contents !
Columns
Features
Saving Face
pg. 6
A Personal Archival Discovery
Hairsteria
pg. 28
Dear Santa
pg. 44
Everything Old Is New Again
pg. 56
Maureen Taylor Reads Clues In Ancestral Hair
The Humor Of It
pg. 14
Captured Moments
pg. 20
Penelope Dreadful
pg. 34
In2Genealogy
pg. 36
The Year Was . . .
pg. 46
Ho! Ho! Horror
A Wish List
Dere Santey Claus
footnoteMaven and Her Photographs Celebrate Christmas Past!
A Dreadful Christmas
What Do You Call A Donut? The Year Was 1866
The Future of Memories
pg.. 50
Release Your Inner Ken Burns
In Every Issue From My Keyboard
pg. 3
The Exchange
pg. 4
Letter from the editor Your comments
Smile For The Camera
pg. 82
The Last Picture Show
Back Cover
Your comments
Appealing Subjects
pg. 62
The Healing Brush
pg. 74
Art, Photography, and Law
Reconstructing a Community
The graphic image on the back of a carte-de-visite or cabinet card
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On The Cover Waters 144 E. 63rd St. Chicago And the subject of A Dreadful Christmas!
from my keyboard MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANUKKAH, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, CELEBRATE!
Welcome to the Holiday Edition of Shades Of The Departed The Magazine. We are honored to have Maureen Taylor join us as author of the Feature Article, Hairsteria. Maureen gives us a glimpse into dating old photographs using our ancestors’ hair. It’s a fantastic article with a book to boot. This month Shades adds Smile For The Camera to every issue. One submission will be selected from every carnival to be featured in the magazine. A man and his machine grace this Holiday Edition. The columnists have outdone themselves bringing some very interesting articles to this issue. From the birth of coca‐cola to birthday suits, we’ve got them all. Shades would like to thank Tamura Jones of Modern Software Experience, creator of the GeneaBlog Awards, for honoring Shades with the award for Best Looking Magazine. Thank you! Enjoy what we have to offer, as we share our knowledge and skills with you. Thank you for taking the time to be a part of our holiday celebrations.
f M
~3~
Shades
THANKS YOU!
THE EXCHANGE
This is just a sample of the response we received to the Premier Issue of Shades the Magazine. The women of The Exchange have never taken so many messages! Thank you everyone for taking the time to read and write about Shades on Twitter, Facebook, your blogs, in emails, and in the comments. Everyone at Shades enjoyed the challenge of developing this new digital magazine and the thrill of seeing the finished product. We hope you will join us in many more adventures in our Fascination of Old Photographs. And Ask Questions, PLEASE!
“The camera folded flat in storage position, and with the bellows expanded in picturetaking mode.�
SAVING FACE
a personal archival discovery THE UNEXPECTED SOURCES OF FAMILY HISTORY KNOWLEDGE BY REBECCA FENNING In honor of December, the month in which my place of employment shuts down for two weeks, I thought it would be appropriate to take a break from talking about the business side of archives and instead look at a personal archival discovery that happened because of a mixture of serendipity and research. As regular readers of Shades of the Departed might know, I have a fair number of old cameras, many of which I use. Some of these cameras were passed down to me by family members, some of them I bought on eBay, and others were given to me as
“Camera, as seen on opposite page, came in this case”
gifts. The camera at the center of this story was, seasonally appropriately enough, a Hanukkah present from one of my aunts who saw it in an antique store and thought it would be an interesting‐looking thing for me to put on a bookshelf, never thinking that (1) it could possibly work or that (2) I would try to get it to work. She was wrong, of course, because I have very little patience for treating cameras like blind artifacts if there is any chance that they might still function. This camera was no exception, even though I knew absolutely nothing about it. ~ 7~
With the help of the internet, I was able to Sigure out that the camera in my hot little hands was a Kodak Vest Pocket Autographic produced sometime between 1915 and 1926, not too dissimilar from the Kodak Autographic advertisement featured in the last issue of Shades. As I learned, autographic cameras used a special kind of Silm (autographic Silm, naturally) that included a very thin piece of carbon paper between the Silm and its paper backing. Autographic cameras had a special door on the back near the Silm counter window that you could lift and, with the metal stylus included with the camera, write whatever you liked underneath the image you’d just taken.
“The autographic window and stylus in mock-action” The message, imprinted on the Silm, would then show up as a handwritten caption printed along with your Sinished photograph. Pretty neat! George Eastman thought so, and he purchased the rights to the autographic system from its inventor Henry Jacques Gaisman in 1914 for the princely sum of US$300,000. The Kodak Autographic cameras and Silm were apparently quite popular and many different camera models with autographic features were made. However, by the 1930s, the market was different and Silm stock was more sensitive, making the use of the autographic feature harder to use (opening the autographic window let in too much light and blurred the overall image because of this increased sensitivity), and production of the autographic family ended by the mid‐1930s.
~8~
(opening the autographic window let in too much light and blurred the overall image because of this increased sensitivity), and production of the autographic family ended by the mid‐1930s. I had started researching autographic cameras simply hoping that I would learn more about the camera in my hand, not realizing that this research might make a difference in other places, too. However, reading about the autographic system, I realized that I actually had an example of it at work in my family photograph collection in a picture whose clearly handwritten caption seemed to be part of the printed image had always bafSled Unknown photographer. [Image of Ethel Kalisch]. 1929? In possession of Rebecca Fenning. ]
me. Now I had an answer as to what it was! This is the only example in my collection of a photograph whose taker made use of his or her camera's autographic function. This isn't to say I don't possess any other pictures taken with an autographic camera, though, because of course you could (and can) take perfectly normal pictures on regular or a u t o g r a p h i c S i l m w i t h a n autographic camera, if you didn't feel like writing anything.
My grandmother Ethel Kalisch, in “Hirshey” [sic], Pennsylvania, 1929?
~ 10 ~
The fact that an autographic camera will work with regular Silm and take regular pictures was a good thing in my case, since autographic Silm has existed in a long time. Even though I couldn’t try out that very exciting aspect of my autographic Vest Pocket camera for myself, it certainly didn’t stop me from trying to take regular pictures with it. The camera I have uses 127 Silm, a standard size used in lots of consumer‐grade cameras until the 1960s. It isn’t a common Silm size anymore, but there are actually still companies that make it (one in Croatia manufactures widely distributed black‐and‐white 127; another in Canada makes color 127) and I usually have some in my freezer since I have several other cameras that use it. I shot several rolls of Silm with the Vest Pocket, with somewhat mixed results. It deSinitely works, but all of my images had the same blurry and ghostly impressionistic quality to them, a result of minute cracks and light leaks in the camera’s bellows. Because of this as well as some other difSiculties with advancing the Silm through the camera, I don’t use it very often, but at least I gave it a noble try.
None of the photographs I took may All images copyright of Rebecca Fenning, 2007-2009.
have been a huge success, but learning about the camera that took them was.
~ 11 ~
From The Camera
The moral of the story is simple. Librarians and archivists know that specialized knowledge concerning the subjects you catalog, describe or answer questions about makes you better at your job. This anecdote of mine proves that you never know where this knowledge is going to come from.
REBECCA FENNING
Rebecca is the author of the Saving Face column. She also writes the blog A Sense of Face. This is her December column, “A Personal Archival Discovery."
~ 13 ~
THE HUMOR OF IT
ho! ho! horror! THE ANNUAL PHOTO WITH SANTA DONNA POINTKOUSKI
Ah, Christmas…it’s the most wonderful time of the year! Or is it? For some children, it’s the time of year to be scared to death. First, there’s the whole threat of “being good” or else! The mere thought of not getting any presents is certainly scary, but there is something about Christmas that isn’t all happy and jolly. In fact, it instills more fear in young children than a Halloween haunted house – it’s Santa’s Little Workshop of Horrors and the annual photo with Santa! Santa has a reputation of being a happy and fun kind of guy. After all, he brings you toys for no apparent reason. That’s a guy any child would love, right? Then why is that big fat guy with a bushy beard so absolutely terrifying for so many children? It’s the terror that makes the annual “photo with Santa” such a delight for adults. Parents, determined to get that holiday photo no matter what, gratefully accept the photo even if the child has an expression of fear and terror and tears Slowing like a river. Years later these photos are funny, but one can only imagine that it wasn’t that funny at the time for all involved – the scared child, the parent who has to calm them, and poor Santa who has to withstand the screams. I hope the malls provide ear protection with the red suit.
~ 14 ~
From The Collection of Alleah Bucs Pointkouski
Here’s an exasperated Santa from 1977 who is wondering if it’s time to go home yet (or if the eggnog is nearby).
Fast forward to 2006…the formerly terrified child is now a mom, so it’s time to take her daughter to visit Santa. Did she not remember her own terror? You know what they say, “Like mother, like daughter!” Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!
~ 15 ~
From The Collection of Alleah Bucs Pointkouski
Aw, what are you crying for, Sis? At least you aren’t dressed the same as us!
From The Collection of Alleah Bucs Pointkouski
But, by now Grandmom knew the tricks to a happy photo – candy canes for all! Or maybe it was Santa himself who learned this trick over the years – if the kids have something to put in their mouth like a pacifier, they aren’t nearly as loud.
