Help Dating an Old Family Photo

A question was asked on a Facebook group about this photo. Audrey M. asked the group "Does anyone know how I could try to find the date of this photograph?"

I thought I would answer here on Olive Tree Genealogy blog.


To date photographs, first detemine the type. This is a cabinet card which were not used until ca 1870. 

Next determine when the photographer was in business. Narrow the years this way. A check online for the Maitland Photography studio in Stratford, Ontario Canada reveals that the owner, George Maitland, did not establish his photography business in that town until 1876. His first studio was on Market Street and that is where this photograph was taken. George was in business for about 30 years (perhaps a little longer) so we can estimate this cabinet card photo was taken between 1876 and 1906 or slightly later. 

Searches of available Stratford City Directories reveals that in 1888 George Maitland's studio was still on Market Street but in 1896, Maitland Photgraphy Studios was on Downie Street. Thus we have narrowed the year of the cabinet card even more.

Next we start looking at clothing and hairstyle clues. The adult woman's hairstyle is ca late 1880s to early 1900s but it could be narrowed down even more. Using the reference book "Out-of-Style:A Modern Perspective of How, Why and When Vintage Fashions Evolved" by Betty Kreisel Shubert
I see that her hair with its flattened "spit curls" was in style 1880-1890s.

Her dress with its tight fitted bodice looks like ca late 1880s to early 1900s as well.The children's clothing is confusing me slightly as the boys with their knickers look to be in the early 1900-1906 range. But the girls are wearing the yoke-style dresses framed with ruffles which was popular in the 1890s.  The 1890s also saw huge balloon style sleeves. I'm leaning towards dating this photograph in the late 1890s.
 
Here is a place to start reading up on some basic clues http://www.lostfaces.com/photo-clues.html

Identifying Ancestor Photos: Cabinet Cards

Genealogists often have old family photos in their possession or they find some in Great Aunt Matilda's attic. But how do we know when the photograph was taken? One method is to determine what type of photograph it is

Photography arrived in the United States in 1839 thanks to Samuel F. B. Morse, an American artist and inventor. The earliest type is the Daguerreotype. Ambrotypes followed, coming into use circa 1854. 1860 saw the Cartes de Visite becoming popular and the larger Cabinet Cards began to slowly replace the popular CDVs in the mid 1860s.

Cabinet Cards

Cabinet Cards were basically a larger version of the earlier Cartes de Visite. Photographs on paper were pasted onto a large stiff backing measuring 6.5 x 4.25 inches. Photographer logos can be found on the front or verso and were often very elaborate. Around 1880 the cards became more elaborate, sometimes having gold or silver edges. At this time the colour of the cards began to change to darker tones and black, burgundy and deep green became popular.

Examples of Cabinet Cards 

 

1877 Cabinet Card

 1882 Cabinet Card

 

1900 Cabinet Card

1890s Cabinet Card

Learn More

Watch my video on Five Types of Early 19th Century Photographs

Read more about Cabinet Cards on Lost Faces website

Research team uncovers lost images from the 19th century

As many of my readers know, I'm an avid collector of 19th century photographs. My website Lost Faces has published images of my collection of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, as well as the cartes de visite and cabinet cards that I rescue from antique stores and flea markets.

Many times I pass on purchasing an old photo because it is so badly damaged it is almost unrecognizable. But that might change!

A team of scientists led by Western University in London Ontario learned how to use light to see through degradation in daguerreotypes, a form of photography popular in the early 1800s. Daguerreotypes came into being in 1839 and were the earliest type of photography.

The team of scientists used two daguerreotypes from the 1850s that were damaged beyond recognition of the subjects. They could see one was a woman, the other a man but no details were visible.

The original Daguerreotype

The Daguerreotype after the process

Read more at Research team uncovers lost images from the 19th century

Preservation of a Lost Faces Album Part 4

Please see Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3 for the start of this process of how I rescue, archive, and publish on Lost Faces antique photo albums I save from disappearing.

After I remove all the photos from the album, and notate on the verso (back) of each photo in pencil, it's time to scan and store them in acid-free containers.

