Fashionable Friday - 1864 - 65 New York City Woman by Famed Photographer Bogardus

This young woman sat for her photograph between 1864 - 1865 for famed photographer Abraham Bogardus of New York City.  An early pioneer of photography, Bogardus went to New York in 1837 to learn Daguerreotypy  from G.  W. Prosch.  Within a short time of opening his own studio he was giving up to eighty sitting or more a week.  Eventually the paper photograph replaced the Daguerreotype and Bogardus moved his gallery to Broadway and Franklin to meet the demand.  The popularity of the Carte-de-Visite (CDV) was such that he kept three skylights busy and delivered hundreds of CDV's per day.

This young woman is seated for her photo and is wearing a military style dress.  I love the trim on her bodice, forearms and epaulats.  We know the date of the sitting by the revenue stamp on the back of the photo.  She is unidentified.

For more information on Abraham Bogardus please check out this website:  Alphonsegallery

Fashionable Friday - Early 1860' s (Victorian Era) New York City Woman (Pregnant?)

This lovely New York City woman was photographed by famed photographer Bogardus about 1863 - 64.  She is wearing what appears to be a light, cotton print dress with short sleeves so my guess would be that this photograph (CDV) was most likely taken in warmer months.  She is also wearing a dark colored, light and lacy shawl-type covering.  Something about this photo strongly suggests to me that she is pregnant.

Bogardus was Abraham Bogardus (1822 - 1908) was an American Daguerreotypist and photographer who is reported to have made some 200,000 daguerreotypes during his career.  He was born in Dutchess County, NY and went to New York City in 1837.  In 1846 he learned the art of Daguerreotypy from G.W. Prosch and after only two weeks instruction opened his own studio at 363 Broadway becoming very successful at his craft. He was so successful he opened several locations.  With the popularity of the Carte-de-Visite he was said to have produced up to 100 dozens of CDV's per day.

In 1869 Bogardus was elected the first president of the national Photographic Association, a postiion he held for seven years.  His contemporaries were Jeremiah Gurney, Matthew Brady, Lawrence, Insley, Hass, Harrison and Hill, the brothers Meade, Lewis, and Bogert.  After a long and successful career he retired in 1884.

I previously posted another of his photographs and you can see it here:

http://forgottenfacesandlongagoplaces.blogspot.com/2012/09/fashionable-friday-1860s-woman-freelove.html

Fashionable Friday - Girls' Dress Fashions of the 1860's

Yesterday I posted a photograph (CDV) of a very young girl dated between 1864 and 1866.  A reader made a comment about the "off the shoulder" style seeming a little mature for a young girl.  That had me thinking so I did a little digging into my existing stash of photographs and came up with a couple more from the same era of young girls in similar type dresses.  The first photo I believe to have been taken between 1862 and 1863.  The photographer was J. Good, 36 Greene St., Opposite the Post Office, Trenton, N.J.  This little angel with ringlets in her hair, perhaps five or six years old,  is wearing the same style dress and notice her fringed sleeves.  This is one of my favorite photos, I absolutely adore her.

Unidentified Girl from Trenton, NJ

 


The second girl who appears to be a bit older, perhaps ten or eleven,  is also wearing the off-the-shoulder style in a belted, gingham dress.  She also is wearing a necklace, bracelet and ring.  This photograph was taken between 1864 and 1866 as evidenced by the revenue stamp and initialed by the artist "RB."  The photographer's imprint reads "Barcalow, 76 Bowery, NY."  He was Richard Garrison Barcalow (ca 1826 - 1891), a daguerreotypist and photographer in New York as early as 1859.  I believe he had a studio in New York as late as 1889.

Unidentified Girl from NYC

 


I also found these drawings in Peterson's Magazine from 1862 showing that the off-the-shoulder style for young girls was quite popular around that time.

