Portraits from the first 100 years of photography
The day of the party has arrived. She and her friends have been working on their dresses for weeks. "Let's take pictures!" "I don't know, I have a lot of things left to do. Maybe later." "It'll only take a few minutes to set up the camera. We might be too busy later." "You're right. ... Continue Reading →
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was a magnet for immigrants throughout the 19th century. The largest group came from Germany, beginning in the 1840s. The next-largest group came from Poland in the decades after the American Civil War. Other large groups included British, Irish, Scandinavians, Serbians, and Russian Jews. The bride in the portrait above looks Southern or... Continue Reading →
This couple has flair! Her dress is decorated with intricate beadwork, ribbons and flowers. Could it be a wedding dress? What do you think? The cabinet card was made by the studio of William James Wellsted & Son. The back is dark green (blank).
The title of this post is a little presumptuous, but the elegant dress worn by the young woman in this portrait reminds me of snowflakes on a deep winter's night in New England. She's also wearing an engagement ring, but the focus isn't clear enough to see it in detail. Northampton is home to Smith... Continue Reading →
This stereograph (stereoview) was made from real photographs in 1898 by commercial photographer Truman Ward Ingersoll (1862-1922) of St. Paul, Minnesota. Ingersoll produced many images of Ojibwe (Chippewa) people and their ways of life in northern Minnesota. I was unable to find additional information about the couple in this portrait. In the Library of Congress's... Continue Reading →
I was told that the two postcards above and below came from Gratz, Pennsylvania. The little girl above also appears in the large group below (scroll down for close-ups). She's seated next to a woman who looks like her mother. She's smiling in both pictures, and it's nice to imagine that her childhood might have... Continue Reading →
Tokens of Companionship 
Recent Comments