On the ice and having fun. In costume at the November 1, 1955 production of “A Midsummer Night’s Reverie Play” at the Shrine Mosque in Springfield, Missouri USA.

*A Midsummer Night’s Reverie Play at the Shrine Mosque – November 1, 1955.* Springfield, Missouri USA. Photographed for the Springfield News Leader. Springfield News-Leader Collection, Springfield-Greene County Library District. Image © Springfield News-Leader. Fair use license. via https://mdh.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16795coll19/id/1309/rec/12

*A Midsummer Night’s Reverie Play – November 1, 1955: Jinx Clark and Bill Blocker during A Midsummer Night’s Reverie at the Shrine Mosque.* Springfield, Missouri USA. Photographed for the Springfield News Leader and published there on November 1, 1955. Springfield News-Leader Collection, Springfield-Greene County Library District. Image © Springfield News-Leader. Fair use license. via https://mdh.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16795coll19/id/1301/rec/15

*A Midsummer Night’s Reverie Play – November 1, 1955: Calvin Cook swinging Dorilny Cook and Helen Smith during A Midsummer Night’s Reverie at the Shrine Mosque.* Springfield, Missouri USA. Photographed for the Springfield News Leader and published there on November 1, 1955. Springfield News-Leader Collection, Springfield-Greene County Library District. Image © Springfield News-Leader. Fair use license. via https://mdh.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16795coll19/id/1307/rec/16

City of Boston Public Celebrations Bunker Hill Day 1918. Charlestown, Massachusetts. Part of Boston and where my late mother lived after my parents divorced. She lived on the parade route.

Marching along the streetcar tracks. Taken from a photo album with photographs of the City of Boston Public Celebrations, Bunker Hill Day 1918. Charlestown, Massachusetts. Image © 2023 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/7990/city-of-boston-public-celebrations-bunker-hill-day-1918-manuscript-title

*Mothers, Wives, Daughters and Sisters of Officers and Enlisted Men.* Taken from a photo album with photographs of the City of Boston Public Celebrations, Bunker Hill Day 1918. Charlestown, Massachusetts. Image © 2023 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/7990/city-of-boston-public-celebrations-bunker-hill-day-1918-manuscript-title

*Brigadier General William H. Oakes and Staff Reviewing Parade.* Taken from a photo album with photographs of the City of Boston Public Celebrations, Bunker Hill Day 1918. Charlestown, Massachusetts. Image © 2023 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/7990/city-of-boston-public-celebrations-bunker-hill-day-1918-manuscript-title

*Lieutenant Governor Calvin Coolidge Delivering Oration at Bunker Hill.* Taken from a photo album with photographs of the City of Boston Public Celebrations, Bunker Hill Day 1918. Charlestown, Massachusetts. Image © 2023 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/7990/city-of-boston-public-celebrations-bunker-hill-day-1918-manuscript-title

*Honorable Andrew J. Peters, Mayor of Boston, Delivering Oration at Bunker Hill.* Taken from a photo album with photographs of the City of Boston Public Celebrations, Bunker Hill Day 1918. Charlestown, Massachusetts. Image © 2023 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/7990/city-of-boston-public-celebrations-bunker-hill-day-1918-manuscript-title

*Midway Sullivan Square Playground.* Taken from a photo album with photographs of the City of Boston Public Celebrations, Bunker Hill Day 1918. Charlestown, Massachusetts. Image © 2023 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/7990/city-of-boston-public-celebrations-bunker-hill-day-1918-manuscript-title

*Gaelic Football. Sullivan Square Playground.* Taken from a photo album with photographs of the City of Boston Public Celebrations, Bunker Hill Day 1918. Charlestown, Massachusetts. Image © 2023 James E. Arsenault & Company. Fair use license. via https://www.jamesarsenault.com/pages/books/7990/city-of-boston-public-celebrations-bunker-hill-day-1918-manuscript-title

Off for the summer and having fun at YMCA Camp Pawatinika in Anne Arundel County, Maryland in the United States. Late 1920s images from various archives.

