The little girl featured in this cabinet card is absolutely adorable in her pose pushing her doll in a baby carriage. The backdrop in this photograph is absolutely not adorable. The screen is so amateurish that it looks like it was painted by a group of the subject’s classmates. The photographer of this image has the last name of Mead. Unfortunately, the location of his studio is unknown. It is an unusual occurrence that the name of the photographer is listed on the cabinet card without an address of the studio. After all, photographers used cabinet cards as free advertising by listing their location and special talents. The reverse of the cabinet card has an inscription that indicates that the subject of this portrait is named “Mamie Cole (Griffis)”. There were many Mamie Coles, Mamie Griffiths, and photographers named Mead living in the United States during the cabinet card era. It is impossible, with available information, to truly identify both subject and photographer. It is interesting to note that there was a photographer in the Dakota Territories name Josiah J. Mead and a woman named Mamie Cole who was born in South Dakota in 1894.
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 