This postcard photograph was not mailed, and no thoughtful soul inscribed either the names of the family members or their location.

A man and a women stand before the porch of a house; the man holds one child  in his arms, one child stands at his side.

Both children seem to be closer to the father, which may be significant or a random accident of posing en plein air.

The photograph seems to have been taken by a hand-held camera, perhaps one of the “new” Brownie cameras that Kodak introduced in 1900.

The father and the child he is holding are slightly out of focus.

It is sometimes difficult to identify the gender of children in vintage photographs – clothing for children was not as gender-identifying as it became in later decades.

The child who is standing wears a loose-fitting blouse with a jaunty bow -and sports ballooning knickers like bloomers.

I cannot decide if this is a boy or a girl.   The child has a cute pair of sandals on her/his feet.

Mother wears a belted dress with a long row of buttons down the side.

Father is wearing a suit and tie.

The sitters, like those in most photographs of the era, wear solemn and serious expressions.

One hopes that the members of the family were happy and prosperous in the 20th century.