bighat

Mrs. Steven Beckwith Ayres (that spelling), wife of a congressman from the Bronx; in 1912 Mrs. Ayres was a leader of women supporters of the Democratic Party in New York City: uic.edu/orgs/cwluherstory/jofreeman/polhistory/1912.htm

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This is likely to be Professional balloon & airship pilot/stunt man Albert Leo "Prince Leo" Stevens. Look for his full list of accomplishments at www.ballooninghistory.com/whoswho/who'swho-s2.html

Given the date, this is perhaps taken on the roof of Wanamaker's - we see images elsewhere in the set. One wonders what the goal of that day's flight was.

I started an entry in Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Leo_Stevens This is at Broadway and Tenth Street in Manhattan at Wanamaker's BALLOON SETS SAIL FOR PHILADELPHIA; Passes Above Times Square, Gets Lost in a Jersey Fog Bank, and Lands at West Nyack. July 9, 1911, Sunday A large balloon with two men in the basket arose from the roof of the Wanamaker store at Broadway and Tenth Street at 6 o'clock last night, sailed leisurely across the city, up Seventh Avenue to Times Square, and then floated off across the Hudson and was lost in the haze that hung over Weehawken.

Another Bain/LOC photo of Stevens in the basket of the Wanamaker balloon:

Filling the balloon, on the roof of the New York City Wanamaker department store:

Daughter of financier Jay Gould: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Miller_Gould

Since it is captioned with her maiden name, it was presumably taken before she was married in January 1913 (see query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D01EFD6123BE633A... ) to Finley Johnson Shepard. The article indicates that they were both 44.