Sissy, if your hand gets near my candy cane, I’ll scream bloody murder again in your ear. By the time we reach adulthood, we really seem to forget how to think like a child. This may be why the child’s fear of Santa comes as such a surprise to the parents. If you’re a parent who will be taking a little one for the annual Santa photo, let me remind you of a few things. First, no matter how happy or friendly Santa actually looks with that whole jolly persona and twinkle in his eye, there is something menacing about him. Think about it…he sees you when you’re sleeping? He knows when you’re awake? That’s a bit stalkerish, don’t you think? For years we tell our children not to talk to strangers, but there’s this apparently omnipotent dude that you see once a year and have to be nice and smile for the camera. Mark my words – children pick up on this incongruity!
~ 16 ~
From The Collection of Alleah Bucs Pointkouski
No, Mommy, not without a candy cane!
It must be quite a challenge to be a photographer for Santa. Even if you manage to get a nice, happy expression on the faces of the children, there’s always the distinct possibility that Santa himself may screw up your holiday photo. After all, which is the worse or the two? Being the frightened child who has to sit on Santa’s lap, or being Santa? Santa, who, hour after hour and day after day, has lines and lines of children who want to see you. Well, most of them want to see you…but then there are the few, the screaming, the scared. It must be far worse to be Santa with a headache from all the high decibel screams than it is to be the crying child. The children get over it with age and perhaps some therapy, but Santa has to put up with hundreds of screaming children every December.
he sees you when you’re sleeping? he knows when you’re awake? that’s a bit stalkerish, don’t you think? ~ 17 ~
Oh, crud, did this kid just pee on me?
WANT MORE?
From The Collection of Sheri Fenley
If you want to see more photos of children who are scared of Santa, visit the Chicago Tribune “Scared of Santa” photo gallery.
h From T
tio e Collec
s Pointk eah Buc n of All
ouski
Also, there is a collection of photos in a book called Scared of Santa: Scenes of Terror in Toyland by Denise Joyce and Nancy Watkins. (Harper Paperbacks, 2008)
~ 18 ~
From The Collection of Alleah Bucs Pointkouski
Mommy, I want to keep this Santa!
Even if Santa doesn’t get a screamer, there’s the endless litany of “gimme” requests that’s enough to drive a teetotaller to the bottle of Jamison’s. Every household seems to have at least one photo of Santa who looks as though he’s had a few. But, who can blame him after all? What’s the secret to a good photo with Santa? Maybe if Santa were closer in age and size, he wouldn’t be scary at all but cute and cuddly!
~ 19 ~
CAPTURED MOMENTS
dere santey claus
BUT MOMMY, HOW WILL SANTA KNOW WHAT I WANT? VICKIE EVERHART
Memories of writing letters to Santa help to capture the moments of a childlike faith in the magic of Christmas.
~ 20 ~
In our childhood home, we knew without a doubt that Santa would receive our letters because our Daddy was the mailman! In years past, children have used a variety of creative delivery systems for getting the traditional letter to Santa.
CHRISTMAS 1899
One such method describes attaching the letter to a helium balloon which is released
December 13, 1899, Dallas Morning News, p. 10, col. 6.
into the heavenlies for a magical journey to the North Pole.
Dear, dear Santa: I have written you a letter which I sent up the chimney. I do hope you received it, for in it I asked for quite a number of things, but I have changed my mind about the box kite. I would like a little lawn mower instead. I send this through the dear Dallas News that is always so kind to children. Of course you know I am only a very wee little boy, but I am trying to be very good, so that you will bring me all I have asked for.
And then there are the children who very carefully (with adult supervision!) place their letters to Santa
Please bring my little sisters and my
in the Sireplace. As the hand‐written pages are
baby brother something nice, too. With
consumed by the Slames, and the embers rise up the
much love, I am your true, devoted
chimney ‐‐ like SireSlies in search of a cool starry
friend.
night ‐‐ it is hoped that the desires expressed in the letters will catch a ride on the wind and Sind their
Alfred. Dallas, Texas.
way to Santa.
~ 21 ~
As evidenced by the 1899 date on the letter from little Alfred, newspapers have been publishing letters to Santa for well over a hundred years. In Dallas, Texas, in December of 1899, children's letters in The Dallas Morning News were asking for a variety of things, including a doll, a jack‐in‐the‐box, books to read, a nice little Bible, a magic lantern, an autograph album, a piece of red bright ribbon, a rocking horse, a box of colored chalk, a book to color pictures in, some marbles and an agate with them, a velocipede, a nice wool fascinator, or a "rubber ball that won't break mama's windows and won't wake up my brother." In addition to multiple requests for an assortment of fruits and nuts, other food items asked for included chewing gum, "stick candy with red stripes on it like a barber pole," ginger‐snaps, jawbreakers, a box of Sigs, and marshmallows. One little boy wrote, "Don't forget Jimmie, he is 2 years old, and will take just any old thing he can get;" while another child asked for a bulls eye Kodak for his Mama. One imaginative child wrote, "please let papa come home soon. Bring Annie some books and Sireworks. I am good most of the time, because you are sitting on top of the chimney. I am Sive years old. Good‐bye until Christmas." ~ 22 ~
VINTAGE CHRISTMAS GREETINGS!
Dear Santa Claus: I am going to wash my stocking and have it ready for you Christmas. I am trying to be a good girl, so that you will bring me a whole lot of things. Our chimney is very sooty, but I think you can get through without getting sooty. Be careful and do not drop any of your toys, for the little boys and girls need every one of them. Little Nellie asks Santa to not forget like Daddy does :‐ "Oak Cliff, Tex. Dear Santa Claus: Please bring me a nice ring and nice doll and wardrobe and a comb and brush for it. Bring papa and mama something nice and don't forget to bring the poor children some candy and nuts and other good things. Please don't forget like papa does, will you?" Remember, Santa ‐‐ don't forget!
~ 23 ~
CHRISTMAS 1956 Do you remember what you wrote to Santa when you were Sive years old? Well, I don't either, but ‐‐ knowing the date of the following photo, and knowing our baby sister was born very shortly after New Year's Day 1957 ‐‐ this image suggests the contents of a letter to me, and this is what I imagine I might have penciled ‐‐ IF I actually knew how to print when I was Sive. Dear Santa I am taking dancing lessons & I would like to
CHRISTMAS 1958
have a pretty ballerina doll. My sister wants a baby doll because Mommy is having a new
It is December 1958 in a small town in
baby & my sister won't be the baby any more.
central Texas. The local newspaper is
We will leave cookies & milk for you.
preparing for their annual holiday edition featuring hundreds of letters to Santa. The
X O X O X O X
jolly fellow is scheduled to arrive on Saturday for a visit with the local children. In a little two‐bedroom house on a dirt road, the Mom is brushing the 2‐year‐old's short blond hair while the older girl with the long dark curls practices her printing skills as only a 5‐year‐old can do. The photographer from the newspaper arrives at the house before the oldest sister gets home from school, and quickly snaps a few shots while the two little girls make their lists for Santa.
~ 24 ~
TUTORIAL
WORKING WITH PHOTOS FROM NEWSPAPERS
I cropped the newspaper clipping to get a
When I began working on the December
image in the selection tray by clicking on
collage featured here, I knew only that I
the green map pin. I then selected the
wanted to use the image of my two little
image you see below and clicked on the
sisters writing their letters to Santa Claus.
collage button.
If the original photo still exists, it is hiding
This paper texture may appear rather
somewhere, waiting to be rediscovered, so
drab and uninteresting. But what if I
the only version of that image I had to
suggest to you that this image ‐‐ scanned
work with was the 51‐year‐old newspaper
from the inside of a book cover ‐‐ will
clipping shown above!
p rov i d e a p e r fe c t f r a m e fo r t h i s
square image of just the photo. Hold that
newspaper clipping by yielding the look of It has been my experience that scanning
an old photo once the collage is created.
photographic images from newspapers
(Do you have old books in your house?
does not usually give satisfactory results.
Imagine what a treasure chest full of
A little image manipulation created the
textures might be hiding right under your
vintage photo used here, and I am rather
nose!)
pleased with the end result. I scanned the original newspaper clipping in color at 200 dpi, which produced a 5
MB tif Sile. I always save my scans as tif Siles, but if you are using Picasa for your image editing, be aware ‐‐ once you do any editing inside Picasa, any newly created images will automatically be saved as jpg Siles. If you want to know more about tif or jpg Siles, just do a Google search ‐‐ there's lots of info out there.
~ 25 ~
Scanned from the inside of a book cover.
TUTORIAL Back to the collage ‐‐ choose the grid
Using the grid option, choose texture #1
option and adjust the slider bar to the
and texture #2. Right click #1 and set as
right. Right click on the background texture
background ‐‐ with #2 being used for the
and "set as background" and then right
top layer. Remember to right click and
click on the smaller version of the same
remove the extra lighter green image, and
image and remove it. I chose the square
then adjust the grid for the margins you
format for this Sinished collage and
want. Click on create collage.
adjusted the grid spacing to get a look that was pleasing.
