. If this was taken in winter, which the coat and boots seem to indicate, this hands may have just been recovering from the cold.
Notice that he gives the impression of being quite self-possessed. Interesting expression.
Baby Pissed
According to the back of this old real photo postcard, this is Joyce Alma Carrier, aged 4 months. I’ve trimmed the picture, so you can’t see that she’s been plunked down in a chair covered with a blanket and forced to pose for a candid. This young lady is definitely, certainly, absolutely not happy.
I found this at a flea market. Got it for $1. Made me laugh.
The postcard is an AZO, with a square at each corner (this is on the back, the place you place the stamp), which puts it in use between 1926 and 1940.
Uncle Bob's Pix 