Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
The message on the back of this postcard was written 105 years ago by a French serviceman during the First World War. The writer was not the man pictured on the front of the postcard. The writer's name is illegible, and I can't quite make out the name of the intended recipient or the town... Continue Reading →
I bought this photograph from a neighbor when she had a yard sale. I asked if she knew anything about it, and she replied that she had bought it many years earlier from another neighbor across the street. That neighbor had had a shop nearby which sold old books and antiques. We both agreed that... Continue Reading →
The group above must have participated in a festival or celebration of some kind. The people in the group are wearing a variety of different outfits. The photo came from an estate in Texas, with no information about where it was taken or when. The back is blank. [Note: this post has been updated with... Continue Reading →
This cabinet card photograph came to me from Herefordshire, England, but could have originated elsewhere. It has nothing written or printed on it. Update (March 21): Readers quickly informed me that the man in the photo was a postman. His hat has the letters GPO on it, for General Post Office. (Thank you to Val,... Continue Reading →
In the first comment under the previous post, Shayne Davidson said the nurses' uniforms reminded her of the BBC series Call the Midwife. Her comment made me look anew at the photo above, which also came from the United Kingdom, and wonder if the young sitter might have been preparing to work as a midwife or... Continue Reading →
At the front of the group of people in this photograph are nine musicians. So it must have been a musical retreat in the woods. But wait, are the men in the second row holding baseball bats? Are the musicians and baseball players camping together? And who plays baseball in the woods, anyway? There's a... Continue Reading →
This carte-de-visite came to me from Massachusetts, but it didn't originate there. The title of the post is taken from a handwritten note on the back. Update: Readers all agree that the location referred to was most likely the village of Leeds in Kent: The British Hop Association has the following information on its website: The... Continue Reading →
This photograph has faded and lost some of its clarity, but it's a photo I'm very glad to have. It was taken on a wintry day in Exeter, New Hampshire, outside a shop owned by my great-great-grandfather, Ivan Tilton Purinton (1843-1904). Signs on the wall say "I. T. Purinton" and "Carriage & Sign Painter." Also... Continue Reading →
This cabinet card came to me from Bath, England, but it has nothing written on it to give us a clue as to its origins. Two women stand protectively behind a third, who is seated in a wheelchair. The three resemble each other so closely that they must be sisters. Posed in a triangle, they... Continue Reading →
This undated postcard was addressed by a man named René to a friend, also named René, who was probably working at the Café Monico in London. The sender is very likely one of the men in the group above. The postcard was printed by the firm of G. W. Gibson in Coldstream, a town in the... Continue Reading →
This photograph came from a dealer in Llangefni, Wales, who didn't know where it had originated. It appears to be a gelatin silver print, mounted on heavy cardboard, and I'd guess it was made around 1900. Although the photo isn't particularly old, the image has a timeless quality. Nothing about it looks modern or industrial.... Continue Reading →
UPDATE: Detail image added below. Galicia was a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire created from land taken from Poland during the First Partition of Poland in 1772. It ceased to exist as an administrative entity after the First World War with the dismantling of Austria-Hungary. Most of the territory was incorporated into the new Republic... Continue Reading →
Tokens of Companionship 
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