Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
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.
This carte-de-visite was made by Jacob Lundbergh (1828-1904) in Stockholm. According to his Swedish Wikipedia page, he worked as a professional photographer for eleven years (1861-1872), becoming famous for his portraits of actors, singers and other cultural figures. His brother, Bernhard Lundbergh, was an opera singer with the Royal Theater.
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 →
Here's another fun cabinet card from the UK. The words "Photo Co-op" are printed below the photo in the lower left corner. I didn't find any reference online to a studio by that name, and the card has no other information on it. The photographer added tiny spots of ink to the eyes of the... Continue Reading →
The back of this postcard has a note: "Connie Richards, friend of Aurore (Chaillé) Marotte." Aurore is easy to find in Census records, but Connie eluded me. In 1920 Aurore B. Marotte (age 25) was living with her husband, Adelard, and her siblings in the home of her father, Azaire Chaillé, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. ... Continue Reading →
UPDATE: Albin Lindall is most likely the man standing at right. I found a passport photo of him on Ancestry.com that was taken some years later, when he was 29. Albin Lothard Lindall was born in Parkers Prairie in 1890, and the passport was issued in 1919, when he was a doctor and a lieutenant... Continue Reading →
This small cabinet card came from Arkansas but has no information on it. The three women on the left might be sisters. These ladies look like they should be singing on a stage!
In this photo the coworkers from the previous post have been joined by four more men. The man at far right may be an owner or manager. The four women who stood arm-in-arm in the previous photo are now seated together in front. Here you can see the photo in high resolution:
This photograph shows a group of coworkers at an unidentified location. A man at lower right is conspicuously holding what appears to be a screwdriver. The man at far left is wearing an apron with something dark on it, perhaps oil or ink. The man next to him is holding a pencil. Between them a... Continue Reading →
This cabinet card was made by Benjamin F. Popkins (1822-1905), the first photographer to set up a professional studio in Greenfield. The sitters aren't identified. The photo was accompanied by two additional cabinet cards by Popkins, showing one of the women from different angles. All three portraits may have belonged to her, or the three... Continue Reading →
This postcard shows a group of Seattle Pacific College students on a hiking trip in the temperate rainforest near Seattle. The photo may not have been taken during the same trip as the photos in the two previous posts, but was likely taken within a year or two. The postcard came from the estate of... Continue Reading →
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