Women diving off a raft at Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Camp Pawatinka, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. 1929 image. American. A. Aubrey Bodine, photographer (1906-1970). Baltimore City Life Museum Glass Negatives Collection, H. Furlong Baldwin Library, Maryland Center for History and Culture. https://www.mdhistory.org/resources/women-diving-off-pier-at-ywca-camp-pawatinka/

Waving from the water by the dock. Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Camp Pawatinka, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. 1929 image. American. A. Aubrey Bodine, photographer (1906-1970). Baltimore City Life Museum Glass Negatives Collection, Maryland Historical Society https://mdhsphotographs.tumblr.com/post/84842639788/ymca-camp-pawatinika-anne-arundel-county-maryland

Practicing strokes. Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) Camp Pawatinka, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. 1929 image. American. A. Aubrey Bodine, photographer (1906-1970). Baltimore City Life Museum Glass Negatives Collection, Maryland Historical Society https://mdhsphotographs.tumblr.com/post/84842639788/ymca-camp-pawatinika-anne-arundel-county-maryland

*Recreation Hall, Waters’ Lodge, Camp Pawatinika, Annapolis, Maryland.* (The camp was a YWCA camp in Anne Arundel County of which Annapolis is the County Seat). 1928 postcard. Image © 1995-2026 eBay Inc. https://www.ebay.com/itm/224344050679#:~:text=Camp%20Pawatinika%20ANNAPOLIS%20MD%20Waters%20Lodge%20Interior~Antique%20Postcard%201928.%20The%20Magic%20Postcard%20Store%20(32589).

Waters’ Lodge, Camp Pawatinika, Annapolis, Maryland: Annapolis Maryland YWCA Camp Pawatinika. Anne Arundel County. Vintage postcard ca. late 1920s-1940. Image © 2022 Mary L. Martin Ltd. Postcards. Fair use license. https://www.marylmartin.com/product/annapolis-maryland-ywca-camp-pawatinika-waters-lodge-vintage-postcard-aa105296/

*Camp Pawatinika, Annapolis, Maryland: South River from Bluff – Entrance to Pawatinika – Sleeping Shacks.* Anne Arundel County. Vintage postcard, postmarked 1933. Image © 1995-2026 eBay Inc. Fair use license. https://www.ebay.com/itm/235560965898

*South River – Camp Pawatinika, Annapolis, Maryland.* Anne Arundel County. Vintage postcard, postmarked 1933. Image © 1995-2026 eBay Inc. Fair use license. https://www.ebay.com/itm/146851806628?_trkparms=itmf%3D1%26aid%3D1110006%26rkt%3D5%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26asc%3D20200818143230%26mech%3D1%26algv%3DDefaultOrganicWebV9BertRefreshRankerWithCassiniEmbRecall%26pmt%3D0%26amclksrc%3DITM%26sd%3D235560965898%26sid%3DAQALAAAAEEBKevs6tL1rv%2Bu8viB9yFI%3D%26itm%3D146851806628%26noa%3D1%26ao%3D1%26rk%3D3%26pid%3D101224%26b%3D1%26mehot%3Dnone%26lsid%3D0%26meid%3D5e36cffa96794625b1d5018c975f684a%26pg%3D2332490&_trksid=p2332490.c101224.m-1

*Dining Room – Camp Pawatinika, Annapolis, Maryland.* Anne Arundel County. Vintage postcard ca. 1933 judging by the other postcards as they all seem to be from the same pack. Image © 1995-2026 eBay Inc. Fair use license. https://www.ebay.com/itm/376572836981?_skw=Pawatinika&itmmeta=01KFEYYQGNEM12VFHCSHGQ7MHD&hash=item57ad7d7c75:g:GIEAAeSwNS1o0-fg&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0O7PUuNWmJ%2B%2BUShgI9tQz%2FqxSdl0JqRZdgMpjU17H9GWEhZc%2F9IreQG8CBjyAhUmzJUbOtSUrOn7aIY0xqciHrAVdKYoY0ILFwHCEyG3N70wwXcFVZTnSBN8K2uB69YEbKcFSJgRA7VYiIN54JOeeAOQ6uxhOuog70Fva5IvOh25L8fZCm1FtvmecPr7CSnCGiSMpMaIbf7ahtQl%2BPP2tGTuDKViK4FBYxC%2FBvOpFLNPsaRgYnJPdEXY2IkjQ43jNsbK5cQGpD2sRg%2BKhdLpQYk%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7r4-t77Zg

