Carte de Visite/Ohio

Well, I haven't put up a carte de visite for awhile so I thought I'd put these two up. Other than that they are both from Ohio, they aren't related in anyway. The profile has a studio mark on the back, "Geo R. Elliott, S.W. Corner High and Town Streets. Columbus, Ohio" And written, "Julianne Elizabeth Anthony (Mother)" Elliott was born in 1837 and had a studio in Columbus from 1870-86. A photographer for hire, his specialty was stereoscopic views. In 1886 he became the employee of James Madison Elliott, presumably a relative, who in addition to being a photographer was also a painter and crayon artist. Neither man was a great talent, but they made a living at it. On the mother/daughter portrait (I'm guessing), written on the back, "Jennie E. & Bell M. Norris, Stryker, Ohio" Stryker is in the northwest corner of the state, near the Michigan border. Click on either cdv or carte de visite in the labels section to see a lot more. The carte de visite was an early attempt at a standardized photographic format. They were small albumen prints mounted on a card, approximately 2.5x4.25 inches. While some people did in fact use them as visiting cards, they were usually given as keepsakes to friends and family. In the 1860s and 70s, the term cartomania was used to describe the craze for collecting as many cartes de visite as possible. Kind of like friending as many people as possible on Facebook.

Where were these taken?

With the Hindi writing on the dental office sign and the cow, wandering freely in a city, it's tempting to say India. But then again, people from the Indian sub-continent had settlements all over the far east before the arrival of the European colonial powers. Too, the British used Indians as administrators in colonies as far away as south Africa. I don't know why, but the two ladies in the last photo look Malaysian to me. I'm always willing to be corrected. From the twenties I would think.

The German American Collection, The Postcards

So why are there a couple of non photographic postcards in this post? My one exception to my all photos all the time rule; If it's part of a greater collection, it gets a pass. To repeat, a dealer in Florida bought these images at an estate sale. He sold a lot of the pictures separately, and then put the rest up on line in a couple of lots. I tried to get them all, but could only get this one group of pictures. Because there are so many gaps, and very little identifiers, I'm putting up this collection when I get around to it, in a very catch as catch can manner. I call it the German American collection because there was one photo postcard of a wedded couple (Already posted)and the butt end of an old album, both from Germany. When the family who owned these photos came to the United States is a mystery to me. Click on German American in the labels section to bring the whole lot up.

Camp Hancock, Postage Due

Postmarked, "AUGUSTA, GA MAY 20 1:30 PM 1918 HANCOCK BRANCH" Addressed to, "Mr. John Hayes 113 E. Main St., Amsterdam, NY c/0 John Burke" And the message, "Well John we had a great trip down here we left Fort Slocum 10 clock Wed morning on the boat and got in Jersey City at 12 got our lunch and left Jersey City at 2 o'clock by train and got in Camp Hancock 12 o'clock Thursday night. from Coney" One would think that Coney was a lucky young man. World War 1 would end on November 11, 1918, so even if he saw combat, it wouldn't have been much. But then again, on the last day of September 1918 there were two men in the camp infirmary. On October 1, there were 716 cases of Spanish flu in the camp. By October 5, there were 3,000 cases and 52 dead. This card was published by "A. M. SIMON, 32 UNION SQUARE, NEW YORK."

The Postcard Bride

A real photo postcard was just that. Rather than using a commercial printing process, each individual postcard was printed with an enlarger, on light sensitized paper with a stamp box and space for address and message on the back, and then developed in a chemical bath. A number of companies, most notably Kodak, made photo postcard stock, and most professional photo studios, photo finishers, and many home darkrooms kept it on hand. Kodak even made a camera, the A3, that yielded a negative that could be printed without cropping on a standard postcard. (I think it used 620 roll film, but I haven't been able to verify that.) So, I wonder how many copies of this image was ordered by the bride. Did she slip one into the wedding invitation, or with the thank you notes for the wedding gifts? All we can really know is that this particular card was never mailed and no information was recorded on the back. My guess is that it's from the twenties or thirties.

Polarine From Standard Oil

Even though this postcard is of a Detroit city bus, it was mailed from and to Kansas City. The postmarks, for sending and receiving are both "KANSAS CITY NOV 5 1911" The times are "7-PM" and "8-PM" Mailed and sent to the same post office. It's addressed to "Mr Raymon Walker, MC book" No street address or city name, so it might have gone to a box in the building, or it was for counter pick up, or the mail man knew everyone on his route. And the message, "Mr. Walker, Dear friend thank you verry much for your remembrance towards me. Will leave KC November the 6th for Va by the way of Atlanta, Georgia. Your G. McWilliams" Mr Walker, Dear friend, a strange mixture of the formal and familiar. And he misspelled dear friend's first name. Very strange.

Irene White of Plains, Montana

Another real photo postcard. Written on the back, "Miss Irene White, Plains, Mont-P.O. Box 468-24 years old the 23 of Oct. From Joe" Never mailed, no stamp, cancellation or date. In 1905, the town of Horse Plains, dropped the Horse and became just Plains. So after 1905. The very first post on this blog was prints made from glass negatives purchased in Montana. I'd take a look, and so should you.