Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
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 family is mostly serious but not entirely humorless. There's no Gothic window, but I think Grant Wood might have enjoyed this image nevertheless. Titles were sometimes added permanently to photographs by writing directly on a negative. Because the negative is a reverse of the printed image, the writing had to be done in reverse... Continue Reading →
The photograph above came from Latvia, which was part of the Russian Empire until November 1918. The photo was probably taken in the early 1900s. The men are most likely Latvian, but it's hard to say for sure. If only we could hear them play....The following postcard also came from Riga, the capital. Latvia was... Continue Reading →
I joked in an earlier post about sibling portraits being amusing, but a more appropriate adjective for this studio portrait might be "intense." Looking at the back, the postcard was likely printed in the United States. A note is written in a young hand in Russian: "To dear Grandma and Grandpa from Tamara."
My guess would be that the photo on this postcard was taken in Eastern Europe, possibly in the Carpathian mountains. The Carpathians stretch from Czechia down through parts of Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Ukraine and Romania, with Romania containing just over half the range (51%). At first glance the buildings seem to be in some disrepair,... Continue Reading →
This class photo was taken in 1863 or 1864 at the Lutherville Female Seminary in Lutherville, Maryland. The town was founded in 1852 by two Lutheran ministers, John Kurtz and John Morris, and the school was chartered a year later, in 1853. It operated as the Maryland College for Women from 1895 until 1952, when... 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 →
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 ethereal CDV portrait was made by A. Brossut of Digoin, Bourgogne (Burgundy). The young woman isn't identified. I found a few references online to "A. Brossut, éditeur," but no other information about the photographer.
Since the U.S. Open tennis championship is ending this weekend, here's a CDV from the relatively early days of the sport. The family isn't identified, but the photo was taken by Samuel Whitbread of Havant, Hampshire.
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 city nearby. Hazel Alberts is the girl in white who is seated on the railing of... Continue Reading →
Tokens of Companionship 
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