In a car in a museum in Chicago

Click here to view it larger.

I’ve mentioned that I have a fondness for pictures of people in fake cars in studio settings, so this one caught my eye. But I actually think this might be a real car. Yesterday’s Main Street was an attraction added to the Griffin Museum of Science & Industry in 1943, designed to provide the experience of a Chicago street in 1910. (Interestingly, that would only be a little more than 30 years prior, as if an exhibit today wanted to capture nostalgia for the early 1990s.) The Arcade Studio was opened as part of the attraction a year or two later, and lasted until a few years ago. Yesterday’s Main Street is still around, still replicating 1910. (See here.) This photo measures 3.25 x 4.75 inches, and is glued to a souvenir cardboard backing measuring 5.5 x 7.25 inches. Handwritten on the back is “8-28-68”, which I assume is the date. So at least for these two kids, 1910 probably feels quite historical.