Petersons July 1862

Petersons Sep 1862

Fashionable Friday - 1860's Woman Freelove Ann Holmes

This Carte de Visite of an 1860's young woman was taken by a famous New York photographer most likely between 1863 - 1864 using the twin borders on the edge of the card as a guide.           The young woman is demurely leaning on a chair wearing a white blouse, dark overshirt and what appears to be a taffeta hoop skirt.  Her hair was worn in the conservative fashion of the early 1860's, pulled back at the nape of the neck and I believe into a snood.

The subject is identified on the back as Freelove Ann Holmes B. 1838.  A Freelove Holmes, aged 12 is found on Ancestry.com in the 1850 Hyde Park, Dutchess County, NY census living with her mother, also named Freelove and a brother George.  She is listed as a male which is clearly an error.  In the 1860 census in Pleasant Valley, also in Dutchess County, a Freelove Holmes of about the right age is found as a domestic servant in the home of Amos Irish. There are a number of family trees on Ancestry.com that show Freelove Holmes as the daughter of Freelove Lattin and Joshua Holmes, listing George among her brothers and also a sister Irene who married Amos Irish. 

Abraham Bogardus (Wikipedia)

According to Wikipedia, the photographer is American Daguerreotypist and photographer Abraham Bogardus  (1822 - 1908).  He operated a very successful studio and gallery at 363 Broadway in New York City in 1846.  Bogardus has several other locations in the city over the course of his career including 229 Greenwich Street and 1153 Broadway which he opened in 1869.

That same year he was an important witness at the trial of William H. Mumler, a spirit photographer, who was accused of fraud by a number of people including P. T. Barnum (Wikipedia).  Bogardus was hired by Barnum to fabricate a photograph of him with the "ghost" of Abraham Lincoln which was entered into evidence at the trial to show the court how easy it was to produce fake images.

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Big Hat & Grapes too!

Why can't I just for once post a picture without all the drama?  This week's "Women with Hats" photo is of English actress Edna Loftus (? -1916), this particular picture postcard taken before 1907.  I had never heard of Edna, but  thought to myself I'll just check her out on Wikipedia, write a short bio and be done with it.  Of course it could not be that simple!  Look at this beautiful Edwardian photo of her with the large hat, she is holding grapes in her hands and even appears to have white grapes on her hat.  She is truly a vision of loveliness.

From what little I have been able to learn about her she was an English musical comedy actress, birthday unknown.  Little is know about her early life; from this postcard which is postmarked 1907 I am going to guess her birth date somewhere between 1875 and 1885.  Her career was somewhat modest, however, her personal life was full of drama. As a young woman she went to London and joined a vaudeville-pantomime known there as the "Rein Deers" and evolved from that into a  London music hall star.  During this time her she announced her engagement to Lord Dunbarton of Manchester.  When this was called off she soon became engaged and then married to Winnie O'Connor, the famous English jockey, also famous on American tracks.  She divorced O'Connor and was said to have gone to New York City to appeared on Broadway after 1906.

Edna Loftus 1906

It was reported that while in New York in a Broadway restaurant she met Harry Rheinstrom, a younger man, and a son of a millionaire Cincinnati distiller and he was reported to have spent several thousand dollars on her in a short period of time.  When they announced their intention to marry, his family who strongly objected had her arrested, and had him admitted to a private sanitarium in Ohio.  Miss Loftus procured a writ of habeas corpus and secured Rheinstrom's release on 4 January 1910.  They crossed state lines and were married in Covington, KY on 7 Jan 1910.  He still had to face a lunacy trial through proceedings filed by his mother and have a guardian appointed.  Edna and Harry left for Los Angeles where they took up residency at a chicken farm in Boyle Heights.  After six months they returned to Cincinnati to effect a reconciliation with his mother and to try to procure his inheritance.