My husband scans the front of each image. If he has time he also scans the verso so that I have a record of the photographers' logos and addresses. He works with a flatbed scanner in jpg format at a resolution suitable for publishing online. Resolution and format are important and the better quality image you require means you need higher resolution and a better file format. jpg is used when small file size is more important than maximum image quality such as my use on the Lost Faces website.

Here is a good explanation of types of file formats you can use when scanning, and the pros and cons of each. 

My storage boxes from pfile.com

Once my husband has scanned all the photos, I place them in acid-free "sleeves" and store them as a unit (an entire photo album) in acid-free boxes. I used to store them in acid-free binders for ease of looking through the photos but as my collection of rescued photographs grew, that system became too cumbersome. 

Using the boxes instead of binders has other positive effects. I can easily open a box and sort photos by years or fashion choices or hair styles or genres. Because I have the photo album number and photo number notated on the verso I will never lose the place where any particular photo belongs.

Last item is uploading and publishing these gorgeous rescued ancestral photographs online on Lost Faces.

 

A Beautiful Confirmation Photo

This gorgeous cabinet card is one of the photographs in an antique photo album I rescued.

Her name is Elsie Steffenhagen and it was her confirmation day. The photographic studio was in Lake City Minnesota.

You can view more of the beautiful photos I have published online for all to enjoy at my new website Lost Faces

The Santelmann family photo album can be found at http://www.lostfaces.com/album-24-santelman.html

Enjoy!

So Many Goodies Coming to Lost Faces Photo Albums!

Look what arrived yesterday! Yep, another rescued antique photo album! Number 81.....and yes, it will be going online on my Lost Faces website ASAP.

I can't resist these beautiful albums with identified photos inside. They're never my ancestors but I still am driven to save them from being lost and forgotten.

I finally had a chance to unpack this album today and believe me, it was hard to wait. I'm like a kid at Christmas with these gorgeous albums chock full of family memories and treasures.

It's easy to picture what the album looked like when new. It would have been gleaming, clean and shiny. Imagine the family's excitement (or more likely the wife's excitement) when she bought it to put her treasured photos in.

Just look at this beauty! I am always so anxious to get going on the photgraphs - the CDVs, cabinet cards and tintypes, but I force myself to go slow. My first step is always to document the album and the order of photos inside, with camera pictures. That can help identify any photos that do not have names on them.

So I had a sneak peek and took a few camera photos to start the process. Let me share those with you.

 first page. It is empty but the name of the person whose photo was originally there is intact. That helps put together family groups and identify the family who may have originally owned the photo album. This empty page has the inscription  And the hunt is on! I'm so curious - who was Aunt Mariah? And was her husband's name really Whittier? It is difficult to read and I'm hoping that getting further into the album will reveal if I've managed to decipher it correctly.

The next page was just as intriguing. The photo slot was empty but written on the album page was "Aunt Hattie White's child" When oh when will I get to that ingriguing photo peeking out on the right? That was all I had time for today but tomorrow I will be back at the puzzle and continue with taking my camera photos and carefully documenting the album.

Please see Part 1 and Part 2 for the start of this process of how I rescue, archive, and publish on Lost Faces antique photo albums I save from disappearing.

Don't Miss My New Website Lost Faces!

Sarah (Page) Simpson 1840-1920

When I was about 11 years old, my grandmother gave me this photo of her grandmother (my great-great-grandmother), Sarah Simpson. Grandma told me it was taken in Ramsgate England sometime in the 1890s.

I was fascinated - she wore such a beautiful ornate hair piece! The gorgeous blouse or dress thrilled me with its ruffles and high collar. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I had part of this fine lady in me, in my blood and my genes.

I learned a lot about Sarah - widowed at the young age of 34, and pregnant with her 5th child, she was forced to work as a charwoman to feed her children. 

Not only did that spur me on to delving deeper into my British side of my family, it also sparked an immediate love of antique photos of ancestors. I thought about their lives - were they happy? Did they enjoy the same things I enjoyed? Did they get angry, or cry at the loss of a family pet. Yes those are the odd things I thought about as a youngster.

