PORTRAIT OF A PRETTY UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS IN NEW YORK CITY

UNKNOWN ACTRESS_0001

This portrait features an attractive unidentified actress. This woman seems to love texture. Note the fabrics she is wearing. She has a wonderful feathered hat and a  shaggy stole. At least I think its a stole but I am uncertain and welcome intervention from a cabinet card gallery visitor knowledgeable about woman’s fashion. The woman looks quite handsome in her high collar dress and lovely accessories. The photograph was taken at Fredricks Knickerbocker Family Portrait Gallery in New York City (770 Broadway). To learn more about Mr. Fredricks and to view more of his images, click on the category “Photographer: Fredricks”.

 

Published in: on January 21, 2013 at 12:01 am  Comments (2)  
Tags: , , ,

MERCHANT SHIP CAPTAIN IN NEW BEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS

SEA CAPTAIN_0003The salty gentleman featured in this cabinet card photograph appears to be a uniformed US merchant ship captain. The seaman is wearing a badge depicting an anchor on his chest. He also has stars on his sleeves and is wearing lapel pins.   H. F. Hatch of  New Bedford, Massachusetts is the photographer. An advertisement on the reverse of the image advertises that the gallery sells one dozen cabinet cards for five dollars. Such a deal!  Henry F. Hatch is listed in the 1880 census. The document reports that he was born in Massachusetts in 1837. He was married to Etta Hatch and they were living together in New Bedford with their daughter Cecila (age 18). Henry was working as a photographer. Business directories from New Bedford indicate that he worked as a photographer from at least 1865 through 1895. Research uncovered an 1880’s advertising trade card for Hatch’s studio. The advertising copy on the card must have put fear in the hearts of the young mothers of New Bedford. The trade card’s copy stated that “Hatch loves to take babies”. It would be amazing if the trade card encouraged any parents to take their babies to the studio. However, it is not amazing that a New Bedford photographic studio produced a portrait of a ship captain. New Bedford is nicknamed “The Whaling City” because in the nineteenth century it was one of the most important whaling and fishing ports in the United States.

Published in: on January 18, 2013 at 12:01 am  Comments (2)  
Tags: , , , , , ,

SALVATION ARMY OFFICER AND A PRAYER BOOK HOLDING WOMAN IN TORONTO, CANADA

TORONTO SALVATION_0002This cabinet card photograph features a Salvation Army officer and a middle aged woman. It is not clear whether she is a Salvation Army worker because unlike the gentleman, she is not wearing an insignia of the organization. The gentleman has a “S” badge on each shoulder and a “Salvation Army” band on his hat. The woman is holding what appears to be a worn prayer book. This photograph was taken at the J. H. Lemaitre & Company studio in Toronto, Canada. The cabinet card gallery has an extensive collection of photographs of uniformed Salvation Army workers. Click on the category “Salvation Army” to view the collection.

Published in: on January 17, 2013 at 12:01 am  Comments (1)  
Tags: , , ,

A BRIDE WHO SAID “YES TO THE DRESS” POSING WITH HER GROOM IN EAU CLAIRE, WISCONSIN

EAU CLAIRE COUPLEA handsome groom and his pretty bride pose for their wedding photograph at the Bonell studio in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The bride is wearing a long veil and is adorned by many flowers and a necklace. The groom is wearing a corsage on his jacket and appears unhappy and angry on his wedding day. He looks as if he thinks his new wife spent too much money on the dress and the photographer. To view other photographs by Bonell and to learn more about him, click on category “Photographer: Bonell”.

Published in: on January 16, 2013 at 12:01 am  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , , , ,

MAN WITH NOTABLE BEARD IN NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT

BOWMAN_0001This photograph merits inclusion in the cabinet card gallery on the basis of the subjects stylish beard. He is quite clean cut except in the very center of his face. This beard also is a “mouth hider”. Mealtime must be quite a messy affair for this gentleman. To view other photographs of men with interesting beards, click on the category “Beards (Only the Best).  The photographer of this image is F. A. Bowman of New Haven, Connecticut. Frank Augustus Bowman (1847-1911) is included on a list compiled of the two hundred plus most prolific  photographers of the Carte de Visite era. His name appears as a photographer in New Haven’s  business directories between 1869 and 1900. The 1880 US census reported that Bowman (age 33) lived in New Haven with his wife Mary Fowler Bowman (age 32), his daughter Bessie (age 2), and a servant. The family also had a boarder, Jennie Ferris (age 27) who worked with Bowman in his studio.