There were more drama to come.  She was arrested and accused of bigamy for not legally divorcing her first husband.  Her husband's parents had him readmitted to the sanitarium for his nerves.  After release from jail she went to work as as a cafe singer to pay for his expenses. His parents wanted him back, but without her.  In Dec 1910, now separated from her husband and penniless she jumped into Spreckels Lake in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to commit suicide.  She was rescued by an passing motorist.  In 1913 Rheinstrom was sent to the insane asylum at Stockton, released a year later, divorced his wife and returned to the East.

In October 1915 suffering from severe illness she tried to sue her former parents-in-law. Edna, whose career was virtually over at this time was also was facing deportation.  According to the Oakland Tribune, she was managing the Art Hotel at 883 Kearny Street, her fame long gone.  She died penniless 16 June 1916 of tuberculosis in San Francisco and was to be buried in the local potter's field until friends intervened and had her buried in Cypress Lawn Cemetery.

Sources:

1. Wikipedia

2.  New York Times

3.  http://footlightnotes.tripod.com/ArchiveTextL/EdnaLoftus.html

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Edna Wallace Hopper

I just love these two cabinet cards taken in 1898 of Edna Wallace Hopper (17 Jan 1872 or 74 - 14 Dec 1959) who was a famous American stage and silent film actress and her dog.   She was born to Walker and Josephine Wallace in either 1872 or 74, but refused to give her exact birth date and no one could find out for certain because her birth records were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  In these photographs she is wearing very typical 1890's garb while posing with her beloved dog. Her hat is quite impressive and you will notice she is wearing a long chain around her neck that appears to be a dog whistle.  Also on her hip is an object that I was quite curious about, but I found something similar today and believe it to be a vintage scent bottle (see picture). The photographer is Benjamin J. Falk (1853 - 1925), who was one of the leading celebrity photographers in New York City at that time. He opened his studio at 13 and 15 West 24th St. N.Y. Madison Square in 1892.  He also had studios at twenty-third street and Broadway (on the present site of the Flatiron Building) and the Waldorf Astoria at West 33rd Street.

vintage scent bottle

Edna was no stranger to drama in her personal life. Her father was the head night usher at the California Theatre.  According to Wikipedia, while she was still young her parents took in a wealthy boarder, Alexander Dunsmuir (1853 - 1900) co-heir to the Dunsmuir coal and shipping fortune.  Unfortunately her mother fell in love with their boarder and ran off with him and left Edna, her father and her sibling. Wally sued for divorce and Alex's parents disapproved so their marriage was on hold.  Alex apparently was an alcoholic and began to drink heavily.  In the spring of 1886 he disappeared in San Francisco on a drinking binge for ten days. After his father died in 1889 Alex bought the estate of Souther Farm now known as Dunsmuir House, near San Francisco at a cost $350,000 and deeded it to Josephine. Alex and Josephine were married on 21 Dec 1899 in California and honeymooned in New York City.  

Edna Wallace Hopper 1898 NYC

Edna had gone to New York to train for the stage. While there she had married DeWolf Hopper (1858-1935) on 28 June 1895. They appeared together in comic operas including John Philip Sousa's El Capitan, but divorced in 1898, the same year these photos were taken.  They were a somewhat mismatched couple on stage and in life; DeWolf was tall for the times at 6 foot 3 inches and Edna was less than five feet and weighed 85 pounds. By the time her mother married Alex Dunsmuir, Edna was already a star on Broadway. She met with them while they were in New York.  Unfortunately, Alex was very sick with alcohol withdrawal, worsening each day and died on New Year's Day in a New York City Hospital.  Josephine, now a widow, returned to her new San Leandro estate where she died of cancer on 22 Jun 1901.

By this time Edna had achieved great fame starring in her most famous role, Lady Holyrood in the popular London inportation Florodora.  Although she did not play one of the renowned Florodora Sextettes, she shared in the wide adulation of the many male admirers who mobbed the backstage door after each performance.  She remained very active on stage over the next decade including starring in George M. Cohen's Fifty Miles from Boston in 1907.  In 1908 she married Wall Street broker Albert O. Brown.

