Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
These college-age women have a determined air about them, as if they're on a mission. They've arranged themselves around a pedestal with a Union Jack flag draped over it, adding a patriotic aspect to the portrait and perhaps suggesting political activism. Were they participants in the women's suffrage movement? What does the ribbon on the... Continue Reading →
The image above is the right half of a stereograph (stereoview) published by Benjamin West Kilburn and James M. Davis in 1898. The Klondike Gold Rush began in 1896 and lasted until 1899, with many fortune hunters arriving in the summer of 1898. Canadian authorities required all prospectors to bring a year's supply of food, weighing... 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: In the decades after the Civil War, it was common for wealthy and... Continue Reading →
March is Women's History Month in the United States, and I've been thinking about which photographs might best fit the theme. Any consideration of Women's History has to encompass a wide variety of fields, including domestic and family life, education, work outside the home, intellectual and creative achievement, and the social reform movements. All of... Continue Reading →
If you've been following this blog for a while, you may remember a post from last October titled School dog and her charges (UK). I had bought that CDV because the group portrait included a dog posing charmingly with students. Then, after scanning it, I had noticed that one of the girls was of mixed-race... Continue Reading →
This enigmatic portrait was made by career photographer Stephen H. Waite (1836-1906). My eyes were first drawn to the large brush in the woman's hand, then quickly moved to the striking brooch which may have served to clasp her beautiful coat. Another fine garment is draped over the chair, possibly a cloak. Was she an... Continue Reading →
This is the first tintype I've put on the blog. Though darker than photos printed on paper, tintypes were inexpensive to produce and more durable than paper, which made them quite popular in the 1860s and 1870s. Soldiers carried them during the American Civil War. They could be produced easily in a mobile studio, so... Continue Reading →
I had never heard of Jean Ingelow before I saw this carte-de-visite, but her pose and expression charmed me. It was made by the studio of Elliott & Fry in London, where she lived. The daughter of an English banker father and a Scottish mother, she was the oldest of ten children. Jean Ingelow (1820-1897)... Continue Reading →
This postcard came from the estate of Hazel Alberts Peterson (1898-1989). The photo was taken in front of the Young Ladies' Hall at Seattle Seminary, a Free Methodist secondary school that was expanding at this time along with the booming new city nearby. Hazel Alberts is the girl in white who is seated on the... Continue Reading →
An inscription in pencil on the back of this carte-de-visite says simply: "Dr. Sanford 1883." She was easy to identify, and her individual story is fascinating and inspiring. I also learned that Dr. Sanford's life and career were closely connected to those of other pioneering women in medicine and in other fields who supported and... 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 came with no information, but the sheet music on the left side of the piano is "The Kansas Spirit" by George L. Wright. Behind the title on the cover are the letters KU, for the University of Kansas.
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