Published in: on January 15, 2013 at 10:01 am  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , , , , ,

PORTRAIT OF A VERY PRETTY YOUNG WOMAN IN BATH

PRETTYGIRLINBATH_0004This cabinet card features a very pretty young woman in Bath, Maine. If you were expecting to see a pretty young woman in a bathtub, sorry for your disappointment or surprise. The young woman in this image may actually be a teenager. If so, she sure is displaying a lot of poise for a girl that age. She has an expression that makes it appear that she is oblivious of being photographed and is intensely staring at something in the distance. She is wearing a lace shawl with a pin. The subject of this image is unidentified. The photographer is J. C. Higgins of Bath, Maine. Higgins was an active photographer in Bath in the 1880’s and 1890’s. He was an excellent photographer. One of his photographs (Man in a Bottle) was displayed in New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (MOMA). Another one of his photographs can be seen on the website of the Maine Historical Society. Higgin’s son, Charles R. Higgins was also quite a prominent photographer. He apprenticed to his father and later took over the studio. He became known for his hand colored photography work which was in a style similar to Wallace Nutting. Many of his images were depictions of nature and New England scenery.

Published in: on January 14, 2013 at 12:01 am  Comments (2)  
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

MAN WEARING A TURBAN IN BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS (FRATERNAL ORGANIZATION MEMBER)

TURBAN_0002This cabinet card photograph features a middle aged man dressed in a fraternal robe and turban. It is unknown what fraternal organization his costume represents. To view a collection of other fraternal member photographs, click on the category, “Fraternal Group Members”.  The gentleman in this photograph has a  bold and thick mustache. To see other interesting mustaches, click on the category “Mustaches (Only the Best)”.  The photographer of this portrait produced an exquisite image.  The subject is well posed and the photograph has great clarity. The image was produced by the Hastings studio in Boston, Massachusetts. The studio had a branch in Newport, Rhode Island. George H. Hastings was born in Massachusetts in 1850. He operated a studio (Ritz & Hastings) with Ernest Ferdinand Ritz from sometime in the  1860’s until the 1880’s. He had his own studio from the 1880’s through sometime in the 1890’s.  The 1880 US census finds Hastings living with his brother and mother and working as a photographic artist.

Published in: on January 13, 2013 at 12:01 am  Leave a Comment  
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

MAMIE SLOAN WEARS AN ELABORATE DRESS IN MT. PLEASANT, IOWA

MAMIE SLOAN_0002This photograph is a portrait of a pretty young lady in a fancy dress. She is wearing a dress with a high collar and has her hair up. The reverse of this photograph  indicates that the woman’s name is Mamie Sloan and penned under her name was New Boston, Illinois and the date “June 1897”.  The reverse of the photograph also has a photographer’s stamp but it is not entirely legible. The stamp reveals that the studio was located in Mount Pleasant, Iowa and that the studio was named “White & ?”.  Research was unsuccessful at uncovering more information about the photographers or about Mamie Sloan. There were too many women who shared that name who lived in the New Boston area around the time that this photograph was taken. New Boston and Mount Pleasant are 66 miles apart, and it is likely that Mamie Sloan resided in New Boston although photographed in Mount Pleasant.

Published in: on January 12, 2013 at 12:01 am  Comments (4)  
Tags: , , , ,

PORTRAIT OF A BRIDE AND GROOM BY A FEMALE PHOTOGRAPHER IN ELROY, WISCONSIN

MISS CLIZBE_0003This cabinet card is a wedding portrait of a young unidentified couple. The bride is wearing a dark wedding dress and a long sheer veil. The groom is standing in the background behind the bench his bride is sitting on. The distance between the two removes the intimacy that we tend to see in modern day wedding portraits. The photographer of this image is Miss Carrie B. Clizbe whose studio was located in Elroy, Wisconsin. She is one of  a small group of female photographers operating during the cabinet card era. Research revealed very little information about Carrie Clizbe’s career as a photographer. The 1880 US census found Carrie (age 21) living with her parents and four siblings in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. Carrie was working as a “tailoress”. Her father had an interesting occupation. He sold patents. The 1900 and 1910 census does not list her as having an occupation. While investigating, I was able to locate a cabinet card produced by the Clizbe Sisters studio in Reedsburg. It is apparent that Carrie was once partners with her sister Martha. A directory of Early Western Photographers reports that Carrie’s studio operated in Elroy circa 1895. The web site for Reedsburg provides a short biography of the man that Carrie Clizbe married on 7/4/1900. Herbert H. Webb and two partners established a department store in Reedsburg called Webb and Schweke. It was known as ‘The Big Store”. Carrie died in 1921 in the city of Chicago. She is buried in Reedsburg.

Published in: on January 11, 2013 at 12:01 am  Comments (6)  
Tags: , , , , , , ,

PRETTY YOUNG WOMAN IN READING, PENNSYLVANIA

FRITZA pretty young woman poses for the photographer at the studio of J. S. Fritz in Reading, Pennsylvania. To learn more about the photographer and to view more of his images, click on the category “Photographer: Fritz JS”.

Published in: on January 10, 2013 at 12:01 am  Comments (1)  
Tags: , ,
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »