A friend sent this today. 1921. Ford, Edison, Pres. Warren Harding & Firestone. Can't you just see Warren slipping behind a tree for a little snort?
Actually Warren would have slipped behind a tree for a little sport!
I don't feel as bad now as i can see HENRY FORD also had a hearing problem
Ford's "camping trips" included armies of servants, truckloads of food and stoves. Here is a picture of a typical luncheon at the Ford campground in Maryland:
Ah yes, roughing it, one with nature. Looks a lot like our "camping" trips.
Doesn't look like Model Ts in the background.
Harding's in that shot too. Same trip? Notice the table. The center section revolves so pass the ketchup means spin the bottle.
That's how I dress when I go camping....
Clothing and class in history: Distinctions of economic class are quite evident in old pictures, and I think many of us remember when those differences still existed. Think of Stan and Ollie going about a carpentry job wearing ties. Coming from a background of Kansas farmers, I never saw a tie on my dad except for church. Remember Dick and Jane? I considered them an extremely weird family because Father wore a tie and a sweater when he painted the window frames. He even wore a business suit on a picnic. An extreme example of these distinctions was one of my mom's uncles who aspired to the plutocracy. He wore his Sunday clothes under his overalls when working out in the fields, and if he saw a buggy coming down the road he would take off the overalls so people would see him in his fancy duds.
We have numerous photos at work taken in the early-mid 30's of men working on road graders, tractors, slinging shovels, etc. in white shirts, ties, and hats. I suspect part of it was they were being photographed (tho they were obviously working, not posing), but part of it was they had a job (and a likely decent paying one)back when a lot of folk didn't. Lotsa early highway pictures where the menfolk are wearing the same gear... doing the same hard work. At least they;re not sledgehammering the rock into roadbed gravel! (That was a *different* suit...)
Here's a picture of my two uncles on a 5 mile hike about 1920.
This one is of my grandfather on a camping trip.
It was very common for men to wear ties on less formal occasions.
Norm
It's easy to see the class of my family. This was my Dad's mother with some of her 13 children and my two oldest brothers in Nebraska, 1926.
It's possible that the first photo was taken at (I believe his name was) John Burroughs, the conservationists cabin, outside of Roxbury NY. Ford, Firestone, Edison and him used to take an annual camping trip out there together. A buddy of mine who has a T told me his great grandfather ran the gas station there where they got sandwiches and gas. I found this pretty neat, because it's pretty close to where I live.
Matthew,
John Burroughs passed away on 29th March 1921. The 1921 Camping trip was from July 21st to August 3rd. President Harding joined the group on the 23rd of July staying overnight and leaving on the 24th. By all accounts there was quite an entourage. An excellent account of all the camping trips can be found in the book " There To Breathe The Beauty " by Norman Brauer.
Ricks, 13 children? No TV, no radio, no reading after dark. No wonder.