*Arts and Crafts – Camp Pawatinika, Annapolis, Maryland.* Anne Arundel County. Vintage postcard ca. 1933-1940 ish judging by the other postcards as they all seem to be from the same pack. Image © 1995-2026 eBay Inc. Fair use license. https://www.ebay.com/itm/146851806251?_skw=Pawatinika&itmmeta=01KFEYYQGNCPK0Y1BWMF396YAC&hash=item22310cbc2b:g:ohEAAeSwZCVo0-vL&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA0O7PUuNWmJ%2B%2BUShgI9tQz%2FoP1nHJoUZBAg4SdJBcM4m2tt%2FiVCtpqc4f5L5gZ2cKGiISdKwSrWyd7AgWwiNx%2BUSAbdLuUmHQh90oSPTfK81UTKO6RxmWP7g3E%2Fcmvq5TpH0x2PVfyHp%2FvXfiEsQT1Iud9BiCCHRWqppnGzHxTrPBE5bUzztpi4Zg8bTMhsCB0JzR3L8I7zvoQucQleR5t4upQIVHF0NHPbnkft3jhFIvlmGxCIUOfhxYMZVlzf4m1gpezvqr6WPCN5nQwnE%2FxoM%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7r4-t77Zg

The Queen of the May and her friends back in the early 20th century at the University of Maryland College Park. Not all maidens in white dresses but more costumed up. They still have these at a few women’s colleges in the United States. I would assume it is a British folk tradition that migrated to America.

*Women dressed as gypsy dancers posing with each other for a May Day celebration held at the University of Maryland College Park on May 15, 1930.* College Park, Maryland. Photographer not given. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age.
See the link to see it bigger https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:687756?query=Adele%20Stamp

*Woman posing dressed as a gypsy dancer for a May Day celebration held at the University of Maryland College Park on May 15, 1930.* College Park, Maryland. Photographer not given. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:687758?query=Adele%20Stamp S

*Kneeling before the May Queen, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.* 1923.
Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:97659?query=Adele%20Stamp

*Women posing while dressed as gypsy dancers with tambourines for the May Day celebrations, May 15, 1930*. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:687754?query=Adele%20Stamp

*May Queen, Evelyn Rideout, and her court at May Day celebrations, May 15, 1930.* University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:687750?query=Adele%20Stamp

*May Day Court, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.* 1940-1950 image. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:96377?query=Adele%20Stamp

*May Day procession on McKeldin Mall, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.* 1940-1950 image. Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:96370?query=Adele%20Stamp

*June Barnesly as the May Day Queen processing with two young boys carrying her train. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.* 1936 image. Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. via https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:3622?query=Adele%20Stamp

The May Queen makes her entrance to the University of Maryland May Day festivities from the Main Administration Building, followed by a procession of young children, May 10, 1960. College Park, Maryland. Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age.https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:66609?query=Adele%20Stamp

*Six women dressed as walruses during May Day celebrations at the University of Maryland. The May Day theme was “Characters of the Watery Wave.” College Park, Maryland. Image ca. 1929.* Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:89599?query=Adele%20Stamp

*Cleopatra on a throne, University of Maryland Maye Daye, 1937.* University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:100746?query=Adele%20Stamp

*A group of female students dressed as hillbillies and dancing on stage, University of Maryland Maye Daye, circa 1931-1940. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.* Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:100750?query=Adele%20Stamp

Dance of the Stars, University of Maryland May Day, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. Image ca. 1923-1931. Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:100716?query=Adele%20Stamp

*Two women dressed in kimonos, University of Maryland Maye Daye, circa 1923-1930. College Park, Maryland.* Photograph from a page of Adele H. Stamp’s May Day scrapbook. Adele H. Stamp Papers, University of Maryland Archives. Photograph itself in the public domain due to age. https://digital.lib.umd.edu/resultsnew/id/umd:100718?query=Adele%20Stamp

Acting and modeling pictures taken from the photo album of early 1920s vaudeville actress and model Dolores Peters. Appearing in the Greenwich Village Follies, she was the younger sister of singer George Peters and pianist Jessie Peters.

