Sunday, May 13, 2018

Vintage postcard: A lady and her goat


"It's Bill and I" states the witty caption on this old postcard, referring to the young woman and her nice billy goat, both smiling for the photographer while posed in front of a painted background. That goat is real, right? Based on where her arm and her head are, a live farm animal is actually there, right?

Or is it a visual/perspective sleight-of-hand featuring the goat as part of the matte painting, with maybe a hole for her arm to go through, to enhance the effect? What is reality, people?!?

This postcard was mailed, in October 1911, between two of the tiniest Pennsylvania boroughs ever featured on Papergreat.

It went from Addison, in Somerset County, westward to Carmichaels in Greene County. Carmichaels is known for its historic covered bridge and its Coal Queen Pageant. (For more on that tradition, you might wish to watch the 2005 documentary The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania.)

This postcard was mailed to Miss Vera Minor (1893-1973) of Carmichaels, but there is no message.

Here's an excerpt from Vera Edith Minor's obituary in the August 29, 1973, of The Morning Herald of Uniontown, Pennsylvania:
"She was the daughter of the late Samuel Owen Minor and Frances Stepenson [sic?] Minor. She was a lifelong resident of this area. She was a member of John Corbly Memorial Baptist Church, Girards [sic] Fort, Pa., the Mission Circle, Thaego Class of the Church, Carmichaels Grange, and Greene Academy Chapter of D of A.R. She served several terms on an Election Board."
She must have lived alone on a good-sized farm, as the advertisements for the estate sale that was held a few months after her death list a significant number of pieces of farm and dairy equipment.

Previous posts featuring goats

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