Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
"Now I lay me down to sleep" Stereoviews often portrayed scenes of domestic life, with people in costumes and staged settings. Such narrative scenes were generally meant to entertain or amuse. Some, especially the ones with children, were designed to touch a sentimental chord in the viewer. The subject of children saying bedtime prayers was... Continue Reading →
This charming little CDV came from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, but has no information on it to confirm its origin. The girls are elegantly dressed and must have come from relatively well-to-do families. After scanning the photo I noticed that one of the girls is of African or mixed-race heritage. I love the fact that the school's... Continue Reading →
This family is mostly serious but not entirely humorless. There's no Gothic window, but I think Grant Wood might have enjoyed this image nevertheless. Titles were sometimes added permanently to photographs by writing directly on a negative. Because the negative is a reverse of the printed image, the writing had to be done in reverse... Continue Reading →
This German Feldpost (field/military) postcard is dated Aug. 19, 1916. Infantrymen are being entertained by a man in civilian clothes holding a music box with the words "Automate à musique" on the front. Perched calmly on top of the music box is a black and white cat. A second man in civilian clothes stands a... Continue Reading →
Since the U.S. Open tennis championship is ending this weekend, here's a CDV from the relatively early days of the sport. The family isn't identified, but the photo was taken by Samuel Whitbread of Havant, Hampshire.
This postcard came from the estate of Hazel Alberts Peterson (1898-1989). As a girl, Hazel Alberts attended Seattle Seminary, a Free Methodist college preparatory school. College-level classes were introduced in 1910, and in 1915 the school's name was changed to Seattle Pacific College. For more information about Hazel and her family, please see the page... Continue Reading →
According to the Fall 2008 newsletter of the Upper Pemigewasset Historical Society, in 1928 Ed and Florence Clark moved to the town of Lincoln in the White Mountains of New Hampshire to raise sled dogs and demonstrate their abilities for tourists. On April 5, 1932, Florence summited Mt. Washington with a team of dogs, becoming... Continue Reading →
This snapshot is in a small album I bought in Cornish, Maine. The cover of the album has a dedication: "To Dad from Burt and Alice, Christmas 1909." Each page in the album has a photo glued to it and a title written in a neat hand under the photo. This page is titled "Two... Continue Reading →
The back of this postcard has a greeting which begins in German, "In friendly remembrance," and is signed "Magda e Prinz. 25. Januar 1925." Page last updated: May 16, 2019.
This is a snapshot of a family sitting on their early Autocar truck (probably a Type XXI). The truck has a Pennsylvania license plate with the year 1923. Newer Autocar models came with inflatable tires, but this one still has the hard rubber kind. Everyone seems content, though--even the dog.
October 2023: When I shared this postcard portrait on the blog six and a half years ago, I was convinced that the group included Theodore Roosevelt in Rough Riders uniform with his niece, Eleanor, standing next to him. I was never able to identify the other members of the group, despite looking at hundreds of... Continue Reading →
Tokens of Companionship 
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