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.
As always, just click on a photograph to see a larger version.
On the reverse:
That is me with the white dress
Charlie on one side of me and
Emmas man on the other and
our dinners spread in frount
of us.
Taking July 4th
1901
On the reverse
Will Manning - Wife
Mrs Satie-Simiwgng-Manning
Formerly of Harrson Valley Pa
On the reverse
Mrs C. E. Manning
Wellsville No.3 (crossed out)
NY(crossed out)
Gennessee PA
R. F. D.
1 Crayon
Bust Measure
Remove Chair
On reverse::
Lorenzo Mattison
Here is my
oldest suns
picture taken
he was 19 he is
29 now his mane.
is Lorenzo
On the reverse:
F McKinney
note the photographer is
Photographer:
F. M. McKinley & Co.
On reverse
Miss Aline Straw
Highspire
PA.
On Reverse:
Claud Marvin
Step Son of
Will Manning
Aunt Louise
On reverse;
Sate Simmons
And the faint impression of the next photograph it was stored with.
On the reverse:
And Here
I am again
On reverse
Auntie Bill
On reverse:
Right of Way Fence
Friday Evening November
17-1925 at 1:45 PM
and on the right:
Gladis Chesnut
Yellow Pine, LA
On Reverse:
Almost Nude
Your big baby
On the reverse:
Naoma Marie Lawson
Aunt Sallie
(cropped slightly)
On reverse:
From Harold E Manning
to
Aunt Sarah.
On the Reverse
From Charleton & Delight
(and below that very faintly)
To
Grand Pa
On the reverse:
My oldest sun
two children
childrens picture
From Renzo
There are now more than 4,000 photographs in the Lost Gallery.
The most popular photographs
An album of the most requested photographs in the Lost Gallery.
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.
BACK TO
THE MAIN INDEX PAGE
Or try out the NEW
BACK PAGE INDEX
And don't miss
Cabinet Card Gallery
Penny Tales
Square America
Tattered and Lost Vernacular Photography
The best FOUND PHOTOGRAPH sites on the web.
And for postcards try
THE DAILY POSTCARD.
All images are the property of Lost Gallery and the author. Permission must be granted for their use. All rights reserved.
THE KIDS 
It is always a mystery 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?"
Fantastic images and messages. The ghost on Sate Simmons' photo is a neat effect.
ReplyDeleteBut what I really like is the way that the photos taken together create a creepy sequence of characters from peculiar to alarming that could make up the cast of a Hitchcock movie.
Thanks Mike Brubaker. Yes, there are some photographs of real characters on this page, in fact, I think one of them is a post mortem. There was another interesting "ghost" photograph back in the March edition of "Turn it Over!" http://lostgallery.blogspot.com/2014/03/turn-it-over-theres-something-on-back.html
DeleteI assume you mean Mrs. Manning? That would be really creepy. I think the sun is just making her close her eyes.
DeleteYes, I prefer to think it was the sun too. It was a peculiar habit back in the late 1880's, photographing the deceased. When I learned of this tradition I went back through the GALLERY and found several that could be post mortem portraits. Yes, creepy.
Delete