Oval Portrait

Well, someone took a razor blade to the card on which this photo was mounted. Too bad, the whole card might have had some info on it. Maybe a photographer's mark, studio logo, or subject's name. Nineteenth century, perhaps very early twentieth.

Foltz & Fowler Cabinet Card

Go back through the collection and there will be a lot of photographs that have a brown tone to them. Most are brown because the printer did not give the print an archival wash. Fix, or hypo, is the chemical used to harden the print emulsion. If the printer doesn't wash the print long enough, the hypo that remains behind leaches out of the print and turns a yellowish brown. An albumen print, a nineteenth century medium that used egg whites as a solution, mixed with the light sensitive salts and applied to the paper that was then used for printing had a natural rich brown tone. Sepia tone.

Tintype Dated (Sort of)

Unless you're an expert on nineteenth century clothing, dating a tintype is almost impossible. In this case though, we have a hint. Placed in a decorative paper frame, the photographer used a scrap of newspaper as backing. While there is no dateline, the bit of article refers to Maryland Governor Bowie. In nineteenth century Maryland there was only one Governor Bowie, Oden Bowie who served from 1869 to 1872. A sangerfest is a German song festival.

Big Sister, Little Brother

Printed on postcard stock, a studio portrait of two children, most likely brother and sister. The fur collar, hat and muff point to a certain amount of prosperity. Nothing written on the back of the card. No location, but with the winter clothes, it must be from a cold climate.

A Framed Tintype

This one is a fairly large tintype made even bigger by the decorative paper frame. "No 337" written on the back.

Another Formal Portrait

A studio portrait most likely from the twenties.

McKeesport, Pa - Egyptian Cabinet Card

The cabinet card, like the smaller carte de visite was an attempt to make a standard sized, universal format that could be given and collected in albums and frames. This rather stern looking lady, trussed up in her corset was made far more interesting by the Egyptian themed card. It's hard to read, but "Mrs. Mary and Bowers Grandma, Grandma Bowers" is written on the back. And yes, it does read "and" rather than the far more likely Ann.

Tintype Children (and Parents)

Another companion post to my recent tintype obsession. There was a strange custom in the mid to late nineteenth century for young boys to be raised, almost exclusively by their mothers, like little girls, for the first few years of their lives, (See my post of 10-5-09, A Little Boy In Curls) and I think that the Asian looking child in the dress may be a boy. At least the haircut gives that impression. The second tintype though is all little girl. And the third, once that little boy got beyond a certain age, the feminine clothes and curled hair went, and the boy became his father's son.

Tintype Men

A companion piece to my last post, "Tintype Women." The professional tintypist couldn't go down to the local camera store and buy materials. He had to buy sheet iron, either lacquer or paint the metal, make his photographic emulsions from basic chemicals, and often make his own camera. Because every photographer didn't have the same level of technical skill, tintypes often have ridges where the emulsion was unevenly applied. Variation in chemical mixing meant that some tintypes were more sensitive to light than others allowing for shorter exposures. Tintypes, like many other early photographic process were a one off. Without a separate negative, it was impossible to go into the lab and make additional prints. Some photographers built cameras with multiple lenses so that they could make multiple exposures at once. Note that the second image in the group is a copy made from another tintype. It's impossible to tell, but that may be a thumb holding the original when the exposure was made. Since tintypes are flopped, a tintype copy of another tintype would be right reading. The heavily damaged image not only shows a great deal of corrosion of the metal base and missing emulsion, but a loss of the underlying black coating that makes the tintype negative appear positive. As usual, click on tintype in the labels section for more info on the history of tintypes.

Tintype Women

I've written about the history and process of the tintype in previous posts and recommend that anyone wishing to know more, click on tintype in the labels section. I will repeat that tintype was a popular, though incorrect name. Tintypes are actually made of sheet iron. Note the rust on the one image. Tintypes are actually a negative made on either a black painted, or black lacquered piece of iron, which makes them appear as a positive. An inexpensive process, they became one of the earliest forms of photography for the masses. These are all from the nineteenth century.

