Horse

Now here's a mystery.  Why would anyone make a postcard from this nag?  He's not a race horse.  No, this horse is a working horse, made obsolete by tractors and cheap fuel.  This one's a pretty old card, from back in the day when farmers worked their horses and didn't think of them as a family pet.  Maybe the owner of this animal had a soft spot and liked his livestock.  Maybe after his working life this horse was retired to the back pasture.  More likely, when this photo was taken, the farmer/owner was thinking of how much money he could get for old Jughead.  Take a look at this card and make an offer.  Jughead can still pull a plow, a wagon, and if that doesn't work, there's always the slaughterhouse.

How We Got Around

When I was born, in 1955, there were people alive, younger than I am today, who could remember an America where people still got around by horse and buggy.  This photograph was cut from a larger image and pasted in an  album which someone has taken apart.  No date or captions.

More Riding Horses

This is a companion piece to yesterday's post.  Awhile back I bought a grab bag of photos, a sealed envelope of at least 100 pictures for a set price.  These two horse riding photos were part of the package, but, they're a different format, in other words, two different cameras, yesterday's post had writing on the back, this one was pulled from a photo album, and it's not the same rider.  Nevertheless, I'm going with the same source explanation until someone can offer something other than coincidence.

Riding Horses

Written on the back, "This is how I spent Thanksgiving Day morning.  1926.  This was taken after a hard run and we're all out of breath."  

1926 was an interesting time to live in the United States.  One world war was over and the next off in the future.  The economy was booming and prosperity was wide spread.  Of course, the economic strength was fueled by speculation, and in just a few years it would all go bust with the great depression.  

The German American Collection, Winter Transportation

Written on the back of the car photograph, "A Bent Fender Feb. 7, 1939." I guess that's why they need the horses.

The Epworth League Album 23, Horses In Los Angeles

I've always know that, there was a time, when people got around the Los Angeles area by horse. Still, it's nice to see some photographic proof. Note the palm tree in the background, while the two ladies with suitcases could still be back home in the mid-west.

The Epworth League Album 11, The Dead of Winter

Only one picture on today's page. Imagine having to get around in the dead of winter in an open sleigh. No heater, exposed to the elements, it would be possible to die of hypothermia just going to town. A broken runner or a lame horse, and no public transit and one could be snowed in for weeks or even months.

The Epworth League Album 9, What's In Those Baskets?

So what's in the baskets that's so heavy that it takes three people to support? Probably nothing. I've got lots of old photos where one or a group of people just stand there and stare into the camera, and that's fine. The old clothing, the expressions can be be quite interesting. But it's also nice when the subjects are doing something. The silent child star wanna be, the smiling ladies and the two older men to the rear, nice composition. One can imagine that they're all headed off to the local general store in an era before paper or plastic. And maybe, they had to take the horse and buggy on the ferry to get there. As far as the two photos of the large, generic, institutional style building...too boring for a separate post.

The Epworth League Album 5, Two More Pages

Anyone who has ever tried to scan in a mis-exposed print will share my frustration. There is a side of me that wants things to look pretty much they way the originals do. There is a side of me that wants them to look better. The problem is that, after the programing has tried to correct exposures, I often get neither.

The Epworth League Album 4, Ladies and Their Homes

Happy women in small town America. There will be a car latter on in this album, but for now, people are still getting around by horse power. And the houses, other than the probability that some of these women may have lived in them, well I couldn't see giving a separate post for a couple of snapshots of houses. Click on Epworth league in the labels section to bring up the previous posts.

Charge With Brass

Fiorello LaGuardia, progressive Republican (Now there's an oxymoron!) mayor of New York City, while born in New York spent most of his childhood in Prescott, Arizona where his father was military bandmaster at nearby Fort Whipple. Before radio, television and the Internet, a talented bandmaster was worth his weight in gold at isolated military outposts. Bored soldiers far from home was not a good combination. Click on musicians in the labels section to bring up a photo of a World War 1, AEF military band as well as shots of small town coronet bands. Printed on postcard stock.

Horse and Buggy

In a folder marked, "Fasnacht Studio, 409 MARKET ST. HARRISBURG, PA."