Using the grid option again, chose the collage you just created plus texture #3
Then click on "create collage."
which will be the texture on the bottom of the stack
HOW TO CREATE THE LAYERED B A C KG R O U N D U S E D I N T H E COLLAGE
Right click on the 3rd texture and choose
Creating the triple‐layered background
click and remove the extra copy of the 3rd
image for the Dere Santey Claus collage
texture, and then adjust the grid for the
requires creating two separate collages.
margins you want. Click on create collage.
"set as background." Remember to right
~ 26 ~
TUTORIAL Using the grid option again, chose the collage you just created plus texture #3 which will be the texture on the bottom of the stack Right click on the 3rd texture and choose "set as background." Remember to right click and remove the extra copy of the 3rd texture, and then adjust the grid for the margins you want. Click on create collage. You now have a personalized triple layer background image for your collage. Detailed instructions for a similar procedure are available in the November 2009 issue of Shades. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions about anything I've done. SNOWFLAKES & TOYS & CHILD‐LIKE HANDWRITING The fonts used in the Dere Santey Claus collage include: * Blu's Holiday Dings * Caterpillar * KR Christmas Dings 2004 Six * KR Christmas Jewels 2005 5 * Toys'4U
SOURCES About.com ‐ vintage Christmas postcards Deviant Art ‐ background textures Flickr ‐ vintage Christmas postcards Google Image Search ‐ "old book texture" ‐ "free background textures" ‐ "vintage Christmas postcards" Kodak Collector ‐ 1899 cameras Mark Twain's Letter (to his daughter) from Santa Claus ‐ optional link New York Times ‐ archives Santa news items Resources for Editing Photos Santa's Letter Box 1899 ‐ 1899 letters to Santa from Dallas, Texas children Vintage Holiday Crafts 1956/1958 Photo/Newspaper Clipping ‐ collection of author
All are free fonts found via a Google search. See the November 2009 issue of Shades for detailed information on adding fonts and dingbats to your Sinished collage.
~ 27 ~
The identity of this man is unknown, so we’ll always wonder did he intend to mimic female hair or was it a result of his hat flattening out the hair on the top and letting his side curls stick out. It’s definitely an odd combination of feminine puffs and masculine sideburns.
Hairsteria Maureen Taylor Reads Clues in Ancestral Hair In 1844 Priscilla Pritchett Cresson posed for a portrait seated between her mother and her mother‐in‐law. She’s the epitome of a young wealthy wife with her striped silk dress and long sausage curls gathered behind her ears. On either side of her sat the older generation with their hair covered as was respectable for a Quaker woman and an older married lady. Behind them stood Priscilla’s husband with his 1840s longish hair combed over his growing bald spot. His comb‐over is a classic repeated throughout the generation. This picture is an example of how hair (and beards) can provide hints about a person’s life and personality. To Sind the fun in your family photos start by laying them out then take a look at the hair on their heads and faces, not their clothing or other hints about when it was taken. Each curled lock or trimmed facial hair adds an extra detail to what you know about those ancestors. Studying that evidence can help you identify and date that photo but it also says something about that person’s life. It’s all about examining the details—the hair or beard style, their age and the historical context in which they lived. Hair has been linked to death, divorce, drama and politics. You really don’t know your ancestors until you’ve studied their hairstyles and choice of facial hair. Analyzing your photographs requires examining all the evidence in a picture from the type of photograph, to who took it, to what they are wearing. Gazing at their hair choices is just one more facet of photo interpretation. But of all the details in a picture its hairstyles and facial hair that offer the
~ 29 ~
What Style is it? Every decade had a wide variety of hairstyles for men and women and that can be confusing. Young women adapted the latest styles, older women often held onto their youthful coiffures and then there were creative individuals who styled their hair to suit themselves. However, in every decade there were some common styles. For instance, in the 1840s the majority of women wore their hair looped over their ears, while in the 1880s it was severely pulled back. Men’s hair in the 1850s and 1860s was longish but by the 1890s their short styles resemble what’s being worn today. Bangs Sirst appeared in the 1870s. For men, there were personal styles by fashion innovators/icons such as newspaperman Horace Greeley’s under the chin beard known as a Greeley or General Ambrose Burnside’s facial hair which bore his reversed name—sideburns. Those Civil War soldiers who wore Burnside’s connected sideburns and mustache in the 1880s were retaining the look popularized by Burnside in the 1860s. (Library of Congress Dag no. 271)
Then there are styles for which there are few precedents. In the 1850s men wore their hair combed up in a wave on the top of their head. They kept it in place by using copious amounts of hair products. Lack the curly locks? No problem. Use a curling iron. They were available for men and women. Also in the 1850s women wore their hair full on the sides of their head in big puffs. The identity of this man is unknown, so we’ll always wonder did he intend to mimic female hair or was it a result of his hat Slattening out the hair on the top and letting his side curls stick out. It’s deSinitely an odd combination of feminine puffs and masculine sideburns.
Study the waves, curls and decorations in the hair of both sexes then compare your images to the examples in Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 18401900. You’ll have a better sense of when a particular hairstyle was in vogue.
Age Appropriate There is a gray area in hairstyle history. It’s who wore what and when. There were hairstyles for young women, i.e. long Slowing locks while older women wore their hair neatly coiffed. But here’s the thing. If a woman wanted to look younger she’d don a style more appropriate for a female younger than her or vice versa.
~ 30 ~
Beards and mustaches were a battleSield. In the 1850s, few men wore beards or mustaches but then in the Civil War suddenly beards became fashionable and practical. By the 1890s, they are gone again, at least for young men. Middle‐aged or older men tended to retain their youthful facial hair just as their wives usually kept their hair in the style of their early married years. They’d update their dresses but keep their hair familiar. Of course there are exceptions; there were lots of women who tried to follow the fashion trends regardless of age. Hair and general appearance conveyed a sense of responsibility and respectability.
How’d They’d Do It?
Think of a hairstyle in terms of pieces. There was the natural hair and then the false hair worn to augment a style. In the 1870s women wore their hair combed back from the sides and in a bun on the back of the head. On top they wore massive loops or braids of hair, not always their own. If you want to spot a hair piece in a photo think about what was realistic to accomplish with natural tresses then look for a mismatch—color and texture are obvious. For instance in this photo the loops are made with thick strands of hair, unlike what’s on the side of her head. It’s probably not even human hair. There were inexpensive substitutes such as Yak hair. Hairpieces were nothing new. In the 1840s, Parisian hairdresser, John Truelle advertised in the Macon (Georgia) Weekly Telegraph (September 7, 1841, p. 3 ) that he sold “wigs, curls, Front‐pieces and New‐fashioned Plaits.” He also told potential clients that he could repair old hair. ~ 31 ~
(Collection of the author)
W h e n yo u ’ r e e x a m i n i n g yo u r g r e a t ‐ grandmother’s gorgeous locks of hair, step back and think about the process of achieving that look. She probably had help. Nineteenth century periodicals such as Peterson’s Magazine offered tips for dressing one’s hair— in step by step illustrated detail. Long full hair was required to achieve those elaborate styles of the century. If a woman lacked the hairy resources, well then she’d buy a hairpiece. According to newspaper reports, the U.S. imported tons of hair shorn from the heads of European women.
Hair ornaments held styles in place. Specially designed hair jewelry decorated locks in the 1840s and 1850s. Snoods were all the rage in the 1860s, while heavy looking chain jewelry intertwined with braids in the 1870s. Photographers usually hand colored them gold. Combs were common in the 1850s and in the 1880s. In the 1890s women’s hair worn in tight buns at the crown of the head also included a long pick‐like decorative ornament. Men and women both used hair care products, sometimes to their detriment . Caustic chemicals b u r n e d h a i r a n d s k i n w h i l e e x p l o d i n g b o t t l e s o f t h e s e substances left too near a stove actually killed. It became necessary for products to advertise their ingredients. Mrs. S. A. Allen’s hair restorer and Zylobalsamum were promoted as safe, better than home‐ made concoctions of lard. While the former reportedly cured baldness and banished gray, the latter created s o f t c u r l y g l o s s y l o c k s . (Advertisement in Rev. E. Carpenter, editor. The American National Preacher, New York: E. Carpenter, 1856) Sound familiar? These products supposedly repaired hair burned from over‐use of stove‐ heated curling irons. In the 1870s, another French hairdresser created a new hairstyle with a crimping iron —it was known as the Marcel Wave. It’s easy to see in pictures. Watch for waves on the sides of the head just like the one’s seen here in this woman’s style. Trends in hairstyles and facial hair often stay around for decades such as chin beards or disappear or reappear like bangs. Recognizing hairstyle signiSicance is in paying attention to the details in the photo then adding those impressions to what you already know about a photo. It’s all about telling the story of the picture and the person depicted.
~ 32 ~
Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900 Available through
Using the clues explained in this book, you can learn a surprising amount about your ancestors by studying their portraits. This book is particularly useful to genealogists, social and personal historians, costume designers and hairstylists. About the author: Maureen A. Taylor is an internationally recognized expert on the intersection of history, genealogy, and photography. She has been featured in top media outlets, including The View, Martha Stewart Living, and The Today Show. Maureen is the author of a number of books and magazine articles, as well as a contributing editor at Family Tree Magazine. In 2007, The Wall Street Journal called her "the nation's foremost historical photo detective." ~ 33 ~
a dreadful christmas IF TRUTH BE TOLD - MOTHER AND DAUGHTER CHRISTMAS LETTERS BY PENELOPE DREADFUL
Saturday December 1, 1900
Dearest Brother and Sister,
Last Sunday we enjoyed a winter drive in the automobile along the river to visit my sister Josephine. She will be joining us for the holidays and bringing cousin Minnie to play with Margery. With children in the house again it will seem like the old days.
Courtesy Library
George plans to bring a tree into the house again this year, and Margery is already stringing bits of sparkles together to form a lovely garland. The unexpected change in George’s position at the bank has had the happy result of much less travel from home, and we are pleased that he is now available to give Margery the daily fatherly guidance that every 12‐year‐old girl needs.
of Congress
Warm good wishes to you this chilly Christmas Season from our home to yours. It may be cold in St. Louis, but the holly and Sir are lovely and Sill our home with their delightful holiday scent.
Of course, we miss Howard dreadfully, but he decided to stay at College through the holidays, and spend some time with friends in New York City before returning to New Haven. George joins me in wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new Year.
Your sister, Mabel ~ 34 ~
Saturday December 1, 1900 Dear Howard (you Skunk), Mama said I could write you my own Christmas letter to mail with this horrid photograph she had made for the aunts and uncles. Just look at it! Mama made me wear that feather hat from cousin Minnie. I think I look like a bird. Minnie’s coat is too big too, but since Papa lost his job I haven’t had any new clothes at all. Fine by me. Papa is angry because Mama only lets him drive the automobile on Sunday to save gas money. It is too bad we have to visit the Aunt all the time.
The Collection of footnoteMaven
I wish you were home for Christmas. It will be borrring without you.
Your sister, Margery P.S I know why you are staying Back East. That is just what you get for stealing the teacher’s automobile. Did you have fun with those other boys? Write and tell me all about it (if they let you have a paper and pencil at that place). P.p.s. Guess what I’m wearing underneath that ol’ coat? Mama never saw!!! It’s my dungarees and one of your old shirts. Ha! Ha! What a good joke. PENELOPE DREADFUL
Penelope Dreadful is the alter ego of Denise Levenick. Denise authors the blog, The Family Curator and gives us this month’s “Dreadful Christmas.”
~ 35 ~
IN2GENEALOGY
what do you call a doughnut? “WHEREVER HUMANS EXIST, LANGUAGE EXISTS”
Courtesy NYPL
BY CAROLINE POINTER
Are You From Around Here? For your last vacation, for your last trip away from home, or for your last move to another area, what kinds of things did you pack? If going on a vacation to a warm climate, you may have packed a bathing suit. If your trip was for business purposes, you probably packed ~ 36 ~
appropriate business attire, and you may
possible for you to “pick‐up” new
even have packed your laptop computer. If
variations from each area to add to your
you moved to another area altogether, you
dialect. Most deSinitely, this is simpliSied
probably packed everything but the
logic, but it does demonstrate that a
kitchen sink. However, no matter the
person's dialect can represent where they
reason for packing, did you ever once think
have lived. Maybe it's just a particular word
about packing your dialect, or maybe your
that they use, a particular meaning they
accent? Well, of course you didn't think
assign to a word, a particular way they
about it because it's an intrinsic part of
pronounce a word(s), and/or a particular
yourself. You really can't be totally
word order in a sentence (syntax) that they
separated from it. Moreover, once you got
use, but they are differences that can be
to your destination, were you ever asked,
recorded. Furthermore, if they can be
“Are you from around here?” This
recorded, they can be analyzed, which can
particular question is asked with the
possibly be useful in determining where
implication that you are obviously not from
our ancestors came from, or where they
“here”, and is usually asked after they have
had been. This type of migratory mapping
heard you speak. They probably heard
using linguistics [the study of language
something in your dialect that is different
and/or its structure] can be a useful tool in
from their dialect, but they are not sure
narrowing down the locations of possible
where your dialect is from; they just know
paper trails that our ancestors left while
it's “different.”
migrating.
However, factors such as you moving away a n d / o r o t h e r s m o v i n g i n t o y o u r
American Tongues Tease
community can help to change your dialect
Take a look at the opening scene from the
and accent over a long period of time. So, if
classic documentary about accents and
you have a series of moves over your
dialects ‐‐ AMERICAN TONGUES by Louis
lifetime and you stayed in each area for a
Alvarez and Andrew Kolker.
signiSicant period of time, it's quite ~ 37 ~
Before we begin looking at how this might be useful in our family research, let us take a quick look at some interesting characteristics about human language. In studying language over time, there are certain maxims that experts have determined about language as presented in An Introduction to Language, 5th Edition by Victoria Fromkin and Robert Rodman. Some of them are as follows: •
“Wherever humans exist, language exists.”
•
“There are no primitive languages – all languages are equally complex and equally capable of expressing any idea in the universe.”
•
“All languages change through time.”
•
“The relationships between sounds and their meanings are arbitrary.”
•
“All human languages utilize a Sinite set of sounds that combine to form meaningful words, which are combined to form an inSinite amount of sentences.”
•
Every language in the world includes “universals” such as “male” or “female,” “animate” or “human.”
•
“Every language has a way of referring to past time, negating, forming questions, issuing commands, and so on.”
•
Any child from anywhere can learn any language in which he/she is exposed.
Written Clues As with any genealogical tool or research methodology, this is not going to work every time, but it is worth looking at if you are unable to climb a “brick wall.” As mentioned above, differences in language can be recorded. Nowadays the human voice can be recorded and humans can be videotaped while speaking. Unfortunately, our ancestors did not have this type of technology. Indeed, their recordings of the human language are through the written word. However, regional dialects can still be detected through word usage, word meaning, sentence structure, and through phonetic spelling. If you are lucky enough to have old letters that your ancestors wrote, old photographs with writing on the front or back, postcards your ancestors wrote on, recipes they wrote, bibles they wrote in, autograph
~ 38 ~
books they wrote in, etc., then you have a recording of your ancestors that may reveal their dialect, which can then be compared to known regional dialect rules and maps. This in turn could possibly reveal where your ancestors might have lived and/or are from originally.
The Move Westward, Picking-Up Words Along the Way Just as we take our dialects and accents wherever we go, so did our ancestors as they migrated from the eastern seaboard, westward. Likewise, their dialects were inSluenced by other dialects and foreign languages that they encountered along the way, making any written records they left behind a type of Singerprint of where they had been and where they were from originally. Since the kinds of settlements that were made in the original colonies have been identiSied we are able to discern, for the most part, the dialects that they brought with them; the changes in their dialects that occurred once they were in the colonies for a few generations; and the migratory patterns that occurred once they began to move out west. In addition, we are able to see the change in their dialects when and as they moved. Some of these changes still exist today while others have been “lost” to natural
Courtesy Library of Congress
changes in language, which as mentioned before, are inherent in all human language.
~ 39 ~
Do You Dunk Your Doorknobs and Fatcakes? There are some great resources that touch upon migration in linguistic terms in the United States. One of which is A Dialect Map of American English by Robert Delaney from Long Island University. In his article, Delaney indicates certain words that are borrowed from other languages and/or dialects. He also mentions the origin of the doughnut and the different words used across the nation for the word “doughnut.” According to Delaney, the doughnut was invented by the Dutch who settled the New Amsterdam colony in what is now modern day New York City. Here doughnuts are s o m e t i m e s c a l l e d “cruller” or “olycooks.” In Northern New England, d o u g h n u t s
a r e
s o m e t i m e s c a l l e d cymballs, simballs, and boilcakes. In the Inland N o r t h e r n ( p r i m a r i ly
Courtesy Library of Congress
present‐day northwestern New York and Pennsylvania), they are sometimes called friedcakes. In the Upper Midwestern area, jelly doughnuts are called bismarks. On the other hand, “...any sweet roll” is called a doughnut in the Chicago Urban area. In North Midland, doughnuts are called belly sinkers, doorknobs, dunkers, & fatcakes. In the Pennsylvania German‐English dialect, a doughnut is called fashacht. They also “invented dunking – from the German 'dunken' (to dip).” In the Rocky Mountain dialect, jelly doughnuts are called bismarks. Lastly, in the Coastal Southern dialect, a doughnut is called a cookie. So, how does this help the family researcher? Well, do you have any old recipes or letters? Perusing through them might yield a recipe for a cruller, or maybe a bismark. Thus, indicating a
~ 40 ~
possible clue as to where your ancestor came from, or maybe where their parents/ grandparents came from originally. This is just one example of words particular to a speciSic dialect. The following YouTube video is another clip of the American Tongues Silm indicating other words that are linked to speciSic American dialects. Weird and Wonderful Regional Words.
