Caption This

A fascinating collection of photographs from the past century that have surprising, funny, and poignant captions.

Whether it's scripted words in pencil scrawled below an old Polaroid or a pithy caption on a social media photo today, we've all felt a pull to describe in words and sentences the pictures and moments of our lives. This celebration of a century of personal photo captions, in all their forms, themes, and voices, explores the captivating (and often contradictory) relationship between what we see in photos and what we say about them.

Through 150 color and black-and-white vintage photographs of everyday people dating back to the early twentieth century, arranged in nine thematic chapters (This is me grooving, This is my snarky side, This is me in love, etc.), Caption This reveals the funny and surprising history of the captions emblazoned beneath, lurking behind, or even scrawled across the images.

Caption This is a unique delight for photography and pop culture enthusiasts that combines the candidness of Awkward Family Photos with the confessional intimacy of PostSecret.

Barbara Levine and Paige Ramey are collectors, artists, and curators specializing in vernacular photography. Their photography collection, known as PhotoMania, was recently acquired by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and their collection of vintage photograph albums was acquired by the International Center of Photography in New York. They run Project B, an archive and collaborative curatorial venture, and divide their time between Houston, Texas, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.