1903 Trenton High School Football Team

1903 Football Team Poses in Front of Old Trenton High School

What originally caught my eye in this photo was the background, which is the doorway of the second of the three Trenton Central High Schools (the one that stood on the corner of Greenwood and Chestnut). 

Recumbent Team Member

Then my eye went to the two team members lying down across the front of their teammates.  There are a lot of fascinating details throughout this photo and many interesting expressions.

 The hands on the hips of the boy on the left just screamed ‘attitude’ to me.  You can also make out the great quilted

Hands on Hips

pants on this football player.  I know that I’m reading way too much into a simple team photo but all together it’s quite an interesting little gem.

Kitten on her shoulder

I love this neat little photo. I’m no expert in old photographs but this one sticks not only because of the casual pose with the kitten climbing on her shoulder, but also the way the image is positioned at an angle. Unfortunately it’s suffered from fading with an area protected by some other object making the discoloration uneven. There’s writing on the back which appears to read Grace E. Mabie, June 1897.

Interesting Website: http://www.ettc.net/njarts/details.cfm?ID=1193

Howdy

I’ve been thinking about doing a blog for some time; partly to give exposure to a project I’ve been playing with on & off for years: getting together a history of gay Trenton, NJ, but also to have some place to share some of the unusual bits and pieces of our past and present that I’ve come across. I was hoping to salvage some of my fading recollections while at the same time gathering those of others and preserving some of what it was like being gay during the decades when what that meant changed radically.

Looking at the definition of queer in an old dictionary in my office, the variety of meanings fit my intentions for this blog.

Queer \’kwi(e)r\ adj [origin unknown]
1a: differing in some odd way from what is usual or normal
b (1): ECCENTRIC, UNCONVENTIONAL
(2): mildly insane : TOUCHED
c: absorbed or interested to an extreme or unreasonable degree : OBSESSED
d: sexually deviate : HOMOSEXUAL

Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary – 1973

So queer seems like a good title for this blog because it includes not only gay or in this case ‘homosexual’, but also obsessed, eccentric and, my favorite, touched. When looking at much of our history it’s difficult to label images or incidents or people as gay but you may be able to accurately call them queer.