Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
This photograph was in a collection of materials dating to the years just before, during and after the First World War. Printed on plain paper larger than a postcard, my guess would be that it was taken after the war. On the back is a brief inscription in German: "Rumän. Bäuerinnen i. Sonntagsgewand" (Romanian countrywomen... Continue Reading →
The group above must have participated in a festival or celebration of some kind. The people in the group are wearing a variety of different outfits. The photo came from an estate in Texas, with no information about where it was taken or when. The back is blank. [Note: this post has been updated with... Continue Reading →
This photograph came to me a few years ago from Scotland (Clydebank, near Glasgow). The print is mounted on stiff paper, which has nothing written or stamped on it to identify the group, the location or the photographer. Since all the members of the group are adults, I don't think this is an extended... Continue Reading →
The young man in this carte-de-visite portrait is wearing a military-style tunic with an "F" on the collar. The photograph was taken at the studio of Fredrique Holmstedt in Vadstena, Sweden. I had difficulty finding information online about Fredrique. Unable to read the handwritten dedication in Swedish in the upper left corner, I turned to... Continue Reading →
I had hoped to identify the dignified woman who sat for this portrait at the Bombay Photographic Company in the late 1880s or 1890s, but so far I haven't had any luck. The photographer, S. Hormusji, is also a bit of a mystery, at least as far as online sources go. Some examples of his... 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 carte-de-visite has me stumped. I assumed the girl in the image would be easy to identify, but so far that hasn't been the case. At first I thought she was holding an oar, but a rower I contacted told me it was a paddle. Well, that's a start! Actually, I think the most interesting... Continue Reading →
This post features seven photographs. The first five were taken on August 1, 1891, in a small area of Cheshire, England, called Middlewood. Just southeast of Middlewood is Lyme Park, which is now part of the Peak District National Park (created in 1951). Less than ten miles west of Middlewood is Manchester Airport. In these... Continue Reading →
This late cabinet card (1900-1915) came to me from Finland. The only information on it is a stamp on the front with the name Ellen Björklund: I haven't found any information about Ellen Björklund online, or even another photo by her, which is surprising. I wondered if her studio might have been in Sweden,... Continue Reading →
The young man in this small snapshot is wearing a military tunic with no insignia. He may have been serving as a musician in the Imperial Japanese Army. The photo is blank on the back, so it's hard to say when it was taken, but I'd guess it was printed in the 1930s. At the... 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 →
I found this cabinet card portrait for sale on eBay in England (Northamptonshire) in January of this year. Books are common props in 19th-century studio portraits, but titles are usually too blurry to read, even after scanning them at high resolution. In this case, the book is large enough that the title is easily readable... Continue Reading →
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