This early fascination with ancestors and photographs that captured one brief moment in their lives led to my determination to rescue and preserve as many old photos as possible. Several years ago I began purchasing entire albums of named photographs (Cartes de Visite and tintypes mostly) from the Civil War era, and offering scans of the photos to interested descendants. My dream was to one day publish them all online for genealogists to freely copy for their own personal use.

A few of my rescued Ambrotypes & Daguerreotypes

I am excited to announce my dream has come to fruition. Several years ago I was able to purchase the domain name "Lost Faces" from a woman who no longer wanted it.

This year I completed scanning and uploading approximately half of the precious albums I have rescued over the years. Every album is online with a description, a list of names, and at least a few photos from the album.

 There are 81 albums online at this point, and approximately half are complete, meaning all the photos in the albums are online for visitors to enjoy. Most albums have 50 photographs so you can see that is a lot of photos for visitors to enjoy and hopefully find an ancestor or two!

1916 Ramsgate England

As well as these wonderful album photographic treasures, Lost Faces contains dozens of single photos of groups - sports teams, class photos, and more. I also have vintage postcards for your enjoyment, and explanations of various early photograph types such as Cartes de Visite, Cabinet Cards, Tintypes, Ambrotypes, and Daguerreotypes. To top it all off I've added some brief tutorials on dating photographs through fashion, hairstyles, photographer marks and more.

Enjoy your visit to Lost Faces and feel free to download any photos for your own personal use. The only thing you cannot do is publish the photos anywhere else offline or online. Perhaps you'll find an ancestor in my rescues!

Is Your Ancestor on Lost Faces?

Have you ever wished you had a photo of a long ago ancestor? Wouldn't it be great to find out what great-grandpa Bert or great-grandma Olive looked like?

Lost Faces is a section of Olive Tree Genealogy website where I post photos from mid 1800s photo albums I rescue.

I choose albums with identified photographs so most photos have names attached. Civil War albums are gorgeous and here is a photo of a typical one.

Currently I have  70 antique photo albums online and each has from 30 to 50 photographs, so there are lots of photos and names. One might be your ancestor!

Here are a couple of examples to show you what might be found. This is a Carte de Visite taken during the Civil War

A small head and shoulders of a young man, identified by his initials.

A Cabinet Card of a young child, identified

Some albums have a great deal of information written on the album pages

If you have a few extra minutes, check out my YouTube video Five Types of Early 19th Century Photographs 

Learn to Recognize 5 Types of 19th Century Photographs

Personal Collection L. McGinnis Schulze

Do you need help to date a treasured photo found in grandma's trunk or shoebox in the attic? Were you lucky enough to inherit great-grandma's antique photo album? Then the video I created is for you! 
 

My  video shows early 19th century photographs and explains how to recognize each one. You can watch it on Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel.

In the  video I introduce five types of photographs from 1839 on - Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, CDVs (Cartes de Visite) and Cabinet Cards. In the video you will learn about the time periods in which these various photographic techniques were used and see examples from my personal collection. 

You can also visit Lost Faces for more information on 19th Century photos and examples from Civil War era Photo Albums. Lost Faces also contains over 1,500 CDVs, Tintypes and Cabinet Cards from my collection.

I plan to make more videos on Dating Photographs Using Fashion, Hairstyles, Revenue Stamps, Type of Photograph and Photographer's markings. 

Bridgeport Connecticut Photos Rescued

Recently I purchased 35 loose Cabinet Cards and CDVs (Cartes de Visite) that had been removed from an old photo album and were up for sale. Every photo except one was clearly identified and I had a bit of fun yesterday scanning the photos and researching the family.

 This is one of the photos. It's a really lovely photograph of two children, almost certainly brother and sister. They are labelled in period handwriting "Edmon & Fannie". This is the only identified photo that does not include a surname.

Because little Edmon is wearing a dress, we know he is a toddler and not toilet-trained, so probably around 2 years of age. 

The photo is a CDV with rounded corners and this can help date it. Rounded corners on CDVs did not begin until 1872.

