FOREVER PLAID: CABINET CARD PORTRAIT OF A NEW ENGLAND GENTLEMAN

This cabinet card features a handsome middle aged man wearing a plaid vest and jacket. He has a longish but styled beard and he has piercing eyes. This gentleman was photographed by the Dunklee & Bau studio. The photographers operated studios in Northampton and Greenfield (Massachusetts as well as in Brattleboro, Vermont. Note the reverse of this cabinet card; it is quite ornate. The reverse of the photograph advertises that the photographers had won an award at a  1890 exhibition. Therefore we know that this photograph was taken during 1890 or later. Charles Dunklee was born in Rockingham, Vermont in 1842. He served four years in Company I of the 4th Vermont Infantry during the civil war. He entered the war as a private and mustered out as a private. He was the Vice President of his regiments veteran group according to an 1887 news article. In 1865 he married May C. Billings and they were married 54 years until her death. Dunklee’s 90th birthday was marked in the Lewiston Daily Sun (1932). This cabinet card was produced by Dunklee while in partnership with Charles Bau. The Bulletin of Photography (1914) notes that Bau sold his studio in Brattleboro, Vermont in order to return to Greenfield to open a new photographic gallery. To see other images by Dunklee and Bau, click on the category “Photographer: Dunklee”.   SOLD

A BEARDED GENTLEMAN IN GREENFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS

bau

This cabinet card portrait features a bearded gentleman posing at the Dunklee and Bau studio in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The man has a long wiry beard and an intense expression. Advertising on the reverse of the cabinet card states that the Dunklee & Bau studio had won medals at a 1890 Greenfield exhibition. Charles Dunklee was born in Rockingham, Vermont in 1842. He served four years in Company I of the 4th Vermont Infantry during the civil war. He entered as a private and was mustered out as a private. He was the Vice President of his regiments veteran group according to an 1887 news article. In 1865 he married May C. Billings and they were married 54 years until her death. Dunklee’s 90th birthday was marked in the Lewiston Daily Sun (1932). The article notes that he had photographic studios in Greenfield and Northfield, Mass. as well as Brattleboro, Vermont. This cabinet card was produced by Dunklee while in partnership with Charles Bau. The Bulletin of Photography (1914) notes that Bau had sold his studio in Brattleboro, Vermont in order to return to Greenfield to open a new photographic gallery. The article points out that Bau had left Greenfield just twelve years before. The aforementioned history tells us that this photograph was taken after 1890 and before 1902.