1910

During the 1910's and early 1920's her career slowed down but took a different direction.  She was one of the earlier stage actors to have a facelift and had the operation filmed.  Over the next eight years she made personal appearances and tours showing the film and giving beauty tips.  Over the years she would put her name on a line of products noted for keeping her youthful looks - Edna Wallace Hopper Cosmetics.  

She separated from her second husband Brown and he died in the 1930's.  She went on to become the only woman of the thirty-six member board of L. F. Rothschld & Co..  She traveled daily by subway to her office to handle investments until shortly before her death in New York City from complications of pneumonia on 14 Dec 1959 at the reported age of 94 leaving no immediate survivors.  She is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, Alameda County, California.

Sources:

1.  Wikipedia
2.  Shades of the Departed:  http://www.shadesofthedeparted.com/2011/08/todays-shades-old-photograph.html#links
3.  Find-A-Grave:  http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=19073997

Mystery Monday - Gypsy Woman's Identity Solved!

Mary F. Scott-Siddons as Rosalind

Last week in my Women with Hats post,  I posted a photograph/CDV taken by Napoleon Sarony of New York of an unidentified woman wearing a gypsy-like costume.  Sarony was famous for photographing the many actors and actresses of the theater.  I was looking at vintage photos on e-Bay and typed in “actress” and as I was scrolling through them came across several photographs of my subject – Mary Frances Scott-Siddons.  She was indeed an actress; in fact she was descended from the  famous theatrical family that produced Sarah Siddons, John Philip Kemble, Charles Kemble and Fanny Kemble.  Sarah Kemble Siddons (1775-1831), called the "Tragic Muse" was her great-grandmother and had a prestigious acting award named for her by the Chicago group, the Sarah Siddons Society.    Each year since 1952 the society awards the coveted Sarah Siddons Award for Distinguished Achievement to a theater actor for an outstanding performance.  Some of these great actors have included Helen Hayes, Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, Claudette Colbert, and too many more to mention.  The award was actually created after a reference to a fictitious award of the same name in the 1950 movie “All About Eve.”

Mary F. Scott-Siddons

As I delved into research about my subject and her famous family I unearthed almost more information than I could process.  As the story goes, her grandfather George Siddons was sent to India in 1803 at the direction of King George III as a favor to Mrs. Siddons.  According to Edwin A. Lee in “Mary Frances Scott- Siddons -A Remembrance,” King George said, “Send him to India—India—fine place—make a fortune there.”  Mary F. Scott-Siddons was born in Bengal, India in 1844 to George Siddons’ son William Young Siddons and his wife the daughter of Col. Earl. Early in life Mary demonstrated a talent for theatrical recitation.  She also strongly resembled her famous great-grandmother who died thirteen years before her birth.  At the age of sixteen she returned to England to further her education with her mother and sister after her father’s death.    At the age of eighteen as she was preparing to go on the stage she married a young naval officer named Thomas Chanter whose parents objected to his marriage into a theatrical family.  The story passed down in theater lore is that they created a last name using his mother’s name Scott and her name Siddons.

She made her acting debut using this new name in Nottingham, England in the role of Lady Macbeth, however, the role it was reported,  was not suited for her.  On April 8, 1867 at the Haymarket Theatre in London she appeared as Rosalind in “As You Like It.”  The Bell’s Life of London said of her performance, “The lady bears a striking likeness to her great ancestress, though her form and figure may be pronounced neat and graceful rather than majestic.  Her conception of a character, confessedly one of the most beautiful in the catalogue of Shakespeare’s heroines, was marked by great intelligence…..and the applause bestowed of the most enthusiastic nature.”

