STRIKING YOUNG IMMIGRANT FAMILY DRESSED FOR WINTER : COTTAGE GROVE, OREGON

This striking vintage real photo postcard features a portrait of a young mother and father standing behind their little girl. The family is dressed for winter. The Gentleman is wearing a cap and holding an umbrella. Mom is wearing a scarf on her head and around her neck. The little girl is looking at the photographer and has an expression that says she is not sure of what is going on and she is not at all happy about being photographed. As stated earlier, there is something striking about this image. Perhaps it is because the family appears to be down and out. Their being a troubled family is certainly just my subjective perception. This photograph was taken by the Monroe & Armstrong studio, located in Cottage Grove, Oregon. The AZO stamp box reveals that the card dates back to sometime between 1904-1918. The postcard is in very good condition (see scans).

Buy this Vintage Real Photo Postcard (includes shipping within the US) #5415

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$28.00

Buy this Vintage Real Photo Postcard (includes International shipping outside the US) 5415

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$37.00

Published in: on January 8, 2023 at 12:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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CONEY ISLAND : IMMIGRANTS EXPLORE NEW YORK CITY

This vintage real photo postcard features a group of four women and two men being photographed at a Coney Island, New York photo gallery. A message on the reverse of the photograph is written in Italian. I may be going out on a limb, but it is my theory that we are looking at an immigrant family exploring New York City. They made a stop at the gallery to have their photo taken as a souvenir. Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn. The PMC stamp box on the reverse of this postcard indicates that it dates back to sometime between 1920 and 1935. By that time, Coney Island was well known for it’s amusement parks. In fact, between 1880 and World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the United States. Coney Island amusement parks attracted several million visitors per year. The city of New York built a boardwalk to be utilized by visitors. Where there are boardwalks and amusement parks; there are photo studios. By the time the subjects in this postcard photo visited Coney Island, the famous “Cyclone” roller coaster was already in operation. This antique postcard is in good condition (see scans). The card may have been slightly trimmed to fit a frame. SOLD

Published in: on March 19, 2021 at 12:00 pm  Leave a Comment  
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IMMIGRANT COUPLE AND A PUBLIC DISPLAY OF AFFECTION

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This vintage photograph features an immigrant couple posing for their portrait at an unknown photography studio in an unknown location. How do I know that this lovely couple are immigrants? I actually don’t know if they are really immigrants. They have an ethnic appearance and are dressed in a fashion that a casting director might hire them to portray a couple “right off the boat”. What is their ethnicity? I would guess they are European but have little confidence in that hypotheses. The couple are well dressed in a “sunday best” sense. The woman has a cute hat, white gloves, and a purse. The couple are posed next to a vase of flowers sitting on a table. Interestingly, the woman has her arm linked around her husband’s arm. She is clearly not afraid of public displays of affection. This photograph was found in a Vancouver antique store but experience tells me that there is a large possibility that the image did not originate in Vancouver.

Published in: on August 18, 2015 at 12:00 pm  Comments (1)  

PORTRAIT OF AN ARMENIAN COUPLE IN WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS (PHOTOGRAPHED BY ARMENIAN PHOTOGRAPHER)

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One of the wonderful benefits of studying antique images is that they often are remnants of important and interesting history. This cabinet card image is a terrific example of a photographer capturing history with his/her camera. In this case, the photographer was just not cataloging history, but he was part of it. Lusadaran, the Armenian Photography Foundation, cites the photographer of this cabinet card. An article on their web site discloses that Hairabed was a photographer in Worcester, Massachusetts in the 1900’s through the 1920’s. During his photography career he had shortened his name from his given name of Hairabedian. There is no mention of his first name. The article reports that he had likely emigrated to America from the Ottoman Empire. Once here, he photographed the first waves of Armenian Genocide survivors and immigrants settling in the Worcester area. His specialty was taking studio portraits. After doing some preliminary research, I may have uncovered the photographer’s first name. The city directory of Providence (1909 and 1910) lists a photography studio operated by Bedros and Astoor Hairabedian. The 1910 directory notes that Astoor Hairabedian moved to Salem, Massachusetts during that year. This image was most likely taken before 1910 but it would not be unusual for a family photography business to have been operating at two or more different cities simultaneously. Perhaps Astoor had decided to move to Massachusetts to manage or work at that location to replace or join another relative already there. What do we know about the subjects of this cabinet card portrait? Not much. We can only surmise by their dress and appearance that they are Aremenian immigrants to the United States shortly after the turn of the century. The woman in the image is wearing traditional clothing including a scarf covering her head and much of her face.