From “Cache” to “Juju” In his article, Delaney indicates the original settlers of places out west had distinctive characteristics of certain dialects, as well as new words acquired along the way or once they were at their destination. For example, the Rocky Mountain dialect area was originally settled by North Midland & Northern dialectal areas. He adds that later inSluences were from “Mormon settlers in Utah and English coal miners who settled in Wyoming.” Moreover,
Courtesy Library of Congress
“some words that came from this dialect are kick off, cache, and bushed.” Another dialect
area located in the Southern part of the United States, according to Delaney, is Gullah. He indicates that Gullah is sometimes called “Geechee, “ and that it's a “creole language...that is spoken by some African Americans on the coastal areas and coastal islands of Georgia and South Carolina...” It's actually a combination of English and one of the following: Mende,
~ 40 ~
Dialects and Sub-dialects of American English in the 48 conterminous states etc. Some words that are borrowed from this dialect are gumbo, juju, peruse, yam, etc. So, keeping an eye out for these words that are peculiar to a speciSic dialect while reading our ancestor's written word may help us determine where our ancestor's locations were before settling in the current area.
The Search Continues There are other places to look for information on deciphering our ancestor's written word. Listed above are two clips from the linguistic documentary, American Tongues. There are actually a total of seventeen helpful and entertaining clips that are found on YouTube of American Tongues. Some additional resources are as follows: • • • • • • •
North American English Dialects by Rick Aschmann Dictionary of American Regional English, Vol. 2 by Frederic G. Cassidy The Library of Congress: American Memory Linguistic Maps “Good English without Idiom or Tone”: The Colonial Origins of American Speech National Map: A Phono Atlas A National Map of the Regional Dialects of American English American Dialect Links ~ 41 ~
So, Do You Pack Your Doughnut or a Cruller When Traveling? Indeed, dialects and accents are something that our ancestors took with them wherever they went. However they didn't stay the same, but were dynamic, adapting to their new homes and new neighbors. These adaptations are unique to particular areas. If our ancestors left their written word behind, then analyzing their particular dialect evidenced in such writings may yield where they came from or where they had been. So, what do you call a doughnut, and what does that say about where you are from or where you have been? Sources: Fromkin, Victoria and Rodman, Robert. An Introduction to Language, Fifth Edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1993. Pyles, Thomas and Algeo, John. The Origins and Development of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1993.
CAROLINE POINTER
Caroline is the In2Genealogy Columnist. She also authors the Family Stories blog.
~ 43 ~
Dear I would like something new for some
Courtesy LOC
things that aren't new: a Wacom Cintiq 21UX ~ an interactive pen and touch screen that I would use for correcting old photos and designing old photo art. Sometimes it takes something new to
2
bring out the beauty of the old. Plus, this looks like a fun toy and totally out of my budget.
What do you think a stamp cost to mail this letter?
3
I have tried to be a good person this year, although we both know that at times I have fallen back on the slippery slope of laziness. I sometimes (okay, often) forget to bring my reusable shopping bags to the grocery store, and I did absent‐mindedly toss two used batteries in a public trash can when we were on vacation. Pretty please, if you have time, could you ask your elves to save one of those newfangled super‐duper WayBack Machines for me.
5
A wedding daguerreotype for my personal collection of images. An army of genealogical soldiers for a very large project I’m thinking about.
I would like a lifetime supply of Fuji
6
I need the one with the settings from 1630 to 1950 only; the U.S. version will be Sine. Having lived through the glorious days of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s I truly have no desire or need to revisit those decades. Merry Merry Christmas to you and Mrs. Claus. I am looking forward to your visit! ~ 44 ~
color Silm and mylar sleeves. I would also like a giant map printer so that I could print oversized images if I wanted to and a giant scanner (I can give you real specs for those next week, Santa!) A cameo made from an old photograph ‐ $5,000. An antique single lens camera. John Campbell’s Cabinet Card
9
Santa,
Caroline Pointer Craig Manson Denise Olson Donna Pointkouski footnoteMaven Maureen Taylor Penny Dreadful Rebecca Fenning Vickie Everhart
Can you match the wish to its author? Answers on page 83.
I've been very good all year and I hope
you'll look kindly on me with one of the fabled Apple tablets so many people are talking about. I've heard rumors it will do for books what the iPod has done for music. While I love having a book to read on my iPod, it can't handle books ‐ or magazines ‐ full of photos and graphics. How could anyone expect me to enjoy Shades without full‐color photos? Please,
4
That one missing photograph I’ve written about so often!
8
A scanner for scanning larger items ‐‐
please show me these rumors are true by leaving one under my tree. And, if the latest issue of Shades of the Departed Magazine was installed on it, I would be your most grateful admirer.
at least 12 X 18 A scanner for making high‐quality scans of slides and negatives
7
A printer with archival quality ink/ toner (with a lifetime supply of ink /
1
toner)
My dearest genealogical wish is that I
A lifetime supply of true archival quality paper, page protectors, storage boxes, et al
would get some trace, even the smallest hint, of my gg‐gmother, Sarah Gilbert Johnson, born in Clay County, MO about 1849.
Oh yeah . . . and a DEPENDABLE HIGH SPEED INTERNET CONNECTION that does not cost in a month what I pay for an entire year of dial‐up! ~ 45 ~
THE YEAR WAS . . .
the year was 1886 HAYMARKET, GERONIMO, AND COCA COLA
Chicago Historical Society – Haymarket Affair Digital Collection
SHERI FENLEY
May 1, 1886 - A somewhat peaceful demonstration of workers asking for an 8 hour workday, turned into a riot when a bomb exploded at Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois. Seven policemen were killed and some 60 others were injured.
~ 46 ~
Courtesy of www.coca-cola.com
COCA COLA Coca‐Cola was invented on May 8, 1886 in Atlanta, Georgia by Dr. John Stith Pemberton, a pharmacist. His original intent was a headache and hangover remedy, but after taking the syrup down the street to Jacob’s Pharmacy to be sampled, it was combined with carbonated water and produced a drink that was “Delicious and Refreshing.”
~ 47 ~
GO TAKE A FLYING LEAP On July 23, 1886 Steve Brodie is found in the water underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. He claimed he jumped, to win a $200 bet, and miraculously lived. Did he really jump? The New York Times had this to say when reporting his death in 1901 –
Virginia.edu
“. . . Steve reached the zenith of his career, by persuading several newspaper men that he jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge 135 feet to the waters below. Columns were published about Steve Brodie the daring bridge jumper and upon the strength of this imaginary feat Steve waxed prosperous . . .” You make the call.
and while on the subject of leaping GERONIMO I know where the custom of yelling "Geronimo" when you jump came from and I know something else about Geronimo. On September 4, 1886, after almost 30 years of Sighting, the
Courtesy of The National Archives,
Apache leader surrendered himself to General Nelson Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona effectively ending the last of the Indian Wars. Geronimo had earned notoriety for evading 5,000 troops for over a year. He went on to become somewhat of a celebrity appearing at the World's Fair in St. Louis and was in Teddy Roosevelt's inaugural parade.
~ 48 ~
LIBERTY After Congress refused to pay $100,000 for a pedestal needed to erect the Statue of Liberty, Joseph Pulitzer of the “New York World” raised the money so the assembly of the statue could continue. A gift from France , the 151‐foot copper statue was built in France and shipped to New York in 350 separate parts. It arrived in the city on June 17, 1886, and over the Illustrative Press Bureau
next several months was reassembled while electricians worked to wire the torch to light up at night. President Grover Cleveland dedicated the statue on October 28, 1886.
court
esy o f The
Thom
Wikimedia Commons
as Ha rdy A ss
ociat io
n
The Follies Bergère staged its Sirst revue in Paris on November 30, 1886.
~ 49 ~
The bookworm in 1886 had many new Siction publications to choose from including “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson and “The Mayor of Casterbridge” by Thomas Hardy. The former was written by Mr. Stevenson in only 3 days. The latter is a wonderfully shocking tale about a man who gets drunk while attending a county fair and auctions off his wife!
release your inner ken burns PART 1 - STORYBOARDING YOUR HOLIDAY STORY BY DENISE BARRET OLSON
Like many others, I am a huge fan of Ken Burns. He has turned the historical documentary into an art form. The Civil War was one of the most compelling programs I ever watched on television ‐ followed by Baseball, JAZZ and now The National Parks. Not only am I mesmerized by the story being told, I'm impressed that he used some very simple techniques to tell it. With Civil War, most of the visuals were drawn from historical photos documenting that war. He made those photos come alive with a simple technique that moved across and into each photo, giving both movement and focus to a speciSic point or person. That technique is now named for him ‐ the Ken Burns effect. Mr. Burns' Civil War is an excellent example of how to create a compelling family documentary from basic components. In addition to historical photos, he included recent photos of historic sites, adding to the sense of place. The narrative included excerpts from personal letters and journals read by actors who made you feel the original authors were speaking. He used these simple, but elegant techniques to create an impressive history.
~ 50 ~
This is the first of a threepart series. This article discusses storyboarding to plan your documentary. The second part discusses building the slideshow. Last we’ll talk about adding the special effects and options for distribution.
