This is a blog about music, photography, history, and culture.
These are photographs from my collection that tell a story about lost time and forgotten music.

Mike Brubaker
{ Click on the image to expand the photo }

A Parisian School Orchestra

10 July 2015



South Paris.
It's right next to Norway,
which is east of Sweden, and northeast of Denmark.
Take the road through Poland and Oxford to get there.





Go too far north and you could end up in West Paris.
Or maybe Peru.
Or even the Unorganized Territory of South Oxford







That's Maine, alright.
Places are never where you expect them to be.






This unmarked 4"x6" photo of
the high school orchestra of South Paris, Maine.
has no date but is probably from the 1920s. 


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This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
click the link for more class portraits





10 comments:

Postcardy said...

I like seeing the fashions. I'm not a fashion expert, but I think they look a bit more recent than the 1920s. I especially like the Maine hunting boots on the boy on the right. I wonder whether he had to walk a long distance to school.

La Nightingail said...

Clever directions! Kept me guessing for a moment or two. Well done. Most in the photo are looking pretty serious, but I caught one outright smile, a couple of hesitant ones, & several pleasant expressions. :)

Unknown said...

I live about 40 miles away from South Paris, Mike -- been there many times! And there's a wonderful roadsign that has directional arrows to all those towns you've mentioned. It's a great tourist destination -- everybody wants to take a picture!

Kristin said...

We had a Paris, MI nearby when we lived in Idlewild, MI.

Jofeath said...

A few smiles there but not too many. I think America must have places named after or the same as practically all the more well-known world cities - I know there is a Melbourne there somewhere, but I would be surprised if it is anywhere near the size of the Victorian capital, which has a population of around 4 million.

Little Nell said...

I suppose the students could lways boast that they played in an orchestra in Paris; it would be true and no further explanation need be forthcoming.

Anonymous said...

You had me tricked there for a while. Australia also has its fair share of mainly British town names. But music is universal whatever the name of the town.

Brett Payne said...

I knew from the very first image, but it's interesting to ponder on the fact that the United States is full of names from other places. I assume someone's done a study of it, perhaps several, but it would be interesting to know what percentage of place names in the United States are indigenous (or derived/corrupted from indigenous), and whether there is much geographical variation in that proportion.

Aside from that, there are so many features of your sub-images that could only emanate from the US. I was a little surprised, though, at your date of the 1920s, as I had originally guessed at least 20 years later, perhaps more.

Barbara Rogers said...

Cute! I agree about how many places have borrowed their names from other places in the US. And I agree that the fashions of those teens don't look like 1920s...long pencil skirts, mmm. I'm no fashionista, but late 30's or 40s before WW II?

Wendy said...

And Dublin is only 300 miles due west from here. In Virginia, that is.

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