Mary F. Scott-Siddon,
Photographers Elliott & Fry, London

Mrs. Scott-Siddon’s first American appearance as a reader of Shakespeare and other poets in 1867-68 attracted much attention largely because of her rare beauty; her features were aquiline, her eyes large and lustrous, her figure slender.  She appeared at the Boston Museum and  made her metropolitan debut on the dramatic stage as Rosalind at the New York Theater on November 30, 1868. The picture I posted last week has been reported to be from her role as Rosalind, a role she performed in repeated engagements. The criticism from this performance as reported in the New York Tribune was for the most part complimentary, “She is not a great actress, but she is largely gifted with talents, and more that all, with that spark of vital earnestness which makes talent magnetic.  While in New York she also appeared in “Romeo and Juliet,” “Taming of the Shrew,” and “King Rene’s Daughter.”  Upon her next engagement in New York in October of 1869 she appeared as Viola in “Twelfth Night.”  The Daily Times gave a pleasant review in part saying, “She infused into the part a sprightliness, a fascination, an arch humor and at times, a subtlety and delicacy of appreciation that were truly delightful and proved her to be a genuine daughter of Kemble.”

According to the New York Times (obituary) “her theatrical experiences in this country lasted a number of years and were presumably profitable.  As an actress, however, her style was amateurish and her manner cold……For a number of years the sales of her photographs were very large.  She was a remarkably good subject for the camera.”

Thomas & Mary Scott-Siddons 

According to Edwin A. Lee who personally knew the Scott-Siddons, she worshiped at the shrine of Thespis" and her husband Captain “Scott" was a votary of “Bacchus” which caused them to separate and which also most likely caused his death probably sometime in the late 1870’s.  After a long absence from America Mrs. Scott-Siddons returned to this country in the early 1890’s and resided for a while in New York.  After one failed attempt at acting at Palmer’s Theatre in a version of Augier’s “L’Aventuriere”   she was no longer seen in the public eye.  She died in Paris on 19 Nov, 1896 at the age of fifty-two.

Sources:

1.  New York Times, Obituary, Mrs. Scott-Siddons, Published: November 20, 1896.

2.  Wikipedia

3.  Mary Frances Scott-Siddons - A Remembrance by Edwin A. Lee, The Muse Volume Edited by Charles Elston Nixon, The Philharmonic Co, 1903, Pub. Monthly by Arthur B. McCoid, New York (Google e-book).

4.   www.kemblefamily.com
5.  Folger Shakespeare Library
6.  The Broadway League, 
7.  Meserve-Kundhart Foundation

Mystery Monday - Unidentified Native American Indian

This CDV of an American Indian, photographed by the well known New York City Bowery photographer, Chas. Eisenmann, with his imprint on the reverse. Eisenmann's works date from 1870 to the 1890's and he was famous for photographing the "freaks" of the circuses, sideshows and living museums of the Bowery according to the Ronald G. Becker Collection at Syracuse University.  Although this sepia image is faint, worn and frayed it is important due to the social implications, as the American Indian was an oddity, not only to be photographed in the East, but to be put on display (as P.T. Barnum and others did, circa late 1860s.)

Pastel colors on CDV's became popular starting around 1869 which would put this photo in the 1870's timeline.  Too bad we don't know this young Native American's name or story.

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Gypsy Woman?

This wonderful, if not a bit worn, Carte de Visite, was taken by the famous photographer Napoleon Sarony who specialized in photographing actors and actresses.  This particular photograph appears to be at first glance a Gypsy woman, but after learning about the photographer I am more inclined to believe the unknown woman was an actress.  Sarony was born 9 Mar 1821 in Quebec, Canada and died 9 Nov 1896, New York City.  According to Paul Frecker he was "as colorful, eccentric and theatrical as his subjects.  A tiny man like his name sake, he enjoyed strutting around in hussar's uniform."

I had a little difficulty trying to date this photo.  According to most sources, he moved his studio from 680 Broadway to 37 Union Square in 1871, however the black background of the CDV tells me this photo would have to be dated at least around 1879.  According to the Classy Arts website the 1871 move date is probably incorrect.  I am going to therefore date this photo around 1879.

