Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - 1890's Williamsport Woman

This cabinet card of a well-dressed, but unidentified woman from Williamsport, PA is somewhat faded, but is too interesting not to post. She is quite fashionable for a 1890's woman;  I would put the photo somewhere around 1895 due to the high puffy sleeves and neckline.  Oh and let's not forget that hat!  With the very large bow and white flowers it is quite the fashion statement. The white flowers on the dark fabric of her dress really "pops."  She is standing next to a chair with a coverlet of some type.

The photographer was R. Y. Nice, Cor. 3rd Market St. Williamsport, PA.  I didn't find much when I Googled him, but I did locate him on Ancestry.com in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. The 1900 census lists his name as Robert Y. age 51, born Jan 1949 in Pennsylvania, father from England, mother from Pennsylvania.  He was married in 1873 to wife Margaret H. and they had three grown, unmarried children living with them at the time, Perry H. age 22, Robert Tomb (interesting name) age 21 and Eleanor age 23.  In the 1910 census, all three children are still living with them.

Update:  I have to admit to being set in my ways.  In the first paragraph, I mention how faded the photo is.  One of my readers pointed out that if I used Picasa's "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature it would help the photo.  Would you believe I have had Picasa for several years but never use it because I am comfortable using Windows Photo Gallery?  I know Picasa has better features, I just hate change!  Looking at the difference between the two pictures, I think it's time I started using it.

Sepia Saturday #123 - The Doll's Maypole Dance

When I saw the theme announced for this week's Sepia Saturday, "May Day Around the May Pole" I knew I had the perfect photo.  When I picked up this stereograph some time ago in an antique store I had no idea what I would ever do with it and voila!  the perfect opportunity just arose.

This photo was published by Webster & Albee, Publishers, Rochester, NY and according to O. Henry Mace, Collecter's Guide to Early Photographs (2nd Edition) 1999 this particular stereograph is probably quite worthless.  A stereograph is a "pair of photographs, usually taken with a binocular camera, mounted for three-dimensional viewing in a stereoscope."  The concept was conceived by Charles Wheatstone, a British physicist, and introduced in 1851, the peak years being 1858 - 1905 and literally "thousands of theme series were produced."  In this particular case the subject is quite ordinary and the corners are damaged so the photo is of no value, except of course for this week's Sepia Saturday!

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Civil War Era Reading, PA Woman

This CDV of an attractive, well dressed woman was most likely taken in the 1860's.  She is wearing an unusual hat/bonnet with red, hand-colored flowers and tied under the chin.  She is also wearing a fur collar and hand muff along with a long outer coat, not sure what it was called.  Note the huge bow tied around her neck, looks very uncomfortable to me.  She looks very elegant and most likely came from a well-to-do family. There is no identification on this woman.

The photographer was  Samuel Clark, 539 Penn Street, over Neff's Store, Reading, PA.  By Googling his name, I found several other Civil War era photographs taken by him including those some soldiers, but was unable to find any more information on the photographer himself.  

Sepia Saturday #122 - Cypress Gardens - Florida

I can't find any family pictures that depict this week's Sepia Saturday theme, Gardens, but I do have these vintage Florida postcards that seem to fit.

These two postcards show Cypress Gardens, a historic Florida attraction that opened as a botanical garden on 2 Jan 1936 and later became known for its water ski shows, lush gardens and Southern Belles.  It became known as the "Water Ski Capitol of the World" and a string of Esther Williams movies were filmed there.  The park was severely damaged by several hurricanes in 2004 and never reopened.  In 2010 Merlin Entertainments bought the park with the intention of using it for the fifth Legoland.  (Wikipedia)  A sad end to a true Florida institution.

Please check out all the other green thumbs at Sepia Saturday.

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Funny Hat in Milwaukee

This unidentified woman from Milwaukee is wearing a hat like I have never seen before.  It appears to be made of fabric with artificial leaves and jewelry added for decoration.  I am not exactly sure how to date this photo but I do know it was most likely taken between 1893 and 1920.  I suspect the date to be around 1900 - 1905.  She has quite a sassy smile as well.

