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An Album of Funny Pictures

By Maureen A. Taylor

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Last week I asked readers to submit funny pictures. Thank you to everyone who sent images. I’ve been laughing all week. So here they are…fun images that leave you wondering, “What were they thinking?”

EdminsterWill Samels Robt Shane and others.jpg
Sue Edminster sent in this photo (above) of men with numbers on the soles of their shoes. Why? Who knows! The men are, bottom to top, Will Samels, Bob Shane (Edminster’s grandfather) and Will Young. The photo was taken circa 1890.

mcclenahan2kirk brothers.jpg

Here’s a card-playing group courtesy of Merna McClenathen. With her grandfather, Milton “Tom” Kirk (2nd from right), are his brothers, William McCready “Crede” Kirk (3rd from right) and Alfred “Alf” Kirk (far right). The man holding all the cards on the far left is unknown. McClenathen thinks this photo was taken circa 1890 in the Black Hills of South Dakota near Lead, SD,when the Kirk brothers were working as carpenters at the Homestake Mine.

McClenathenGeo Alford.jpg

Merna sent in two images. Above, you can see what a double exposure looked like taken with either the real Freako-Shutter mentioned last week, or a similar device. Your eyes aren’t playing tricks. It’s the same man, George P. Alford.

PierceManFeedingDoll.jpg

The earliest funny picture I received came from Rachel Peirce. This one (sbove) dates between Aug. 1, 1864 and Aug. 1, 1866. I know this because on the back is a tax revenue stamp. One can only wonder why this man posed feeding a doll. The doll probably has a china head and cloth body, and could be an imported model. The man is “feeding” it from the dish on the table. The photographer hand-colored the doll’s dress a light pink.

PikePoker girls.jpg

Sharon Pike sent the most recent image in this set. It dates from c. 1900. I’ve seen other images from this time frame of women dressed like men in funny pictures. Here, it’s Belle and Fanny Curtis. Belle was born in 1882. Their father, Asaph Curtis, owned the Hotel Rockford on Long Lake in Washburn Co., Wis.

Come back next week, when I reveal an unusual coincidence in a reader’s picture.

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