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Looking at this extensive gallery of ’60s stripper photos collected by the excellent vintage photo blog These Americans gets us thinking. Perhaps these aren’t as culturally evocative as the mostly clothed, mod, stripper audition Polaroids that surfaced earlier this year. Perchance there’s something a bit habitual in the poses of these ladies, poses that we see performed today in obligatorily salacious advertising and within the modern modeling norm. Yet, there’s still something intriguing in these minimalist studio shots. One gal appears to be in the enthusiastic throes of imitating Raquel Welch. More than a few echo the old Hollywood glamor of Jean Harlow and Rita Hayworth. There are, of course, the boas, the sparkly pasties, the slip-on heels, and other classic decorations. Risqué or not, there’s something surreal in sifting through these shots of women with stories long lost to time but whose almost cinematic photographs live forever in the archives of the Internet. See a sampling of our favorite images from the collection after the jump, then visit These Americans to check out the entire set.

Photo credit: These Americans