This photograph features a handsome young man sporting a thin mustache. The gentleman is well dressed and handsome. The photographer of this image is Wilbur Wright. He operated a photography studio in San Jose California. To learn more about Wright and to view more of his photographs, click on the category “Photographer: Wright”.
This cabinet card features two young girls participating in a religious ceremony, Note the religious symbols on the table between them. The girls are dressed in their finest clothing and adorned with flowers. The photograph was produced by John D Strunk of Reading, Pennsylvania. Several of his images can be found in the cabinet card gallery and to learn more about him, and to view the other photographs, click of the category “Photographer: Strunk”. Perusal of his other images reveal that Mr. Strunk was an excellent photographer. The image above has great clarity, the subjects are well posed, and the props are perfectly placed.
The Sullivan Brothers studio produced this cabinet card featuring three very young children. These kids are very close in age but are probably siblings. They are wearing gowns and the oldest child is posed behind a wood stroller toy. The back of the cabinet card has an inscription to “Aunt Rachel”. Frederick and Alfred H. Sullivan operated their studio in Hudson, New York. To learn more about them and to view more of their images, click on the category “Photographer: Sullivan Brothers”.
Frank Becker, a photographer in Cleveland, Ohio, produced this wedding portrait. The bride is wearing a long white floral veil and the couple clearly spent some money at their local florist. The groom has a handsome mustache. As frequently seen in wedding photographs from the cabinet card era, the groom is seated and the bride stands. Perhaps the reason for this type of pose is to showcase the bride’s wedding gown. Frank Becker was an active photographer in Cleveland between 1886 and 1900 or later. He was born in Germany in 1865 and emigrated to the United States in 1881.
This cabinet card portrait features a young boy wearing a sailor’s uniform at the wheel of a faux ship located at the Solano Art Studio in Vallejo, California. The photographer is Charles McMillan. The little sailor’s uniform looks very realistic and his hat and lanyard are a nice touch. The backdrop, depicting the sea, is also quite effective. However, the photographer’s use of a fur on the deck was certainly not consistent with the nautical scene he was trying to create. The book “Vallejo” (2004) by James E. Kern, includes an 1895 photograph of Charles McMillan’s studio. The building was located at 314 Georgia Street. McMillan was born in Canada in 1853. He began his photography career at the age of sixteen in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to California in 1879 and became a travelling photographer. He operated his studio out of a tent. He eventually decided to settle down and opened a studio in Vallejo. One source reports that McMillan was such a success upon opening his studio that the competing photographer in town was forced to move his business elsewhere. In 1883 McMillan married Californian Isabell Floto.
This cabinet card features three adorable young siblings posing at the West End Studio in Worcester, England. The boys are wearing sailor suits. Their little sister sits between them with her hands clasped and a with a bewildered expression. Walter J. Brown’s studio was located at 9 Bridge Street in Worcester.
The subject of this portrait is quite the handsome gentleman and has a wonderful beard. To view more interesting beards, click on the category “Beards (Only the Best). The reverse of the photograph has a printed stamp indicating that the photographer of this image was located in Portland, Oregon. In addition, the back of the cabinet card shows a medal for photography from the Oregon State Agricultural Society which was issued in 1881. Born in Illinois in 1844, Frank G. Abell moved to California with his parents in 1857. In 1862, at the age of 18, he joined the firm of William Shew in San Francisco, where he spend four years learning the art and business of photography. He opened his own gallery, Abell’s Star Gallery, in Stockton, California in 1866. The next year he moved back to San Franisco and then worked in such towns as Grass Valley, Red Bluff and Yreka. In 1877 he pursued his craft in Roseburg, Oregon and from 1878 to 1888 he was based in Portland. He must have left his heart in San Francisco because he returned there once again. His indecisiveness was evident when he returned to Portland where he worked between 1897 and 1907. When his health failed, he moved to Tacoma, Washington where he died in 1910.
This family portrait features a mother and father along with their five children. Mom and one of her daughters are holding umbrellas while dad balances a book on his knee. The eldest son is wearing a sailor suit and has his arm wrapped around his little brother who is sitting on a tricycle. Another brother stands alone on the opposite side of the wall than where the rest of his family is located. Does this have some psychological meaning, or is this just where he was posed by the photographer. The photographer is the Perez studio which was located in San Paulo, Brazil.
A mother and daughter pose for their portrait at an unidentified photography studio. On second thought, the young woman and the child seen in this image may actually be siblings. Looking at the way they are posed, I would guess that they share a sibling relationship rather than a parent-child relationship. The subjects certainly exhibit a family resemblance. The pair are nicely dressed. The little girl is wearing a beaded necklace, possibly pearls.
This photograph, by celebrated photographer Charles Eisenmann, exudes love. A young girl is pictured hugging her father and she exhibits a very loving expression. The father appears truly happy to be the recipient of such love. This photograph was taken by a famous photographer of the cabinet card era. Charles Eisenmann (1855-1927) was German born and was a celebrated cabinet card photographer during the 1880’s and 1890’s. His studio was located in New York City’s Bowery District. This part of the city was populated by many people who were considered “on the fringe of society”. The area was full of artists, transients, and prostitutes. The Bowery district appeared in the movie Gangs of New York (2002). Eisenmann was noted for his photographs of human oddities (side show “freaks” and people with unusual birth defects). He was also known for his photographs of Circassian beauties. These women were reported to be escapees from Turkish harems but in fact were local women who were costumed to look wild and wore teased “big” hairdos. Eisenmann also did celebrity portraits. His customers included P. T. Barnum, Major Tom Thumb, Mark Twain and Annie Oakley. He left his Bowery studio in 1898 and was succeeded by his intern/son-in-law Frank Wendt. For a few years he took portraits out of a studio he operated in Plainfield, New Jersey. The above photograph is a product of that studio. He later went to work for Dupont where he was the director of the photography department. A number of institutions have collections of Eisenmann’s work. Syracuse University’s library has a collection of more than 14,000 Eisenmann images.
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THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 