Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
If only we could see the colors of her dress! She must have made it to attract attention to her cause. Her hat has words sewn on it -- I can read LITTLE and HELPS -- so it may read EVEN A LITTLE HELPS. She's holding a donation box with words printed above a cross... Continue Reading →
At the front of the group of people in this photograph are nine musicians. So it must have been a musical retreat in the woods. But wait, are the men in the second row holding baseball bats? Are the musicians and baseball players camping together? And who plays baseball in the woods, anyway? There's a... Continue Reading →
This early carte-de-visite from India doesn't have the young woman's name on it, but it was listed for sale on eBay along with a few other photos from the same family, one of which had "Miss Collins" written on the back. The same young woman is in that photo, along with several young adults who... Continue Reading →
This carte-de-visite came to me from Massachusetts, but it didn't originate there. The title of the post is taken from a handwritten note on the back. Update: Readers all agree that the location referred to was most likely the village of Leeds in Kent: The British Hop Association has the following information on its website: The... Continue Reading →
This carte-de-visite came to me from England (Northamptonshire), but it has nothing written on it to identify the sitter or photographer. The photo (print) was cut into an oval shape and glued onto a paper mount with an oval frame design already printed on it. Such cartes were generally made after someone had died, as... Continue Reading →
I wish I knew how this cabinet card came to Vermont. I bought it from a local antiques dealer, who couldn't tell me anything about it. When I looked at the writing on the back, my first thought was that it might be Armenian, but I wasn't sure. (For a large scan of the back,... Continue Reading →
I found this carte-de-visite for sale in Massachusetts, which is the state with the second-highest number of Portuguese Americans (after California). Who was this elegant young woman, posing confidently at an instrument a century and a half ago? And what kind of instrument was it, exactly? It looks too narrow to be a piano, yet... Continue Reading →
This photo came from a collector of banjos and musical ephemera in Boston, Massachusetts. The names of the men in the photo are written on the back, along with the following inscription: Andenken an den Touristenverein Waldfreunde (Feuerbach) im Jahr 1922 This translates roughly to "Souvenir of the Waldfreunde touring group in the year 1922." ... Continue Reading →
When I saw this carte-de-visite for sale on eBay in England, I assumed the sitter must have been a member of the Salvation Army (Leger des Heils in Dutch). The shape of her brooch resembles some of the shield pins worn by members of that organization, but the lettering doesn't look like anything I've seen... Continue Reading →
Within the image area of this postcard, the photographer inscribed the negative: "S.S. Corwin in the Ice June -08-". He also signed it in the lower right corner: "By J.C. Wats". Was his name Watson? Underneath the image, the sender wrote: "June 23/08 Well but Busy C.H." There's a lot of information online about... Continue Reading →
This photo has three words penciled on the back: Near Peggy's Cove. The fishing village of Peggy’s Cove, and nearby Peggy's Point Lighthouse, are about an hour from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I've never been to the province of Nova Scotia, but my mother has a connection to it--of sorts. Her mother was adopted, as a... Continue Reading →
This cabinet card came to me from Spokane, Washington, but it has nothing written or printed on it to indicate its origin. The costumes might be Norwegian (or Norwegian-American). The faded sepia print doesn't do them justice, but it's all that remains of their beauty and artistry.
Tokens of Companionship 
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