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 →
The women in this photograph are unidentified. Fortunately, the mount is stamped Clifton & Co., Bombay, indicating that the photo was taken at the studio founded in that city (Mumbai) by Harry Clifton Soundy (1863-1922). At first I assumed the woman sitting at left was wearing a County or Branch badge of the British Red... Continue Reading →
The back of this photograph is signed in ink. Part of the name looks like Arivash, but I can't read the rest. There's also an inscription in pencil which is legible. The inscription: Москва 1925 год. Горькое время студенческое в материальном отношении и счастливое в моральном положении. Это не для всех, а только для... Continue Reading →
This boudoir card photograph came to me from Maine. The boudoir card format appeared in the mid-1880s as a slightly larger and more expensive alternative to cabinet cards. The larger size was particularly suitable for group portraits.* This one was taken in the town of Pirmasens, Germany, near the border with France. The studio belonged... Continue Reading →
This postcard came to me from a dealer in Pennsylvania who specializes in photographs from Russia and Eastern Europe. He said the photo was Russian, which made sense. The only woman in the photo is wearing what appears to be a Russian nurse's outfit from the First World War. But who were the men, and... 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 →
I don't know what the proper administrative term would be for this group, but they must have worked together as a team. Someone wrote Devonshire Hospital on the back of the postcard, but nothing else. If anyone sees any clues about when the photo might have been taken, please leave a comment. Devonshire Hospital closed... Continue Reading →
March is Women’s History Month in the United States, and few professions have historically been as closely associated with women as nursing. Update, April 11, 2019: I made a significant error in the initial version of this post. When I first searched online for information related to the Montefiore Hospital School of Nursing, the only... Continue Reading →
Update, November 8, 2018: Thanks to the research efforts of my brilliant readers, I'm able to update this post with information about the group above. The following quotes in italics are from a web page, Friends War Victims Relief Committee in the Franco-Prussian War, on the site quakersintheworld.org: The first official Friends War Victims Relief... Continue Reading →
This studio portrait is a mystery to me. Like the wedding portrait in the previous post, it came from Texas with no information. The words DEMACHI. SAITO. SEI. are printed below the photograph on the cardboard mount. If anyone knows what they mean, please comment below! Two of the men are wearing hats with red... Continue Reading →
I'm guessing about the relationships between the sitters in the previous post and this one. Do you think the baby in the portrait above looks like the one below? I think this may be the same child, a little older: *** *** A year ago today, I published my first blog post. To everyone who... Continue Reading →
A note on the back of this studio portrait says either "Harold Winnie" or "Harold & Winnie." While Winnie could be a last name, it's more likely the first name of the girl on the left, who must be Harold's sister. The studio is identified on the mat just below the image: Gordon & Blees. ... Continue Reading →
Tokens of Companionship 
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