Dance poses in the style of Isadora Duncan. Early 1920s. American. Photographer not given. Taken from a photo album kept by vaudeville actress and model Dolores Peters. Image © 2023 House of Mirth Photos. Fair use license. via https://www.houseofmirthphotos.com/pages/books/689/early-1920s-vaudeville-actress-and-model-photo-album-scrapbook

Dolores Peters wearing a dress with a multi-colored skirt. Early 1920s. American. Taken from a photo album kept by vaudeville actress and model Dolores Peters. Image © 2023 House of Mirth Photos. Fair use license. via https://www.houseofmirthphotos.com/pages/books/689/early-1920s-vaudeville-actress-and-model-photo-album-scrapbook

Dolores Peters modeling fur coats. Early 1920s. American. Tornello, New York, photographer. Taken from a photo album kept by vaudeville actress and model Dolores Peters. Image © 2023 House of Mirth Photos. Fair use license. via https://www.houseofmirthphotos.com/pages/books/689/early-1920s-vaudeville-actress-and-model-photo-album-scrapbook

Life at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1917. Taken from a photo album that appears to have belonged to a Rachel Blair who lived in the Dewey House residential house at Smith that year. Found on the website of House of Mirth Photos.

*Ivy Day at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.* 1914-1917. American. Photograph taken from a photo album kept by Rachel Blair who was a student at Smith in 1917, residing in the Dewey House residential house at Smith that year. Photographer not given. Image © 2023 House of Mirth Photos. via https://www.houseofmirthphotos.com/pages/books/656/1917-smith-college-women-photo-album.

*Ivy Day at Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 1914.* American. Photograph taken from a photo album kept by Rachel Blair who was a student at Smith in 1917, residing in the Dewey House residential house at Smith that year. Photographer not given. Image © 2023 House of Mirth Photos. via https://www.houseofmirthphotos.com/pages/books/656/1917-smith-college-women-photo-album.

Cast of a student play, it looks like but I don’t actually know as it doesn’t say. Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 1914-1917. American. Photograph taken from a photo album kept by Rachel Blair who was a student at Smith in 1917, residing in the Dewey House residential house at Smith that year. Photographer not given. Image © 2023 House of Mirth Photos. via https://www.houseofmirthphotos.com/pages/books/656/1917-smith-college-women-photo-album.

*Mountain Day.* Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts 1914-1917. American. Photograph taken from a photo album kept by Rachel Blair who was a student at Smith in 1917, residing in the Dewey House residential house at Smith that year. Photographer not given. Image © 2023 House of Mirth Photos. via https://www.houseofmirthphotos.com/pages/books/656/1917-smith-college-women-photo-album.

Somewhere my grandmother is mad at me because she got kicked out of Smith about ten years later. However the album turned up and these are good pictures and those can be hard to find. Sorry, Helen Mulford Washburn Harden (ducks and runs).

An envisioning. San Francisco, California in 1970 watching the cable car inch its way up.

Oh to be here

Summer into fall and the new year about to begin. Funny. Decades living where the year starts in January but growing up in Boston with so many schools everyone starts over in September even if you are 103.

Fun back then and wanting to stay forever but a handsome young man living around the corner who went to West Point and ending up traveling the globe one army base at a time. Children that pick up new languages at the drop of a hat with mothers who only know the words for “gin and tonic” and “Where is the dress shop, please?”

All of that fun with dolls and other fun things sent back to relatives who never travel further than their feet will take them but still . . . .fun it was back at school . . .four years all in the same place and a college bookstore that never moved the hand lotion instead of a new PX and having to dig things out like a dog digging in the sand . . . Christmas and being an elf in red tights with a green tunic and a headdress with tinkling bells . . . a vision it was and a treasure forever. . .

Georgia State Women’s College (now Valdosta State University), Valdosta, Georgia. Page 19 from the Georgia State Womans College 25 Year Anniversary Bulletin, 1913-1938. PDF Link here https://buff.ly/3wEWdhv Screenshot from a PDF of it. I found the link at Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections on Facebook. What is now Valdosta State University was called Georgia State Woman’s College from 1922 to 1950.