Saturday Snapshots – July 3, 2010

"If you look deeply into the palm of your hand, you will see your parents and all generations of your ancestors. All of them are alive in this moment. Each is present in your body. You are the continuation of each of these people." ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

{Identified as “my great-aunts Millie and Mayme, great-grandmother Rose, and grandmother Marie”, by the person who posted this terrific photo, these lovely women in their late 1930s garb and hairstyles seem at once both like they could have been actresses or just as easily members of my own family.}



{Three adorable youngsters are all smiles here, as they perch on the side of a canoe in their charming old-fashioned bathing suites (which lead me to feel this shot was taken sometime between the 1910s and 1930s), conjuring up relatable summertime memories for many who grew up near seas, lakes and rivers.}



{Looking chic enough to have just stepped off the pages of Vogue or Harper’s, this immensely stylish young woman cuts a striking figure as she peers out a car window with her wonderfully cute little dog. Absolutely no background information is provided for this elegant shot, but I’d venture to say it was from the fifties.}



{Here two young folks sew long scarf-like pieces of fabric together while sitting outside on a well groom lawn, in front of what looks like school or large church. I love that this 1930s shot shows a man sewing, too, and am curious as to what they were whipping up?}



{There is such an endearing sense of "real world" beauty to this prettily dressed young mom in her checkered dress and curled hairdo. In a way it seems as though this portrait was planned for in advance, and yet elements such as the inclusion of her handbag in the photo and the causal outfit the child is wearing makes me wonder if this photo was an impromptu – portrait taken while she was in the midst of other activities that day.}



{Looking dapper as the day is long, this handsome young gent is identified as being Daniel J. Perini, who (the poster of this photo tells us) later went onto serve in the Navy during WW2, which he returned home from.}



{Nowadays some people might call this chipper gal’s look "geek chic", but back in the 50s, I think she was just about the swellest looking girl in town. From her lovely turquoise and black dress (with matching turquoise head scarf) to her tawny leather camera bag, everything about this photo is pure vintage cool!}



{It’s the bright tomato red truck that jumps out first at you when you look at this 1953 street scene shot taken at Fisherman’s Wharf in Los Angles, but there are many other wonderful details worth checking out, too, such as the sleek black car coming up the road and the instantly recognizable Coca-Cola sign in the background.}



{A darling young brother and sister beam megawatt smiles as they wear sunglasses and summer clothes in this 1940s shot taken in Houston, Texas. This really is the cutest vintage photo I’ve chanced upon in ages, and a perfect representation of the warm weather that’s besieging many of us at this very moment.}



{A smile-inducing shot wraps up this week’s selection of vintage photos. Here several youngsters are busily engaged in a pie eating contest that appears to have permitted the use of the eaters’ hands, as their parents look on and cheer.}

{All images above are from Flickr. To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective Flickr page.}


From a menagerie of memories from my own life to my ongoing adventures in the land of genealogy, I spend the bulk of my time with my family in my head (odd as that may sound), as my relatives all live on the other side of the country.

The quote above rings deeply true with me, for I feel it can be extended out to the human race as a whole and applied not only to the lines in our hands, but to the faces that stare back at us from the past in vintage images (or photos from any era for that matter).

Though we may not always know who they were, these people mattered every bit as much as you and I do today, and deserve to remembered for all of time – just as each of us, and our families, do. For none of us would be here now, if not for the countless generations that came before us - a fact which spending time with one's family (whether in person or within the realm of your mind) is a beautiful and poignant reminder of.