Very often, notations on the reverse of these found photographs are obscure or too brief or illegible. Most often there is nothing at all.
But now and then there is a message from the past that sparkles.
Back in March of 2009 LOST GALLERY had a full page of photographs and their very interesting reverse sides. There have been many new additions to the collection since then.
Here is a new group of those photographs with mysterious, funny and sometimes puzzling reverse sides; tiny bits of history, reaching out to us over the decades and sometimes centuries.
Grover Brannam
Addie Moore
August (maybe)
1900
ara Ann Heerman (or perhaps "Cara Ami")
Recuendal (close as I can get, what do you think?)
Luana Caleri
Update Sept. 18, 2011.
From alert reader Natalia, comes this help:
"Your third photo is actually in Spanish, (with some misspellings).
Para a mi hermana/hermano (For my sister/brother) recuerdas (you remember or remind)"
Juana Calevi (?)"
Thanks Natalia!
Note silly look on my face.
I was about to laugh.
Leg belongs to me.
1950
Knott's Berry Farm
Novelty Photo
Hip-Hip-Hooray!!
Incidently-Note hip in picture.
Too many malts.
Knott's Berry Farm
Novelty Photo
Robert Bruce Warren
Made at Stonewall Texas
Where he was visiting his
Great Aunt and Uncle
Winnie Utley & Jimmy Jones
About 1896 or 97
Goddess of Liberty
As we left N. Y.
harbor, July 29
1926
Terrible storm
Comes up.
Dear be shure an keep
this one one. it is the
place were we landed
here.
Dear 3 nonth we couldn't
have landed there by no
means I will get the
picture of it torn(?)up
like it is now.
In a soldier's uniform
I posed as her boy
friend at Camp Jackson
S-C. World War I
To Ople Sawyer
Chandler, Oklahoma
Etta Sa
Chandler, Oklahoma
Miss Etta Smith
…now what
…to hope
…on that
…to love
…wife
…all his heart
Lou Anne Galloway
Anybody up for a translation of this?
In the good old summer time
in Missouri
I think this is a stream
in Missouri
Wright's Park
Divison & I st's
Mar 18/23
Christian Science Church
Diversion and "I" St.
Mar 18/23
Below is a recent picture of the same building.
On Reverse:
The Pilgrim Family
"Aunt Lizzie Dunton Pilgrim"
Photographer:
H. R. Warlick, Marietta, Ga.
(Grandpa Dunton's sister)
Pleasant View
Easter 1950
-Before they started the
Road
4.4.50.
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Area 51 and a Half 
You are probably not authorized to see these.
Don't take my picture! Oh! You DID didn't you! 
This is a collection of photographs that disappear on the way home from the photo processing shop.
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THE KIDS 
It is always a mystery to us how a photograph of any of these precious children could end up lost or abandoned. Here are a few. You will probably say "Ooh..." at least once.
Dee and the Business School 
The beautiful Dee. A curious story, What do you see?
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
"What are they doing?"
Your third photo is actually in Spanish, (with some misspellings).
ReplyDeletePara a mi hermana/hermano (For my sister/brother) recuerdas (you remember or remind)
Juana Calevi (?)
Thanks! I'll change the caption!
ReplyDeleteI get one of these that need translation in about every batch.
I love the pictures of the Missouri streams. They include several of my favorite things...old pictures, old bathing suits, swimming, and local history. I live in Missouri and we do have the most wonderful clear little rivers. Jacks Fork River is my favorite of the moment. But Current River, Eleven Point River, and the upper Black River are wonderful too. It's hard to go back to lake swimming once you've experienced swimming in a river that you can always see the bottom. Doesn't matter if it's a foot deep or 30 feet deep. And our rivers are always cold, even on a hot 110 degree day.
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog and love it. Love the way you create a funny story to go along with the pictures/postcards.
Thank you very much for your kind and informative comment. I am glad you enjoy the collection.
ReplyDeleteMost collectors who rescue abandoned and lost photographs will admit that many of these photographs “speak” to them in one way or another. The captions are usually just what a photograph says to me. It’s sometimes just a line and sometimes a whole story.
Of course it’s a special reward when someone makes a connection with a photograph, whether an ancestor, an object or a location. I was happy to hear about the rivers. Clear, cold water in our streams is becoming such a rarity.