Napoleon Sarony, Nat'l Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian

Sepia Saturday #113 - Vaudeville & The County Fair

Edmund Burroughs 1901 - 1903

You ever have a photo and you're sure you know right where it is but then can't find it?  Well, I looked all over for this one, spent over an hour looking on my computer because I was sure I'd scanned it.  Then I looked for another hour in my hard copies before I finally found it.  This is my only claim to an actor for this week's theme at Sepia Saturday. Whew!  I was getting a little desperate, I don't think my Mr. Edmund Burroughs seen here was a film actor but he will have to do.  He sure looks mighty impressive though!

The back of this large cabinet card which measures 10 3/4 by 5 3/4 says "Edmund Burroughs as "Tim the Tamer" with Neil Burgess, County Fair Co - 1901-02-03."  The photographer was J. B. Wilson, 389 State St. Chicago.

When I first read this I assumed he performed at a real county fair.  My research on Edmund Burroughs has unearthed that this was actually the New York stage production of Neil Burgess.   The story is about a elderly woman Auntie Abigail Prue who is in danger of losing her farm because she cannot make her mortgage payments.  She enters her horse, Cold Molasses at the county fair and wins $3000.

I found very little information on Edmund,  however more information was forthcoming on Neil Burgess.   Once I began researching I found a wonderful story.  Born J. W. Knell,  he was an well-known actor, playwright, Vaudevillian comedian and female impersonator who specialized in elderly "widders" as in Abigail Prue. According to Frankie Jaxon in "The History of Drag and the Art of Female Impersonation" "his success brought him popular adulation, critical respect, and unprecedented wealth as the highest paid actor, comic or tragic, of the time--all for cross-dressing and female impersonation."

He was also quite an inventor. He used his plays to showcase his inventions of patented advances in treadmill and panorama stage machinery according to Kimberly Poppiti in her article "Galloping Horses: Treadmills and Other Theatre Appliances in Hippodramas.  "The County Fair" which was written by Charles Barnard for Burgess included a staged horserace scene that used Burgess's invention which allowed the horses to run at full speed on stage.  This same device was used with great profit for Burgess and his partner Barnard when it was used in the chariot race scenes in Ben Hur.   "The County Fair" first opened in the fall of 1888 probably in Philadelphia.  It began a long run in New York City in 1889 being reviewed by the New York Times twice during the opening week.  For more information on Neil Burgess, his plays and his patented inventions, see Poppiti's page at http://ww4.usitt.org/tdt.index/extras/41-4horses.html.

3 Aug 1901 The NY Dramatic Mirror

Burgess was born from different acounts either 1846, 1849 or 1851 in Boston, Massachusetts. Around 1900 he was living in  Monmouth County, New Jersey with his wife Mary Stoddard, an actress from a family of distinguished and wealthy actors, who he married in 1882, and his son Neil Jr. aged 7.  Neil and Mary owned a large estate on Navesink Avenue in Highlands, NJ. According to reports Mary died in 1905 and Burgess was brokenhearted.  As stated by Jaxon,  "tragedy sucked the comedy out of Neil Burgess." Bad investments and poor health further demoralized Burgess.   He returned to his profession for awhile, but died in 1910.  He and Mary are buried at All Saints Memorial Church Cemetery in Navesink, Monmouth County, NJ. Click here to view his headstone which atop sits a wonderful bust of him (Find-A-Grave).

14 Sep 1901 The NY Dramatic Mirror

Neil Burgess

**UPDATE:  After a comment from Linda at The Paper Collector about Neil's wife Mary, I went back and looked at the Find-A-Grave stone and realized her name is spelled "Stoddart" not Stoddard as is mentioned on the other sites I credited.  That is not unusual in itself as people often changed the spelling of their names.  I did another Google search and found this mention that Mary E. Stoddart (who was married to Neil Burgess) was the niece of J.H. Stoddart, (James Henry 1827 - 1907) who was from Yorkshire, England and made his American debut in 1854.  This information is from the webpage "E J Phillips 1830 - 1904 People Family and Theatrical Colleagues."  This author has created an extraordinary collection of data on people and places in the early theatre years.

