amerika

"The Amerika, the largest ship in the world, is 687 feet long, 74 feet 6 inches wide, and 53 feet deep. She can carry about 4,000 passengers and crew." (Hamburg-American Steamship Line) – NY Times reporting on maiden voyage, October 11, 1905. "USS America (ID # 3006), 1917-1919. Originally the German passenger liner Amerika (1905-1917). Later the U.S. Army Transport America (1919-1920), the U.S.passenger liner America (1921-1940) and the U.S. Army Transport Edmund B. Alexander (1940-1957)" – Dept of the Navy

I concur - according to references by Arnold Kludas, she was originally the German Amerika, and after being seized by the US upon declaration of war with Germany, was renamed the America.

Is there some irony there?

She also was, in 1913, no longer the largest ship in the world -- the Imperator was, which probably explains all the pictures of its maiden voyage to NYC and the juxtaposition of this picture with it.

Yes, they are polo players.

what else could they be? The question is, where is this? The presence of the portable flag leads me to suspect they could be on an army base during WWI: "....Joining the USPA in 1902, the Army encouraged their cavalry units to participate in polo to improve their riding ability. From then until World War II, the U.S. Military would play a significant role in the sport of polo." this quote is from www.sportpolo.com/History/default.htm

Checking Newell Bent's American Polo (published by Macmillan in 1929) reveals that there was a series of international matches between American and British teams around this time. There was no such match in 1910, but there were matches in 1909 and 1911 (among other years). Comparing this photo to photos in the book shows similar uniforms (dark shirt, pith-type helmet with dark band around it) for the British teams; for example there's a photo of the 1914 British team on page 189. So I tentatively suggest that this might be a photo of one of the British international polo teams of that era.

BTW, when they say this is 1910s, it means it could be anytime within the decade of 1910-1919, Ammo. I should have known the guy on the left was a Brit officer. He has a mustache.

Thanks, budderflyman. I based 1910 on the date given in the stats under the copyright notice. It turns out that there was international polo played in 1910 after all; there are lots of articles in the New York Times covering it. Matches (though not a match for the championship; that match was scheduled but then cancelled due to injury to one of the British riders) were played at Georgian Court in Lakewood, NJ, and at the Meadow Brook Hunt Club on Long Island, NY. Meadow Brook was also a venue for matches later on in the decade.

– From Wikipedia: "The first European settlement in what is now Harlem was by Hendrick de Forest and Dutch settlers in 1637. The settlement was formalized in 1658 as Nieuw Haarlem (New Haarlem), after the Dutch city of Haarlem, under leadership of Peter Stuyvesant. The Indian trail to Harlem's lush bottomland meadows was rebuilt by eleven black laborers on behalf of the Dutch West India Company, and eventually developed into the Boston Post Road. "After the English capture of New Netherland in 1664, the new English colonial administration renamed both the colony and its principal city "New York," but left the name of Haarlem more or less unchanged. The spelling changed to Harlem in keeping with contemporary English usage, and the district grew (as part of the borough of Manhattan) into the vibrant center of African American culture in New York City and the United States generally by the 20th century."  

Anyone know if that is St. Martin's Episcopal Church (Harlem), in the background? Church is at 230 Lenox Ave. (Malcolm X Boulevard), NYC. This photo was taken in 1933. The church burned (to the shell) in 1939, and was rebuilt. <-- It looks similar ... but not sure.  

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