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 →
In 2011 I bought an album of family snapshots from British Columbia. No one in the album is identified by last name, so I haven't been able to identify the family. Some of the photographs were taken during the years 1915-1917, according to handwritten annotations. A girl named Hazel appears in many of them, so... Continue Reading →
This publicity photograph was taken at a summer camp in East Machias, Maine, called Camp Cunningham. The camp was organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to provide military-style training to students after their sophomore year. The decision to organize the camp was made after the United States entered World War I in April... 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 →
This press photograph doesn't have the year printed on it, but the caption on the back contains some clues: National festival of the American colony at Berlin on the 4th of July, the day of the declaration of independence of America. The festival was held in the garden-plot of the "Esplanade-Hotel" at Berlin. Our photo... Continue Reading →
This postcard was sent from Helsinki (Swedish: Helsingfors), the capital of Finland, to the Finnish port town of Hanko (Hangö) on February 16, 1915. At that time Finland was a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire. Because Russia was engaged in the First World War, the card had to be cleared by a wartime government... Continue Reading →
On November 11, 1918, an armistice came into effect which ended the fighting on the Western Front in the First World War. In connection with that event, many countries observe a public holiday or official day of remembrance on November 11 each year. In the United States, Veterans Day honors all veterans of the armed... Continue Reading →
I bought this photograph from a dealer in Finland, who told me it had come from the estate of a Jewish family. Finland was part of the Russian Empire from 1809 until December 6, 1917, when it declared independence from the new Soviet government in Petrograd (Saint Petersburg). A note about dates: the Julian calendar... 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 →
These postcards were acquired by a British or American sailor during the First World War. They were probably made available to the men as keepsakes of their service. In the image above, a line of sailors is visible in the distance, probably on a brief leave to sightsee. The snowy hills on the island below... Continue Reading →
On December 15, 1917, an armistice was signed between the Central Powers and the new revolutionary communist government of Soviet Russia. It went into effect two days later, on December 17. The Soviets wouldn't officially leave the war until the following March, after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, but the December armistice clearly felt like the... Continue Reading →
This impromptu group portrait was likely taken at a medical facility not far from the front lines during the First World War. The man seated next to the colonel is wearing a tailored suit with a Red Cross pin on the lapel, suggesting he may be a visitor rather than a patient.
Tokens of Companionship 
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