Interesting old photo

I work in a library, and we frequently get donations of books.  In one box a few years ago, I found an interesting old photo.  There is, unfortunately, no identifiable information on the photo.  I'd love to know about the people in the photo -- who they are, what year the photo was taken, what happened to them, how they are connected, etc.  So many questions!  Since the box of books the photo was in came from Lexington, Kentucky, it's possible the people in the photo are from that area. 

The photo is mounted on an old, brittle piece of cardboard-ish backing.  The backing has seen better days, but the photo itself is undamaged:

There is some writing in pencil on the back, but it's hard to decipher:

 

I'd love to be able to figure out where this came from!  Any detectives with any ideas??