We family historians can use these same elements to create our own family documentaries. We may not want to tackle a project as large as Mr. Burns' epics, but we do have many compelling stories of our own and this is a great way to bring them to life. You probably already have the tools you need to create your documentary right on your computer. Windows users have Movie Maker, Photo Gallery and Sound Recorder. Mac users have iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band. Add either Microsoft OfSice, iWork or OpenOfSice.org and you have your own production studio ready and waiting for you. Upcoming articles will detail the documentary production process, but in this edition we're going to tackle the toughest part of the project ‐ storyboarding. A storyboard is a collection of sketches and notes used to visualize what you want your documentary to look like. This not only helps you build your story's timeline, but is a good way to choose which graphical elements will be used and where. You can use note cards for your storyboard, shufSling them around until you're happy with the timeline. Even sticky notes could serve the purpose. I've found that my presentation software ‐ iWork’s Keynote ‐ works best for me.
~ 51 ~
I start by using Keynote's Outline view to build my story points. It's easy to move a topic around in the outline ‐ just drag the slide to the new location. Here, I've decided that the Scenic Ranch slide should come right after the Wild West & Old Florida Collide slide, so all I need to do is drag the slide in the Outline pane until I have it where I want it.
Next, I use the slide area to display possible images, video clips or graphics that I want included at each point in the story. As shown here, the drawing tools are handy to show how the image should be cropped or what areas need to be edited for color or lighting.
~ 52 ~
The notes area will be where most of my story‐building effort is expressed. At the beginning of the planning process it may only have a few notes, but as I build my story, the notes area offers a place to describe what I want to see and hear at each point in the story. Yes, even my script can be built here in my notes. In addition to Sleshing out my story and timeline, I will also want to include production notes. For example, if I am showing a group shot and want to zoom in on one individual, that’s included in my notes.
a simple technique that moved across and into each photo. . . that technique is now named the Ken Burns effect. ~53 ~
Other things to consider are color schemes for backgrounds, titles and other graphical elements. Which fonts do I want to use? Am I going to Sill the screen with an image or display it in a frame? My storyboard will be a work in progress up to the moment my documentary is Sinished. As the details of my project shape up, the storyboard shows which elements I already have and which I need to collect or even create. In this Ranch project, you've seen that I need to build a logo, Sind some fonts and crop some photos. I might need to coerce Sind family or neighbors to do some of the voice‐overs so I can include their memories or excerpts from old letters in my documentary. During the production effort, the storyboard contains my script and serves as a task list showing what has been done and what still needs work.
~ 54 ~
It's easy to print a storyboard ‐ just choose the Notes option in the print properties. This way, I can easily reference my notes even when I’m out on a photo shoot or knee‐deep in my movie‐making software. The storyboard takes time to develop and Sine‐tune, but it’s much easier to make your changes and adjustments here. Once your movie project is 70‐80% complete, changes are going to be a lot more time‐consuming. I’ll be the Sirst to admit to an impulsive nature, but I’ve found the hard way that advance planning just makes sense ‐ and a better Sinished product. With storyboard in hand, I’ll start bringing the Circle B Ranch to life by building the slideshow and recording the narrative. Then, the following month I’ll add the special effects and credits and look at distribution options. Then there’s the all‐important premier to organize. After all that hard work, of course there’s going to be a premier! Stay tuned ‐ we’re just getting started! Resources:
❖ All photos are from the author’s personal collection. ❖ My storyboard was built using iWork’s Keynote software. The same functionality is
available using Microsoft’s PowerPoint, Corel’s Presentations or OpenOfSice.orgs’ Impress applications. OpenOfSice.org is a free download.
❖ To learn more about your movie‐making software, you can check out Apple’s iLife or Microsoft’s Movie Maker and Photo Gallery (part of Windows Live Essentials).
~ 55 ~
Everything Old
footnoteMaven and Her Photographs Celebrate Christmas Past!
Photographs were a part of the fabric of Christmas from their inception, as gifts and as that unblinking eye capturing the past. Photographers urged their customers to select a
photograph to be given to a loved one. A Christmas message could be written on the front of the photograph, or a more personal message written on the reverse. Ethel Blanchard sent her message on the reverse to “Seth my love. Merry Christmas.”
In the collection of the author
WITH LOVE FROM ME TO YOU
Seth my love Ethel M. Blanchard Merry Christmas Card mounted photograph Hatch Studio Bath, ME ca. 1900
~ 56 ~
Is New Again
Queen Alexandra’s studio portrait included with the Gift Book.
THE CHRISTMAS PHOTO BOOK Queen Alexandra owned one of the first Kodak cameras. She enjoyed photography and showed samples of her craft in one or two public exhibitions. In 1907, she was asked, and agreed, to develop a Christmas Gift Book of her snapshots with the proceeds to go to charity. It was published in 1908 by Britain’s Daily Telegraph and marketed with the help of Kodak Limited.
The book contained photographs of King Edward VII of Great Britain and members of his family and entourage, and members of other royal families. The book included both original photographs and printed reproductions of photographs. Amateur photographers were urged to emulate the Queen’s style and produce their own photo books.
Queen Alexandraʼs Christmas Gift Book can be viewed online at the Internet Archive and Web Shots.
~ 57 ~
STICK IT TO ME Photographers purchased metallic stickers proclaiming “A Merry Xmas” and attached them to cabinet cards. It made use of photographs taken earlier i n t h e ye a r a n d p rov i d e d t h e p h o t o g r a p h e r w i t h a n o t h e r
In the collection of the author
opportunity to use existing stock.
Cabinet Card & Sticker Metallic Sticker “A Merry Xmas” I.H. Oliver 81 William ST N Lindsay ca. 1900
Reverse: Oliver’s New Studio, 128 Kent St. Next Door To Anderson & Nugent’s Furniture Store As I have removed from William St.
Christmas Greetings To Be Sent With A Cartedevisite 1888 There's room for you, dear, in the carte, And once in it together, We'd drive through life in it, sweetheart, Whatever the weather!
~ 58 ~
In the collection of the author
YOUʼRE INVITED
Christ M. E. Sabbath School Christmas Jubilee December 25th, 1870, at 21/2 P.M. ADMIT ONE
This is the oldest example I own of a photograph being used with regard to Christmas. In 1870, The Christ M. E. Sabbath School printed tickets for its Christmas Jubilee on the back of a carte‐de‐visite. The mystery associated with this photograph is whether the young man pictured was a student or a member of the faculty. Did each student get a ticket on the back of their own photograph or did the ticket go on the back of the teacher's photograph to serve as a memento?
Christmas Greetings To a Successful Photographer 1888 Dear Friend,—Whilst you pass a glad Christmas, And a New Year sufSiciently bright, May each pair of your excellent negatives Prove a "positive" source of delight!
~ 59 ~
LOOK WHAT I GOT! These are the photographs taken of all the beautiful toys under the tree. A photograph crafted to preserve the moment just before the lucky child dives into their Christmas treasures. This was a very fortunate child indeed. A Keepie doll, a china set and a Paddington bear. Below Mother Goose,
Collection of the author
a wash board, a buggy and more dolls.
Just see what Santa Claus brought me, Christmas Morning. Hope you will have a Happy New Year. Yours Helene All the postcards are addressed to Charles & Nannie Malmedie of New Bedford, Mass.
Collection of the author
More of the Christmas past of Helene Louise Carr.
~ 60 ~
JUST HANGING OUT Here is an early 1900 photograph that d e m o n s t ra t e s e x a c t ly w h a t o u r ancestors did with those photographs they received as Christmas gifts. Yes, they hung them on the tree. Notice the calendar on the wall uses a photograph as well. One of the early photographic magazines suggested that Collection of the author
to make your own calendar you should Sirst secure a free calendar from a local business, remove their photograph and replace it with your own. Very crafty!
THANK YOU! In 1909, Helene Louise Carr found a wonderful way to use Christmas photographs. First, she photographed her Christmas gifts, then she had the photograph made into postcards and mailed them as a thank you note to the gift giver. She also used them to brag a
Collection of the author
bit. Dec. 25, 1909 Dear Aunt Nannie Just see what a fine big dollie Santa Claus brought me. The little one was peeking out of my stocking and I didn’t know which one to grab first. Wish you a Happy New Year Yours Helene Louise Carr ~ 61 ~
Art or Erotica? Fine Art or Filthy Smut?
Photography or Pornography?
Sensual or Sexual? Nude or Naked?
APPEALING SUBJECTS
art, photography and law THE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE NAKED AND THE NUDE CRAIG MANSON
The image on the opposite page is said by many to be the most famous nude painting in the world. Called La Maya denuda, it was painted by the great Spanish artist Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746 – 1828), known as Francisco Goya. He painted La Maya denuda sometime between 1797 and 1800. Its public display immediately provoked outrage in Catholic Spain. There is nothing inherent in Catholicism, Christianity, or Spanish culture that necessarily prohibits depictions of nudity. Indeed, in the early Church, it was not unusual to see nude depictions of saints, Jesus, God the Father, or even ordinary people in religious art. But later, social and religious attitudes began to grapple with the philosophical meanings of the uncovered human body. In so doing, nakedness came to be associated with evil or immorality. And that may have had to do with interpretations of Old Testament passages that linked nakedness with shame: Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one.
Isiah 47:3 (New International Version)
Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is become as an unclean thing; All that honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: Yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward. Lamentations 1:8.