Published in: on November 16, 2014 at 11:10 am  Comments (5)  
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IMMIGRANT FAMILY OF UNKNOWN ETHNIC ORIGIN IN MADISON, MINNESOTA

This photograph captures a family in unknown ethnic clothing, at the Chalmers studio in Madison, Minnesota. Hopefully, a visitor to the cabinet card gallery will be able to identify the country of origin of this attractive family. The parents and their two sons, and daughter, are likely immigrants to the United States. An uninformed guess is that the family is from Afghanistan. The Chalmers studio was certainly a family affair. The business was started by Hugh J Chalmers (1844-1910) who was born in New Brunswick, Canada. He operated a photography studio in Lac Qui Parie (1882-1886) and in Madison (1886,  1894-?). Both businesses were located in Minnesota. He was succeeded by his son, James H. Chalmers (1874-?) who worked in Madison between 1904 and 1922. A third generation was involved with the business. James Kenneth Chalmers (1905-1966) also operated the studio.

Published in: on October 22, 2011 at 9:55 am  Comments (2)  
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PORTRAIT OF A PORTUGUESE FAMILY IN BOMBAY, INDIA (THE WORLD WAS FLAT EVEN BACK IN THE 1880’S)

Thomas Friedman’s best selling book “The World is Flat” was published in 2005. This cabinet card photograph demonstrates that the world has been flat for a number of centuries. This image features a Portuguese family and their maid, posing for their portrait in Bombay, India. It is likely that their maid is Indian, given their location at the time of the photograph. The family consists of parents and their three sons. Five first names are written on the reverse of the cabinet card, but they can not be listed, because of legibility and language barriers. The photograph is dated 1888. The photographer is Joseph D. Coutinho of Bombay, India.

Published in: on October 5, 2011 at 12:01 am  Leave a Comment  
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FAMILY PORTRAIT IN GREAT FALLS, MONTANA

A family of four poses for their portrait at the Elite Studio in Great Falls, Montana. Everyone is dressed in their nicest clothes for their day at the photographic studio. Note how the older daughter is posed. Her love for her dad is quite evident. Father’s pride in his family is also evident in this photograph. This family has the appearance of a Scandinavian family and in fact, the photograph is from the estate of a Norwegian immigrant family that settled in North Dakota and Montana. It is not clear who operated the Elite Studio at the time of this photograph. The Bulletin of Photography (1916) reported that “Louis Heyn of the Elite Studio sold an interest in his business” to employee Harry J. Keeley. It is likely that the studio belonged to Heyn at the time of this photograph.

Published in: on April 11, 2011 at 12:01 am  Comments (1)  
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Ethnic Family Portrait in Unknown Location

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An ethnic family is posing for this Cabinet card photograph at an unknown studio and unknown location.  The  reverse of the card has the printed word “Souvenir” and perhaps thats further information in determining location. Note the wood base of the table which is being used for a prop in this photograph. Leave a comment if you have an idea or information pertaining to the subjects of the photograph or the Cabinet card itself.

Published in: on January 19, 2009 at 2:26 pm  Leave a Comment  
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Jewish Family in New York (Meet the Goldberg’s)

 
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M. Goldberg and his family are photographed by Newman’s Studio of Art Photography. The studio was located on Lexington Avenue in New York City. Perhaps the Goldberg’s were recent Jewish immigrants to America.

Published in: on January 10, 2009 at 1:08 am  Leave a Comment  
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Jewish Children in Brooklyn, New York

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This Cabinet card is a photograph of four Jewish children posing in a studio with a background (perhaps added during the developing process) of Hebrew words. This is  a Jewish New Years card (Rosh Hashanah). The photographer of this Cabinet card is S. Borsuk of Brooklyn, New York.  It is noted that the studio is near Eastern Parkway. Eastern Parkway has some interesting history. It was the first “parkway” and was conceived by Frederick Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1866 (Olmsted designed Central Park). Eastern Parkway was designed as a wide road with several medians with trees, benches, and bike and pedestrian paths. The concept of the parkway was to bring the country to the city.

Published in: on December 27, 2008 at 3:43 pm  Comments (1)  
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