Studying the photographer's mark on the verso of this CDV and finding out when M. Smith was in business, as well as studying the clothing styles, children's hair and other clues would allow this photo to be dated with some precision.

From my research yesterday it appears the photos may all connected through family relationships. For example there are 5 photos of brothers and sisters of the Williams family of Bridgeport Connecticut. This became evident as I searched census records on Ancestry.com . I believe, but have not yet proven. that 2 other Williams photos are of wives of two of the brothers.

The Williams family consisted of Benjamin Williams and his wife Elizabeth Goss. Benjamin was born in Maine and Elizabeth in New Brunswick Canada. All the children were born in New Brunswick. The photos I have are of the siblings Simeon, Orlo, Hartley, Eva and Samuel. 

There are photos of the Deniger family, also of Bridgeport. Joseph Henry Deniger and his sister Gertrude are two that I have found so far. Interestingly, their father Joseph Deniger Sr. was born in Canada and their mother Harriet was a Chatfield before her marriage. In the group of photos is one labelled "Uncle Lew Chatfield" and I found 21 year old Lewis Chatfield living with Joseph Deniger Sr in 1860 in Bridgeport.

I hope to have these lovely photos scanned, researched and online on Lost Faces soon. Meantime here is a list of the surnames written on the photos:

Williams, Jackson, Henderson, Morgan, Wells, Deniger, Night, Curtis, Dumbull, Marley, Carpenter, Ferry, Chatfield, Rider, Bowen, Smith, Diott, Polk

Locations of photographic studios were: New York, Bridgeport Conneticut, Danbury Connecticut, Boston Massachusetts, Norwalk Connecticut, Kingston Ontario, Gananoque Ontario, Davis New York, Poughkeepsie New York, Chicago Illinois, Detroit Michigan, and Lynn (Massachusetts?)

Sixteen of the photos were taken in Bridgeport Connecticut.

Organizing Family Photos - Creating a Plan

Today I decided the time has come to sort, scan and organize my physical photographs. I have thousands. Some are older family photos going back to 1900 from my mother, her sister, my aunt and my mother's cousin. Some are my family photos from when I was a child, and others are from my life since 1970. 

I also have my personal collection of CDVs, Cabinet Cards, tintypes, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes. I  estimated I have over 3,000 of those. 

To start with I am concentrating on my family photos. You can see most of what I have in the photo on the left.  

As you can see currently they are tossed into plastic tubs but I want to store them in archival quality boxes.

The first thing I did this morning was take a look to see what sizes of photographs I need to store. That allows me to determine the size of boxes I need and make an estimate as to how many will be required.

Then I started making my plan. First - I decided what my goal was for these photos - what is the final outcome I want? I know I want to eventually scan them all so I need one box for unscanned photos. Some have been scanned already and those are already sorted into tubs so that will be fairly quick to get into archival boxes when they arrive.

Any plan for organizing photos will depend on how you want to store them - by family groups? By time periods? By names of the person you are going to give them to? The choice is personal. I want to give some of mine to my adult children as soon as possible, others I want to keep for my grandchildren when they are older and some I want to hang on to myself.

I decided I needed 8 boxes to hold 4x6 photos, 1 box for 8x10 and 1 box for 11x14. With the 4x6 boxes I will have one box for photographs for each of my grown children, one for recent photographs I don't want to part with yet, one box for my life as a child growing up with my parents, one box for my maternal grandmother's family and one for my maternal grandfather's family. 

When my boxes arrive I will sort the photos I have already scanned and get them put away. Scanning the photos not yet scanned will be something I do in bits and pieces over the coming months.

Next week I will create an organizational plan for my personal collection of mid 19th century photos and share that. I still have to create a plan for my digitized and scanned photos so I will work on that later this week and share it here on Olive Tree Genealogy blog.

Identifying Photographs Part 4

The following article was originally written by Lorine McGinnis Schulze and published on Olive Tree Genealogy at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/photos/photo-types.shtml

It may not be reproduced in any way without my written consent. 