Sources:  Wikipedia, eNotes, Find-A-Grave, The NY Dramatic Mirror, Kimberly Poppiti, "Galloping Horses: Treadmills and Other Theatre Appliances in Hippodramas, Frankie Jaxon, "The History of Drag and the Art of Female Impersonation, Ancestry.com, Google Books

Sentimental Sunday - Women with Hats - Fashionable New York Miss

This CDV of an unidentified, fashionable young woman from New York City was most likely taken around the late 1870's to the early 1880's.  I base this on several factors. First is the thickness of the card and the single rounded border. Secondly, photographer imprints on the back of the card became complex covering the back between 1870 and 1890. The type of pose, a closeup bust covering 3/4 of the print tended to dominate CDV's  between 1874 - 1890.  Her hairstyle was very popular of the later 1870's woman with curls on the forehead and up-swept bun. Additionally, the fashion of the 1870's trended towards high elaborate collars with much lace and trim about the neck. It seemed the fussier the better.  Note her very fashionable hat with feathers and   attached to her hair somehow to keep it to the side.  She also has what appears to be flowers in her hair and is wearing an elaborate necklace with perhaps a locket.

When I researched the photographer it validated my belief of the dating of the photograph.  The Pach Brothers photographers were well-known for photographing well-to-do, fashionable New Yorkers between the 1860's until the company closed its doors in the 1960's.  They photographed thousands of people over the years and their customers included many upper-crust New York patrons as well as famous figures such as Mark Twain and Thomas Edison, theatrical figures such as Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, politicians including every American president from Ulysses S. Grant through Franklin D. Roosevelt, and students from Harvard and Yale where they had branches of their studio.  The Pach Brothers were Gustavus (1848-1904), Gotthelf (1852-1925), and Morris (1837 - ?) who came from Berlin, Germany as children.  They got their start in photography in Long Branch, New Jersey a resort for the wealthy where they met Ulysses S. Grant who became a patron and invested in their first studio.   Gustavus eventually moved to New York around 1871 and established the studio first at 858 Broadway and then in 1877 at 841 Broadway.  This would align with my dating of the photograph between late 1870's and early 1880's.  If you would like to learn more about the Pach Brothers please check out this New York Historical Society link.  It has much information on their life and houses the Pach Brothers Portait Photograph Collection which contains over 1000 photographs between the mid-eighteenth century and 1947.  After reading this I feel very lucky to have this photograph in my collection.

Almost Wordless Wednesday - New York City Immigrant Family

I like this cabinet photo of a family in New York City, I'm guessing early 1900's.  The mother looks quite proud of her brood and the little girls look so cute in their matching, and I'm sure, homemade dresses.  Written on the back it says, Giovanni, Meg I think, Annetta, Leone and possibly Anissa.    Photograph is by The 14th St. Studio, 212 E. 14th St. N.Y.

Sentimental Sunday - Did Great-Great-Grandma Dress Like This?

I guess it's just an offshoot of my years of genealogical research, but suddenly I find I'm obsessed with the fashions my ancestors wore.  Look at this sassy turn-of-the-century miss.  I believe this picture to be about 1900 give or take a couple of years either way.  I'm currently trying to educate myself on how to date old photographs and what an interesting subject that is!!  I look at this picture and have to wonder if any of my great-grandmothers dressed like this.  This S-bend silhouette came into fashion about 1900 and the look was created by wearing an S-curve corset that contracted the waist and tilted the bosom forward.  This photograph was taken by Estranders, Schenectady, New York and on the back it says "A Merry Christmas to Bertha from Minnie."  Well, you are looking very smart there Miss Minnie!

Sweet Sailor Boys

Look at these two sweet boys - not sure of the time frame, but the photographer was Sol Young of New York.  these faces are absolutely precious and there are no identifying names anywhere on this photograph.  How sad.