Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
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 →
This photograph was in a collection of materials dating to the years just before, during and after the First World War. Printed on plain paper larger than a postcard, my guess would be that it was taken after the war. On the back is a brief inscription in German: "Rumän. Bäuerinnen i. Sonntagsgewand" (Romanian countrywomen... Continue Reading →
This portrait is the first one on the blog from New Zealand. (There isn't one yet from Australia.) The three chaps aren't identified, unfortunately. The cabinet card was made at the studio of Wrigglesworth & Binns in Wellington. James Dacie Wrigglesworth (1836-1906) and Frederick Charles Binns (1844-1915) also maintained studios in Christchurch and Dunedin. ... Continue Reading →
When I saw this cabinet card for sale recently, the men in the photo were unidentified, but two elements immediately appealed to me: the wintry studio scene and the older man's kindly smile. (I thought the man on the right might be his son, but that turned out not to be the case.) After receiving... Continue Reading →
This portrait of two friends was probably made in late imperial Russia (1910-1917). The only thing written on the back is a pair of names, which look to me like Tyosha and Marusya (Tеща и Маруся). I'm not sure about the name Tyosha, as I haven't encountered it before: The girls are both dressed... Continue Reading →
This postcard has a message on the back in Norwegian. At the top of the message is the name of a town, "Thief River Falls Minn," followed by numbers which may be "17/12." They could mean 17 December or December 1917. This type of photo paper was manufactured between 1904 and 1918. A very kind... Continue Reading →
I completely made up the title of this post, so it probably isn't true at all, but it sounds like something you'd hear in an Irish ballad. This cabinet card portrait was made at the Lafayette studio in Dublin, founded by James Lafayette and his three brothers in 1880. Advertising on the back lists medals... Continue Reading →
One hundred and fifty-four years ago this week, seven friends sat for a portrait at Nathaniel L. Merrill's Photographic Gallery in Springfield, Vermont. They look young enough to be in high school, or perhaps recent graduates. The carte-de-visite photo has a revenue stamp on the back, affixed and cancelled by the photographer on December 22,... Continue Reading →
This portrait was probably taken in the 1920s (see comment by my dream walden below). The sitters aren't identified. They're dressed identically, but I don't know if their clothing can tell us anything about them. A stamp on the mat below the photo tells us the studio belonged to a photographer named Hanson: The mat... Continue Reading →
This small snapshot came from England, but with no information about who's in it or where it was taken. Notice the can of Shell gas on the running board below. These gals were prepared. The camper (called a caravan in the UK) is a Car Cruiser model from the 1920s. You can see a... Continue Reading →
These ladies look like they had fun together. They have a cute car, too. The snapshot was for sale in Pennsylvania, but could have been taken anywhere.
These two young men may have been students at a military academy or members of a cadet corps, which was another type of officer-training program. They're both wearing a military-style tunic with no insignia. It's also possible the tunic was part of a uniform at an educational institution not connected to the military. I'll update... Continue Reading →
Tokens of Companionship 
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