mediumaevum:

Autochrome portrait of Percy MacKaye as Alwyn. Photo by Arnold Genthe, 1913.

American playwright Percy MacKaye (1875-1956) appears here as the poet Alwyn, “friend of all,” in Sanctuary: A Bird Masque. MacKaye was a proponent of communal civic theater and a nature lover.

He wrote this masque as a public pageant for the dedication of the Bird Club sanctuary in Meriden, New Hampshire. The play, written in verse, told of a hunter’s redemption by his prey, the Bird Spirit. At a time whendemand for feathers in hats and other products was harming entire species, the play helped promote the wild bird conservation movement.

more about the portrait and the technique

read the play (with more color and monotone photographs)

This is amazing. Without the information about the photograph, I never would have guessed it was from 1913; I figured it was from the 1970s until I got to the caption.