Cabinet Cards (circa 1870)

CDV’s were eventually replaced in the 1870s by the larger Cabinet Cards which used the same photographic process but were on a larger 4 by 6" card.
Cabinet Card 1877
Cabinet Card 1882
Cabinet Card circa 1900

 

Also see my YouTube Video Five Types of Early 19th Century Photographs 

Looking for Photos of Early Black Families and Individuals in Ontario

This is a request for anyone who has, or knows of, 19th century photographs of black families living in Ontario. 

Schumacker Family of Salem Ontario

I've been approached by a historian at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) asking for help finding appropriate photos for a project.  

The historian is looking for early studio photos (ambrotypes, Daguereotypes, CDVs, tintypes, Cabinet Cards) as well as vernacular (candid and not posed) photos of more recent years.

The only resource I know of online is the Alvin McCurdy Collection at the Archives of ONtario. She is already using those in her study. I have sent her copies of the few that I have.

Copies of originals are acceptable for study or she is willing to purchase originals that might be for sale. Family albums are also of interest to her. If you have any photographs of Ontario black families that you would be willing to share or sell, please direct responses to me (Lorine) at olivetreegenealogy@gmail.com 

This sounds like a wonderful research project!

Clues Galore in Photos in the Orphaned Kirby Photo Album, But Do They Help in Identifcation?

Carte de Visite ca 1870s
Boak Photo, Driffield & Pickering

Continuing on with my journey of discovery into the identities of the people in the Kirby antique photo album I soon realized this was going to be a difficult challenge. There were so few clues to go on!

So my husband suggested we try to figure out where each photo was taken. The early Cartes de Visite from 1860 and 1870 and most of the 1880s and 1890s cabinet cards were all taken by photographers based in Yorkshire - Driffield, Sheffield, Leeds, Bridlington Quay, and Filey.

The 1920s photos were not studio photos, they were taken with home cameras and had no locations except for one which was stamped Brantford (Ontario Canada).

Our first step was to scrutinize the 1920s photos with a magnifying glass to look for obscure clues. And slowly we were able to sort those photos into three separate locations based on vegetation in gardens and yards, architecture, shape of windows in background houses, shape of doors in background houses, snow (indicating a northern climate), a car with a driver (steering wheel on left, not right so not England), etc.

LOCATION A

We determined that Location A consisted of 18 photos taken in a back yard and the front yard of one house ca 1920s. Bits of the same house appear in all these photos. We could see identical brickwork, plants and architectural details. Some of the individuals were obviously the same person. One was the photo labelled "Lillian & Baby Donalda". 

Some of these photos showed that the street was filled with attached homes and the home at this location was a large brick home. We believed it was taken in N. America, most likely Ontario.

LOCATION B

We determined there was a second location - Location B consisting of 12 photos taken at a different home - a small house with large trees. The houses on this street were not attached. Every photo in this location had a dog in with the people and one photo was of the dog alone and on the back was written "1920 Buster" It is interesting to note that the photos in Location A had some of the same individuals we could see in Location B but Buster did not appear in any at Location A.

It seemed obvious that there was more than one family (or branch of a family) and they interacted at each other's homes. It reminded me of my Grandmother who lived in Guelph Ontario and how she and her family interacted with her brother who lived in Toronto. I have photos of each of them at each other's homes. Perhaps that was what we were looking at in the Kirby album - siblings visiting each other.

We brainstormed a couple of ideas and theories:

1. Buster belonged to one person/family living at Location B and was never taken to Location A
2. The pictures represented one family who moved from A to B (or B to A) and the reason Buster was only at one location was that he died or they got him after they moved.

LOCATION C

"The Whole J. Family

 Location C was a different location which consisted of only 3 photos taken ca 1920s. They had the same number stamped on the back (77) which indicated they came from the same roll of film so they were connected.  And each one had something written on the back.

One was an elderly woman in a long black coat or cloak labelled "Mother is 76 years and growing younger every day" We noted that this was not the same elderly woman in Location A and D Location. This tiny bit of writing gives us a small clue to the elderly woman's year of birth. Assuming ca 1920-1930 as the date the photo was taken, her year of birth might be 1849 give or take 5 years.