CDV, Ella Hill

No photographer's studio mark on the back of this nineteenth century carte de visite, just the name "Ella Hill" written in pencil. To see other CDV's and read a brief overview of the history of the carte de visite, click on CDV or carte de visite in the labels section.

Green Bay Business College- Mr. Kenneth Bierke

From the "MODERN ART STUDIO, LUXEMBURG, WIS." A portrait of Mr. Kenneth Bierke of the Green Bay Business College. The last image from the collection. Click on Green Bay in the labels section to bring up the other 11 posts.

Was She a (Second Tier) Movie Star?

This small (2.5x4) photo was taken by a professional photographer or an advanced amateur with a home studio. Or...This woman looks very familiar. I went to the IMDB website and looked up pictures of a number of the second tier movie stars from the forties and fifties and didn't find a match. This could be a photo distributed by one of the fan clubs run by the movie studios to publicize the career of their contract players.

Another CDV From C. C. Shadle

Most of the carte de visites I own were purchased when I first started collecting photographs and most are from my home state of Pennsylvania. C.C. Shadle was born in 1817 and learned photography at the age of 45, around 1862. After working as an engineer for three years, he opened a photography studio in Apollo, Pennsylvania, (My home town.) around about 1865, the year that the Civil War ended. He then set up a studio in Tarentum, PA, and then moved to Kittanning, (The town where I was born.) in 1869. For more detailed information on the life of C. C. Shadle go to www.freepages.geneology.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~treasures/pa/.../ccshadle.pdf Written on the back, "Nancy's Grand Pa." Stamped on the back, "C. C. SHADLE, Photographer, TARENTUM, Penna."

A Portrait By George H. Van Norman

Every time I find a commercial photograph with a photographers mark, I always run an web search and I almost never get a hit. Well, this one is an exception. George H. Van Norman was a prominent local Massachusetts photographer active from 1884 to 1890 in Waltham, Mass. and then he relocated to Springfield and was active there from 1890 to 1901. I've also found reference to him in a book titled, "Photo Miniature vol. 6" published in 1905, and have found a cabinet card of a woman wearing a dress decorated with photographs, a head piece made from a studio view camera with the curtain framing her face, holding an advertising banner for the Van Norman studios that's part of the permanent collection of The Portland (Oregon) Museum of Art. This wonderful portrait is mounted on a card, embossed "GEO. H. VAN NORMAN SPRINGFIELD MASS." so we can date this image from somewhere between 1890 and 1901.

19th Century Portrait of a Man

A nineteenth century portrait of an upper class man mounted on a card embossed, "THE WATERTOWN STUDIO 7 MAIN ST." Watertown is in Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston, near Cambridge, the home of Harvard College.

Janice Boyer

Another portrait from the twenties era, this one labeled "Janice Boyer Age about 25." It's cut out from a much larger photograph, which could indicate anything from a broken marriage and the elimination of the discarded spouse to the need to fit a frame.

Tintype With Mustache

I've put up a number of tintypes, and would suggest clicking on tintype in the labels section to pull up information on the history of the medium. This 19th century dandy has a great mustache, hair cut, cravat and bowler hat, and because he's so stylish, he gets a separate post.

A Beautiful Portrait From the Twenties

One of the most beautiful portraits I've ever run across. Signed "Miller" in the margin.

Pace Krider, Carte de Visite

Written on the back, in pencil, "Yours Truly Pace Krider 1875." Carte de visites were often given as calling cards, as the name implies. With the greeting and date, this gent, no doubt a veteran of the civil war, very likely left this CDV as a calling card. For more information on the history of the carte de visite, click on CDV or carte de visite in the label section. Stamped on the back, "FROM ROSHON & RICHIE'S GALLERY, SELLINGSGROVE, PA. The negative from which this Picture was printed will be preserved. Duplicate copies can be had at any time, at $1.00 per half dozen." One of these days, I'm going to find an intact archive of glass negatives shot to size for contact prints used to make carte de visites. There could be thousands all boxed up in some body's attic just waiting to be discovered.