The photo was taken at The Wollensak Studio, 500 National Ave., Milwaukee.  The photographer was William Wollensak born Jun 1857 New York, parents born in Germany.  According to Milwaukee city directories he moved to the 500 National Avenue address after the 1891-1892 edition.  I found William in the 1900 and 1910 census working as a photographer but in the 1920 census he was listed as retired.  These facts are how I determined the 1893 - 1920 time span in first paragraph.  

Sepia Saturday #121 - Flight from Coffeyville?

I didn't have any idea what I was going to use for this week's theme at Sepia Saturday "Flight".  As far as I know no one in my family ever had any aviation history, no war time aviators, no pilots, no stewardesses, no airplane stories gone bad.  However, I do have this one orphan picture I picked up somewhere that I can share.  It shows five people, three men and two women in front of a small plane.  There is no identification of the people or location and if I had to guess I would date it to be in the 1940 - 50's.  It appears to say on the plane perhaps, "Coffeyville Airways Corp or Co."  There is a Coffeyville, Kansas Municipal Airport so perhaps it is from this area.  Wherever it was these people look happy to and ready to fly!

Please soar on over to Sepia Saturday and check out the other great "Flight" stories from this week!

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Who is She?

This unidentified, well-dressed woman was photographed by Fred Hartsook of California probably between 1915 and the early 1920's. Hartsook, a well-known California photographer of silent era actors was born in 26 Oct 1896 in Marion Indiana.  According to Wikipedia he was born into a family of successful photographers and as a young man moved to Salt Lake City and began his own photography business.  In 1901 he married Florence Newcomb, a photographer as well.  They traveled around Utah taking photos with a team of mules pulling a homemade darkroom.  If you look closely in the lower right hand corned you can see the Hartsook embossment which matches the Hartsook name in the copyright image below.

Eventually they settled in California where he opened studios in a number of cities including Los Angeles and San Francisco.  His clients included Mary Pickford, Charles Lindbergh, Lillian Gish and President Woodrow Wilson.  I've looked at hundreds of Google images and have half convinced myself that this could be Mary Pickford.  

In 1919 Hartsook remarried Bess Hesby and they honeymooned in the redwood forest of Humboldt County, CA.  They eventually purchased their honeymoon cabin and 37 surrounding acres turning the cabin into the Hartsook Inn where many Hollywood celebrities stayed including Mary Pickford and Bing Crosby.  A forest fire burned down the inn in 1927 and in 1928 the photographic business went into receivership and was sold at auction.  Fred died on 30 Sep 1930 at age 53 of a heart attack.  His wife would live for another 46 years.

Easter Wishes!

These Easter wishes were sent on this embossed postcard from a mother to her daughter on April 14,1911:

The back of the card reads, "Dear Daughter, We are all well, hope you are the same.  I suppose you will be home Easter this is all.  Good by From Mom".  It was addressed to Bess Kamiff in Van Wert, Ohio.

Sepia Saturday #120 Library - NJ State Normal School Trenton

I've been on a hiatus from all my blogs the last couple of weeks, well from the computer actually due to severe back pain.  After working on the computer all day at my office the last thing I want to do when I come home is sit down in another desk chair and type!  I've missed the last couple of Sepia Saturdays and when I checked today and saw that this week's topic was "Library" I knew I had just the thing!  I have this great postcard I bought to post on my other blog, RogersFamilyHistory which I write about my husband's family.  His grandfather Alvin S. Rogers and great-grandfather Elmer H. Rogers were both well known doctors in Trenton, NJ in the early 1900's.  Somewhere in all my piles and piles of "stuff" I know I have documentation that Alvin attended the NJ State Normal School in Trenton, at least for a time. However, I cannot find this document and so have not posted this postcard on that blog. Therefore it will be perfect for today's post on  Sepia Saturday!

The postcard was posted in 1908 from someone named Minnie, evidently a student and it was sent to Miss Florence Melville in Newark, NJ.  Minnie had this to say:

"Every thing is very much different up here, but I am having a good time, although we have to study.  I suppose you are having a dandy time now.  Love from Minnie - Normal Hall Trenton, NJ"

Celebrate National Library Week by checking out these other bookish posts at Sepia Saturday!