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But a famous recent churchman had this to say: The human body can remain nude and uncovered and preserve intact its splendor and its beauty... Nakedness as such is not to be equated with physical shamelessness... Immodesty is present only when nakedness plays a negative role with regard to the value of the person...The human body is not in itself shameful... Shamelessness (just like shame and modesty) is a function of the interior of a person. Karol Cardinal Woytyla (later, John Paul II), Love and Responsibility, translation by H. T. Willetts, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York: 1981. Cardinal Woytyla's statement reSlects a dichotomy between the nude and the naked which has long characterized the philosophical debate in Western culture. In response to the outrage that La Maya denuda provoked, Goya painted another portrait depicting the same woman fully clothed. The paintings hang side by side in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. La Maya denuda
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As the Traditional Fine Arts Organization observed in introducing its exhibit, The Great American Nude, in 2002: The nude has been a constant and enduring theme in American art despite our country's Puritan beginnings. . . the nude human form is a recurrent obsession of American artists. It was inevitable that the nude would become "a recurrent obsession" of photographers. And like so much else, we have the French to blame for that. Some of the earliest nude photography was done by Félix‐Jacques Antoine Moulin (1802– 1875). In 1849, Moulin opened a photographer's shop in Paris where he produced daguerreotypes of teenaged girls. In 1851, Moulin's work was conSiscated, and he was sentenced to one month of imprisonment for the "obscene" character of his works, "so obscene that even to pronounce the titles (...) would be to commit an indecency," so said the court. But in an online comment accompanying images of Moulin's pictures, the Metropolitan Museum of Art says that his work
seems more allied to art than to erotica. Absent are the boudoir props, gaudy jewelry, and provocative poses typical of hand‐ colored pornographic daguerreotypes and the stifSly held classical poses of photographic "academies" ostensibly intended for artists as substitutes for the live model.
Nu feminin allonge, Amelie ("Recumbent female nude, Amélie") [painted by FelixJacques Antoine Moulin, c. 1852-53] Courtesy Wikipedia Commons [public domain] (location of original unknown)
In the meanwhile, in America, photographers gingerly, then more boldly, began photographing a variety of nudes. Many nude photographs were referred as "life studies" or "art details from life." But then there the naked Daguerreotypes and cartes de visite modeled on French examples. These were often sold surreptitiously from under the counters of grocers and pharmacists in the larger cities. There also "Sine art" nude portraits and so‐called medical study nudes.
Photograph from R.W. Shufledt, M.D., (Maj., U.S. Army Medical Dept., ret.) Studies of the human form for artists, sculptors, and scientists (Philadelphia: F.A. Davis & Co., 1908)
It is difSicult to estimate how many photographers made pictures of unclothed people in the nineteenth century, or for what purpose because many of those who did so did it anonymously. A great deal of debate surrounded whether photography was art at all or rather some merely mechanical process to produce with Sidelity what the eye had seen. Put this way,
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photography of nudes was likely to be short‐changed. The argument photography and especially nude photographs were not art had much to do with the "uncompromising truthfulness of photography." This point of view is explained by a 1906 correspondent writing to The Photographic Times: I think it probable the objections to the Nude in Photography will always remain and are more likely to become more pronounced than to be softened, and I think so for these reasons : The nude in sculpture or in painting never possesses the personality which must always attach to a photograph. The nude in art is accepted only as an ideality, and as representing the ideal Sigure, not as portraiture. This is not possible in photography. The ideal Sigure does not exist entire in any model, and the photograph does not lend itself to composition like painting or sculpture. The photograph is and must remain a portrait of the model and the model must always fall below the ideal. The difference is the difference between nudity and nakedness. The statue is an ideality and is nude. The photo is and must remain a picture of nakedness. It is simply a portrait of somebody unclothed, and it must, therefore, be as uninteresting as the same Sigure clothed would be, except to the prurient fancy which cares only for the nakedness. The Photographic Times, Vol. 29, p. 297, May 1897. This apparent distinction between the "naked" and the "nude" seems to have always had a bit of social class distinction in it. For example, William Root Bliss, scholar of colonial life, in a chapter called "The Comedy and Tragedy of the Pulpit," in his 1894 work Side Glimpses from the Colonial Meeting House, writes "of the theories of modern art:" . . . there is a vast difference between the naked and the nude; that, although an uncultivated mind can appreciate the immodesty of nakedness, only an educated mind can understand the purity of the nude.
it is difficult to estimate how many photographers made pictures of unclothed people in the nineteenth century . . .many of those who did so did it anonymously. ~ 67 ~
A later writer observed: Even the law recognizes this distinction. Photographs of pictures of nude studies are on sale in picture‐shops without let or hindrance, but photographs of the naked human Sigure are liable to immediate conSiscation. "The Naked and the Nude" in The PhotoAmerican, Vol. 17, p. 215‐216 (1906)
"Fernande Nude" (one of a series), c. 1910-1917, by Jean Agelou (1878-1921) Courtesy Wikipedia Commons [public domain; location of original unknown]
". . . an uncultivated mind can appreciate the immodesty of nakedness [but] only an educated mind can understand the purity of the nude."
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The debate about nude photography coincided with the rise to prominence of a man named Anthony J. Comstock, a native of Connecticut who settled in New York City after federal service during the civil War. He began a personal campaign against obscenity after having observed the rather free trafSicking in what he considered obscene. It would become his life's work and deSine national attitudes. Comstock became a U.S. postal inspection agent and secretary of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. For those who think the "culture wars" were an invention of the late 20th century, one need only examine the vitriol hurled back and forth between Comstock and his opponents a hundred years earlier. Anthony Comstock (1844-1915)
Comstock did a lot of writing, but among his most
famous pieces is a tract called Traps for the Young. In a chapter entitled Artistic and Cultural Traps, he writes: Lewd pictures breed hurtful thoughts. This axiom stands out above all argument. Reckless of moral disease, unconscious of the harm these silent agencies of the evil one are working upon the minds open to such immoral inSluences, many book and picture merchants, for personal gain, are placing these things prominently in their stock to allure purchasers. That there is a demand for the licentious there can be no question. That there is an erroneous notion abroad about photographs or cheap copies of works of art, and cheap and popular editions of obscene so‐called classics, is equally true. The same is true of many pictures or paintings that have no claim to art. Because some foul‐minded man places his Silthy conceptions upon canvas is no reason why such a daub should be protected under the name of art. Art is high and exalted. Its worth commands respect. Its intrinsic value is derived from its perfection.
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Comstock continued: Is a photograph of an obscene Sigure or picture a work of art ? My answer is emphatically, No. A work of art is made up of many elements that are wanting in a photograph of the same, precisely as there is a marked difference between a woman in her proper womanly apparel and modest appearance, and when shorn of all these and posed in a lewd posture. Because we are above savages, we clothe our nakedness. Anthony Comstock, Traps for the Young(New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 3rd Ed., 1883), pp. 170, 171. Comstock convinced Congress and many state legislatures to adopt anti‐obscenity laws in the late 19th century. These statutes generally prohibited the transportation and delivery of "obscene, lewd or lascivious materials" and also banned the use of the mails to deliver information pertaining to birth control. Comstock personally investigated numerous cases of alleged obscenity and carried on a vicious debate free‐speech advocates. The statutes gave no meaningful guidance. And the courts were not much better. In a New York case, the defendant was accused of "selling a certain indecent and obscene photograph, representing a nude female in a lewd, obscene, indecent, scandalous and lascivious attitude and posture." The only real issue in the case was whether the photograph was in fact obscene. AfSirming his conviction, the New York appellate court observed: The statute has not particularly described what, within its intent and purpose, should be considered obscene or indecent. But as these are words of well known signiSication, it must have been intended by the legislature in the enactment of this law, to use them in their popular sense and understanding. And they consequently include all pictures, drawings, and photographs of an indecent and immoral tendency, intending to include as obscene such as are offensive to chastity, demoralizing and sensual in their character, by exposing what purity and decency forbid to be shown, and productive of libidinous and lewd thoughts, or emotions.
