Saturday, November 17, 2012

Sepia Saturday #152 - 1890's Victorian Book Club


As usual with the Sepia Saturday theme posts I never know which way I'm going to go until I start perusing my photo collection.  My mind was leaning one way until I came upon this cabinet card from the 1890's and I laughingly corresponded it to the book clubs of today. The photo shows a group of young people consisting of six women and three men circling around the two people in the center who are holding a book which is unfortunately unidentified.   Wouldn't it be great if we knew what book they were reading?  Of course, this photograph was probably just posed by the photographer and they were not really reading the book at all, but we can pretend otherwise.

Unfortunately none of the subjects of this photograph were identified   The photographer was Charles R. Babcock, born in Iowa in December 1864 a son of Celagh and Jane Babcock.  In 1894 he married Lottie M. Snyder the daughter of John H. Snyder. By doing an Internet search on the photographer I found a number of his photographs, but very little further information.

Click here to see more bookish photos and stories at Sepia Saturday.

16 comments:

  1. This really is a lovely and fascinating photograph. I wonder what the backstory is behind it. It would be interesting to know who these people are and why this photo was taken.

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  2. Interesting that there are 6 ladies and only 3 men.

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  3. They all look so formal! I'll bet it's some kind of club, organization, civic group. Or a school thing...I'm always glad I didn't live back then; wearing all those clothes would have driven me nuts!

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    1. I too thought that it was probably a school or church group. And I agree, no way could I wear those clothes - I am too hot- natured, I would have been miserable with those high necklines, long sleeves, and voluminous skirts!

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  4. You mentioned that the picture was probably posed. If you enlarge it and look at their facial expressions, I think you will agree with me that the word 'probably' is somewhat superfluous. The group resembles the Madame Tussaud museum (wax statues).
    I wonder why these people went to the photographer. I mean, they must have something in common to do this. So also in that sense it is a very special picture.

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  5. It seems like that might be a young people's church group. They seem to have had more women than men.

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  6. Peter and I have been hanging around each other too long. I thought too the group looks like a bunch of wax figures. It's a pity that the effort to create a natural pose resulted in a rather odd assortment of fixed gazes. It would be fun to know how these people were connected. Maybe the faculty of a school??

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  7. What a great photo. I agree that it looks like a group of teachers. It reminds me a little of the Dutch painters' pictures of Regents or Burghers.

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  8. I vote for a graduating class for a small church college as they look older than high school. Two young ladies have the same dress. Sisters? Definitely models for a wax museum.

    There was a period I think just in the 1890s when this style of "everyone look in different directions" group photo was popular. I've been looking for references in old photo journals but haven't turned up where it first starts or why.

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  9. My first impression of this photo is that it reminds me of an Impressionist painting by someone like Manet, where the individuals are looking in different directions (similar to what Mike just wrote). I wonder if this style of photography was influenced by artists and painters?

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  10. They do look sort of waxy and also they are looking off in so many different directions. Oh, I see that was a style in the 1890s. Two of the young men look enough alike to be brothers.

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  11. It is a great photo. Isn't it strange how faces on CdV's and Cabinet Cards all tend to look very similar no matter which corner of the world they were taken. One could put together a theory of a "universal pose"

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  12. I think they look like a family of siblings. It's interesting how they are all looking off in different directions. I see this has been remarked upon already. Also interesting is how the women are dressed so similarly, and the men as well.

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  13. I would love to know what the clothing colors were. Was that plaid shirt subtle or garish? I tend to think of the clothing as being black but they could really have been almost any deep shade. Interesting photograph.

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