The second was a photo of four women labelled "four generations"

The third was a group photo of several individuals labelled "The whole [J?] family" We think the initial is "J". This photo shows the same elderly woman (Mother) and one of the woman in the photo labelled "four generations" so my bet is that she is the daughter of 76 year old mother. If it is a family group, the man could be her husband and the children could be theirs.
 
LOCATION D
There was a fourth location which had photos of Buster the dog, and an elderly woman. This elderly woman also appears in photos in Location A but not B.

We became pretty convinced that the Kirby  Photo Album began its life in Yorkshire England and ended up by 1920 or earlier in Ontario, possibly Brantford. I also started to wonder if Maude M. Kirby was the first owner and then the photo album passed into other hands, possibly a daughter.

I should stress that this investigation has taken my husband (Brian of AncestorsAtRest) and I days. It's not a quick or easy task and it's definitely not for the faint-hearted! But we love doing it.

Some theories are developing which will be up to me to research to either prove or disprove. I've searched just by first names found on the few photos with any identification. That has not been successful so I plan to narrow my search to Ontario. I will also try "guessing" at the surname, using Kirby which is the only surname in the album for the family. So all photos with first names will be searched adding the theorized surname of Kirby.

My journey of discovery continues and through this blog I will share the clues, the discoveries, the successes and the failures in my hunt to discover where this album belongs and what family held it so dear for over 60 years. Readers can follow along with me by using the link for Kirby Photo Archive

Kirby Orphaned Photo Album - Step by Step Discoveries

Last week I purchased another orphaned antique Photo Album. The owner's name was inscribed inside the front cover

          Maude M. Kirby

Of course I couldn't leave it in the antique store so it came home with me. The next day I started documenting and researching to see if I could find the family whose pictures were in this beautiful album.

It's been a challenge. There are very few names written in full, instead I found tantalizing references written on the backs of some of the photos: "Lillian and Baby Donalda", "4 Generations",  "Mother is 76 years old and growing younger every day" But no surnames! No hint of the relationship to the writer or the album owner.

After carefully removing and photographing all 120 photographs, I made a list of each one. I entered full details - photographer's name, location photo taken, any writing on reverse of photo, estimated time period of photo (based on visual clues such as clothing, hairstyles, type of photograph etc)

When I realized there were no clues re family surnames except for the inscription Maude M. Kirby in the front of the album, I decided to research Maude on Ancestry.com.  Unfortunately there are hundreds of Maude M. Kirby names, and without knowing a country of time period, I could not narrow the results to something manageable. Remember, I don't know when Maude owned this album and I don't believe she was the only owner as the photos range from early 1860s to late 1920s. I suspect more than one person owned this photo album

Also re country of the owner or the individuals in the album - some CDVs were from English photographers and one was from Brantford Ontario Canada. Since I purchased the album in Ontario, I had a hunch the album started its life in England and then came to Canada with family. Narrowing my search for Maude to England and then Canada and then Ontario did not help. There were still too many results.

One early CDV (ca 1870s) was of a minister. Written on the photo was his name "Rev. W. Mitchell". The photographer, Boak, was a Driffield studio.  A search online showed that Matthew Boak had a studio in Driffield as early as 1873.

Since many of the early CDVs were taken by photographers in Driffield, Yorkshire England I decided to find out what church Rev. Mitchell had ministered. It seemed to me that the family would hold their own minister in high enough regard to have his photo, and therefore they likely attended his church. A search of the church records might reveal a Kirby family or even Maude M. Kirby herself.

No need to go into details but that idea did not pan out. Yes I found Rev. Mitchell mentioned as minister of an Independent Church in Driffield and reference to a sermon he gave in 1863. But there was no mention of Kirby in the online Driffield church records and in fact Great Driffield records do not appear to be online at this time.

Lillian & Baby Donalda

I also searched on FamilySearch, thinking perhaps I could make an educated "guess" as to relationships, then enter the first names only. For example the photo with writing "Lillian and Baby Donalda" was a picture of a woman and a young baby. It appeared to be taken ca 1920s and my theory was that Lillian was the mother with her child. So I searched for a child Donalda born ca 1920-1930 with mother Lillian but was met with disappointment.

