V is for Vehicles - Blogging from A to Z April 2020 Challenge!

Today V is for Vehicles - As props in photographs!

  Blogging about British Columbia Genealogy Resources

I collect stray photographs and I have a few now that have vehicles as props. Some are clearly real vehicles; others are pretty obviously fake - and meant to be funny. Do you have some like these?

This is a real car as we can see on this souvenir postcard from Seattle, but in a studio - check out the backdrop. These men undoubtedly attended the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition there in 1909. At that time, not that many people did have cars or thought they ever would so these kinds of postcards seem to have been popular. This card was sent to Miss Daisy B Parker in St. Louis in 1909. 

It says on the back: Hello Girllie, I am at the Fair today. Am sending this as a souvenir. Loyal [?]

And on the front: Say Daisy what do you think of our automobile stunt.Ford posed as a banker and I as his driver. Don't you think the picture fine especially Ford. Very dignified, you know.  L E Evans.

Here's another souvenir postcard from Seattle in '09 with 'car service', nothing as elegant as the first postcard. This time it's clearly a 'head in hole' or  passe-têtes card, meant to look funny. This one wasn't mailed but two surnames are wrttten there - Carnighan and Clancy. And below the picture, it looks like: 2 ² C's   "C"  (I'm not sure if that is 2 squared or if that 2 was added later.)  

Many people from the Great Vancouver and Victoria areas of BC attended the Fair and I have found most of my postcards in British Columbia. I do wonder how many drove there? If you know your family went to the A-Y-P Fair, please let me know.

This is another 'head in hole' postcard but a Seeing Toronto, Canada one this time. And this is a family treasure, sadly glued into an album, so I can't see if it was mailed or said anything on the back. And the card was either cut badly or someone else was snipped off! Hard to say. 

When I first saw this, I identified it as my Great Uncle John William Rogers. Now, when I look at it, I think it must be his brother, Great Uncle Frank. What do you think? See both those men in the photo below.

This photograph shows both my great uncles, John on my left, Frank on my right. My (step) Great Aunt Susan Peel helpfully labelled the three of them. Bless her! They all lived together and she likely knew the answers to most of my Rogers - Peel - White genealogy questions.

I believe I'm basing my change of mind on Frank's eyebrows, and the fact that it seems John had more hair. I'll be interested to hear what others think. 

Frank did have a driver's license and a car. I know that because after he died, John made up his mind to learn to drive the car. He (or Susan) wrote some funny letters to my Grandpa and Grandma Rogers about his driving mishaps. 

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