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Untitled postcard of the sort popular in the late 19th century. Courtesy of Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City Photographer and date unknown Original held by Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City, New York, NY
And how might a jury come to a verdict in such a matter? The court said: The difference between [illegal] photographs and pictures, and those which, avoiding all indecency of position, are calculated by their symmetry, beauty, or purity, simply to inspire admiration, or produce emotions of chaste pleasure, is striking and apparent to all. In the one case the effect is coarse, demoralizing and sensual, while in the other the chaste elegance and beauty would not be debasing, but reSining, by the degree of admiration produced by it. While the former class would be debasing and vicious, the latter would be productive of no such effects. And it is in this manner particularly that the photographs produced upon the trial and argument of this case are clearly distinguishable from those productions which are tolerated and commended by the intelligent judgment of the community. People v. Muller, 2 NY Crim. Rep. 279, 287 (Sup.Ct., 1st Div., Gen. Term 1884). ~ 71 ~
The accused further appealed to New York's highest court, which also afSirmed the conviction, noting: It does not require an expert in art or literature to determine whether a picture is obscene or indecent, or whether printed words are offensive to decency and good morals. These are matters which fall within the range of ordinary intelligence, and a jury does not require to be informed by an expert before pronouncing upon them. It is evident that mere nudity in painting or sculpture is not obscenity. Some of the great works in painting and sculpture, as all know, represent nude human forms. It is a false delicacy and mere prudery which would condemn and banish from sight all such objects as obscene, simply on account of their nudity. If the test of obscenity or indecency in a picture or statue is its capability of suggesting impure thoughts, then indeed all such representations might be considered as indecent or obscene. The presence of a woman of the purest character and of the most modest behavior or bearing, may suggest to a prurient imagination images of lust, and arouse impure desires, and so it is of any picture or statue. The question whether a picture or writing is obscene, is one of the plainest that can be presented to a jury, and under the guidance of a discreet judge there is little danger of their reaching a wrong conclusion. People v. Muller, 2 N.Y. Crim. Rep. 375, 377, 379 (Ct.App. 1884). So the legal standard seems to have been: the jury knows what the words "obscene," "lewd," and "lascivious" mean and the jury can tell the difference between what's obscene and what's art. In the 1964 case of Jacobellis v. Ohio, Justice Potter Stewart famously declared, almost as if he were nodding to the New York court, that I shall not today attempt further to deSine the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that. Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964).
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Photographing the naked and the nude will certainly always remain popular and at once controversial. In the twentieth century, much energy was expended on trying to draw lines and articulate deSinitions. That century gave us photographers such as Edward Weston, Robert Mapplethorpe, Ellen von Unwerth and Leonard Nimoy, all of whom found the nude to be among their most spectacular subjects. In 1973, the United Supreme Court issued its most deSinitive pronouncement yet about the distinction between the lewd and the nude. The Court reiterated its long held position that '"obscene" speech is not protected by the First Amendment. But said Chief Justice Warren Burger writing for the Court, The basic guidelines for the [jury] must be: (a) whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards" would Sind that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest . . . (b) whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct speciSically deSined by the applicable state law; and (c) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientiSic value. Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 24‐25 (1973). [Hear the oral arguments before the court, here, here, and here.] (Audio courtesy of The Oyez Project). Justice Brennan dissented, expressing his belief that neither the Court nor the Congress nor the States could ever adequately distinguish the naked from the nude. Unfortunately, that may turn out to be his most enduring statement from a lengthy and active career as a judge. A most recent controversy seems to underscore the fact that in the 21st century, just as in the preceding four hundred years, some still can't tell the difference between the naked and the nude, even in the most apparently innocent of circumstances. Unless handled with exceeding care the camera is liable to present the naked instead of the nude, and when that happens the result falls into the category of indecency, instead of art.
The American Amateur Photographer, Vol. 18, p. 374
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Map of Towanda Township
THE HEALING BRUSH
reconstructing a community “ONE PHOTO AT A TIME” GEORGE GEDER
I have learned that some of my Ancestors come out of Towanda, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. What was that community about? What pictures and documents do I have that, in some small way, can help me understand that place and time? I had visited there twice in the 1980's. There, I met some wonderful folks at the Bradford County Historical Society (BCHS), who combed their resources and gave me everything they could Sind about my family. It has been at least 20 years and I'm way overdue for a re‐visit. For now, let's work with what I have to put a face on the 'Negro colony' of Towanda. First, let's look at the Towanda Township Map that was given to me by the BCHS. I don't know the date or source. I believe it was made around the turn of the century (1900). I'll wager that the street layout is the same today. The river at the bottom of the township map is the Susquehanna. By 1987, I had moved out of the area and didn't have contact again until 1998. Thanks to email, I began to correspond with then BCHS ofSicer Denise Golden and a few volunteers. I joined the BCHS that year (time and distance has regrettably let that lapse). My bad, as they say.
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Photocopies of obituaries, announcements, index cards and other text were sent to me by snail mail. Not only of my family, but of any African Americans they could Sind at the time.
Then I get this document:
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The Sirst paragraph states “Towanda – The 13,500 Ott & H a y G l a s s p l a t e n e g a t i v e collection at the Bradford County Historical Society has aroused much interest in not only having p h o t o s m a d e f r o m i t b u t c u r i o s i t y c o n c e r n i n g t h e photographers themselves as well as other Bradford County photographers.” The second page begins with “The Sirst picture the new Sirm of Ott & Hay took, was of two little black children.” The timeframe for this new Sirm, according to the article is sometime in the early 1890's. Wow! Denise informs me that there are two 'Geters' in this collection and I make the purchase. Emma & Bessie Geter. They appear to be in their teens and that would date the photos between 1890 and 1897. The serial numbers on the back of the photos were 3449 and 3450. Although the lighting is different, I believe that the pictures were taken on the same day.
Bradford County Historical Society 109 Pine Street Towanda, PA 18848
Curator's Blog: Click to visit the Curator's Blog! Facebook Page: Click to visit us on Facebook!
Research Library: 570-265-2240 Managing Curator: 570-265-7652 Fax: 570-268-2964
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This made me look at the birth dates of Emma, Bessie, and their sister Anna. Emma was born in 1878; Bessie, or Elizabeth, in 1879; and Anna in 1888. By the way, they are the daughters of my great grandfather's brother, Jeremiah Jeter. Don't get hung up on the spelling of the surname as it's all over the place. They are my Sirst cousins twice removed.
This tintype is most likely of Emma & Bessie a little younger. Perhaps Anna is just a toddler. So far, sibling Anna hasn't been identiSied in any of the unlabeled photographs I possess.
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In this picture, the lady sitting is Anna Florence Ghant‐Jeter, mother of Emma, Bessie, and Anna. Behind her on the left is her mother‐in‐law Emma Jeter; to the right is Harriet Melvin Jeter, her sister‐in‐law. Yes, they are married to brothers. The date on this photo is before 1881 because that is the year Emma had passed.
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At the beginning of this article I mentioned that there was a 'Negro colony' in Towanda. I learned of that oddly named description from this article about the African M.E. Church being torn down in 1949. Perhaps hard to read on the screen, it states in part, “A landmark here for the past 95 years … on State Street... At that time Towanda had a fairly large Negro colony...” If you look closely on the map, you'll see the location of the church. It is in the block between Second and Third Street. There were, of course, other African Americans of note besides my family living in Towanda, Pennsylvania. It is my rekindled desire to reconstruct this community of my Ancestors and learn more about it. Stay tuned!
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18TH EDITION - TRAVEL
A Man, an Indian Motorcycle, a Mode of Travel to the Carnival! - fM
MarieB's Genealogy Blog ‐‐ Southeastern USA Info on people places and things helpful in my genealogy research. My contribution is a picture of my Uncle Morris B. Cooke (my Dad's brother) on his Indian Motorcycle. I'm not sure what year this was taken. My guess would be late 1940's/early 1950s. I believe the motorcycle would be a model made some time in the mid‐40s. My Cooke family lived in Old Hickory, TN. (This is MarieB’s submission to the 18th Edition of Smile for the Camera.)
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Marie Beckman Grucz Hanceville, Alabama United States Wife, Mother (& Teacher), Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Friend, Student, Family History Researcher, Web Page Designer, Computer Tinkerer, Book Collector, Music Enthusiast, Gardener
If a picture is worth a thousand words, why can't words be worth a thousand pictures? That's the premise behind Smile For The Camera ~ A Carnival of Images. Smile is a monthly showcase of articles that feature the very best of family photographs or those orphan photographs contained in your collection. The goal of this carnival is to provide a regular showcase of the best of those cherished photographs and articles based on word prompts. Smile is a feature of ShadesOfTheDeparted.com. The word prompt for December is GIFT! Visit Shades to submit your post. Deadline is the 10th of each month, midnight Pacific Time.
Coming to Shades – New Year Denise Olson’s The Future of Memories starts bringing the Circle B Ranch to life by building the slideshow and recording the narrative.
The New Year is the perfect time to revisit copyright with
Appealing Subjects
And More! ANSWERS TO DEAR SANTA: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
The Essential Guide - For Archiving & Restoration December 2009
Craig Manson Caroline Pointer Penny Dreadful Denise Olson Maureen Taylor Rebecca Fenning Vickie Everhart Donna Pointkouski footnoteMaven
THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
A PHOTOGRAPHER NAMED CHRISTMAS! This Imprint & Logo - Here is a logo found at the base of the front of a cabinet card and the same photographer’s imprint on the reverse of a cabinet card. The imprint served two functions. It claimed ownership and it advertised. These imprints are a wonderful source of information for dating a family photograph as well as offering historical information. Christmas advertised that duplicates could be procured at any time, and the instantaneous process was used exclusively. Henry J. Christmas operated a photography studio with his partner F. J. Savigny on the ground floor of a building opposite the Lansing House in Lansing, Michigan. The Lansing House was purchased in 1887 by Henry J. Downey. At that time the hotel became the Downey House. Both cabinet cards have the Lansing House advertising and therefore, should have been produced prior to 1887. Had the cards been a printed surplus still used by the photographers after 1887, they would have been no older than 1891; as in 1891, the State Republican announced that Savigny had sold his interest in the photography studio to Christmas.