Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
In 2011 I bought an album of family snapshots from British Columbia. No one in the album is identified by last name, so I haven't been able to identify the family. Some of the photographs were taken during the years 1915-1917, according to handwritten annotations. A girl named Hazel appears in many of them, so... Continue Reading →
The portrait above is an ambrotype, or photograph on glass, by an unknown photographer. Ambrotypes were introduced in the United States in the early 1850s and remained popular for about a decade. They were simpler and less costly to produce than daguerreotypes. Eventually they were replaced by tintypes and albumen paper prints (such as the... Continue Reading →
Along the bottom of this carte-de-visite is a handwritten inscription: Oh! A very shy young Quakeress am I And they call me Pretty little Ruth When I first published this post, I speculated that these lines might have come from a play, and that the young woman in the photograph might have been wearing a... Continue Reading →
The man in this carte-de-visite portrait isn't identified. Why does he have a blanket wrapped around him? He seems to be pointing at it: The photographer, Thomas T. Sweeny (1831-1891), worked in Cleveland, Ohio, throughout his life. Although he was active for about three decades, information about him is scarce online. Census records indicate... Continue Reading →
Apple season is in full swing in New England. It will continue until early November, which is probably the time of year when the photo above was taken, considering how few leaves are visible on the trees. The photo is the right half of a stereoview by Edward L. Allen (1830-1914). Edward Allen seems... Continue Reading →
The school year started this week in Vermont. When I saw a yellow school bus on the road for the first time in months, it occurred to me that I haven't posted a school photo on the blog in a while. Class photos can be rather somber, but most of the kids in the photo... Continue Reading →
The young woman above is wearing a skirt that matches the flag behind her. She's also wearing ribbons on her shoulders, bodice and waist. But which flag is it? From 1807 until 1953, the flag of Wales was white with a red dragon at the center. The cabinet card was made by Alfred Betts (1829-1890)... Continue Reading →
I had hoped to share a sporting image here on the blog while the Summer Olympics were going on in Tokyo, but the two weeks went by so fast that I didn't manage it. Since today is the day after the Olympics, it seems appropriate to share a stereoview titled After the Regatta. Published by... Continue Reading →
This cabinet card photograph is the first image I've shared from Australia. It was printed at the Anson Brothers studio in Hobart, Tasmania, which was in operation from 1878 to 1891. Founded by brothers Joshua, Henry Joseph and Richard Edwin Anson, the studio became known for views of Tasmanian scenery, which received medals at the... Continue Reading →
No bicycles appear in this photograph, but the sign at upper right tells us that the occasion for this gathering was a cycling club rally of some kind. Unfortunately, no one in the group is identified, and some of the names of the clubs are cut off at the edge of the photo. The... Continue Reading →
This photograph has an inscription on the back which is written mostly in Finnish: I was able to read enough of the Finnish words to guess that the men were cutting wood to heat a sauna. After I published this post, readers in Finland confirmed that guess. Luisella from Tra Italia e Finlandia helpfully typed... Continue Reading →
When I started this blog four years ago, I decided to post only photos taken before 1940. It was an arbitrary line to draw, but I wanted to draw one somewhere, and a century seemed like a good place to do it (1839-1939). For one thing, sitters in photos taken after 1940 are more likely... Continue Reading →
Tokens of Companionship 
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