Continuing to search with so little information was proving fruitless so hubs and I laid the photos out on our coffee table and began studying them for clues. It is amazing what you can discover if you really study and analyze such things as the background of a photo, the architecture of a building, the vegetation in an outdoor snap.

This is not a quick or easy process and took us several days of intensive study and discussion - comparing our findings with each other, trying to confirm hunches and basically coming up with any new clues or theories that we could. I made lists of all the clues we were discovering.

For example, one outdoor photo was of a monument of some kind with statues of Indians. On the verso in handwriting it said "Victoria Park 1907" A Google search turned up dozens of Victoria Park references in different countries so that wasn't much help. But the Indian statues provided a clue that this photo was likely taken in North America and not England or another country.

Then we did a reverse image search using Google and there it was - the monument in the photo was of Joseph Brant and is on display in Brantford Ontario. So we had another reference to Brantford. It wasn't enough to enable us to find the family but at least it confirmed that Brantford had some connection to the family.

My journey continues and through this blog I will share the clues, the discoveries, the successes and the failures in my hunt to discover where this album belongs and what family held it so dear for over 60 years. Readers can follow along with me by using the link for Kirby Photo Archive

Woodville Victorian Photo Album Page 2

Here is the second page of the Victorian Photo Album called "The Army and Navy Album" with illustrations by R. Caton Woodville. To view all pages of this beautiful album as they are put online, please click on R. Caton Woodville

Here we have a cabinet card of a man. Although it looks like he is outside this is a studio portrait. The photographer is identified on the front as L. C. Pierre, Crawley Road, Horsham. There is no identification on the verso.




The back of page 2 has one photo of a woman. It's a cabinet card but looks like Civil War period so it may be a reproduction of an earlier Carte de Visite.

The photographer is identified as S. J. Allen, Bush Street, Pembroke Dock. On the verso is stamped "Agent A. E. Ellis, 114 Winchcap Street, Canterbury" 

The printing on the verso reads

Patronized by their R & I H The Duke & Duchess of Edinburgh. S. J. Allen Photographer by Special Appointment to the Admiralty, Bush Street, Pembroke Dock.

Another Rescued Victorian Photo Album

Cover of Album

Recently a gentleman from Kent England wrote to Olive Tree Genealogy about a Victorian Photo Album he found and wanted to make available to others.

After a few emails he decided to send the album to me, free of charge, so I could scan and put the photos online on Lost Faces. I offered to pay for shipping from England to Canada but he refused! Such generousity is very much appreciated and I hope to the album justice on my blog and website.

The album arrived yesterday and I'm very excited to begin archiving and researching it! It's an unusual photo album from Victorian times full of beautiful coloured military prints with an opening on each for one photo the size of a Cabinet Card.
 
The album cover displays the words The Army and Navy Album. It was made in Germany with illustrations by R. Caton Woodville

My first step when I receive these rescued photo albums is to take photographs of each page. That is what I did this morning so I'm going to share the first inside page here today.

This is the first inside page. It consists of a military scene by R. Caton Woodville and a small photograph.  The title of the illustration is Royal Horse Artillery

This page is in rough shape due to being exposed to the elements. The Englishman who sent it to me found it in an old garden shed and thinks his mother may have rescued it from (as he called it) "a rubbish tip" aka a garbage dump in the 1970s.

The facing photo is a carte de visite of a man. There is no identifying information on the front or verso of the photograph.

The back of this page contains another photo of a woman. It too is a carte de visite with the photographer's name J. G. Charlton and address 14 Mercery Lane, Canterbury on the front.

The verso of the carte de visite reads "J. G. Charlton (Late J. Bateman), Cathedral Studios, 14 Mercery Lane, Canterbury. Portraits enlaged & finished in Oil, Water Colour etc."

Tucked into the album is a hand-written note from the man who found it.

 Neither photo is identified as to the subject. I'm hoping that other photographs will have a name attached!

To view all pages of this beautiful album as they are put online, please click on R. Caton Woodville



For photos of an empty R. Caton Woodville album see Victorian Albums