Friends Being Ridiculous, 1897

A quick, fun set! I don't have a tremendous amount of context for these photographs, which come from what appear to be two sets, in a collection held by a small Ontario museum. In one set, a bunch of male and female friends play around with bicycles, bonnets, and occasional musical instruments. In the other, a group of five fellows adopt silly poses in swimsuits, some of which are women's suits. All are taken in 1897, in Huron County, Ontario, by a professional photographer. What, exactly, is the story? Who knows, but they're great. 

Huron County Museum

Bicycles, instruments, bonnets... Source

Huron County Museum

Posing on Lake Huron. Source

Huron County Museum

A pile of friends and instruments in the park. Source

19th Century Baseball Players "in Action"

Cards depicting professional baseball players began to be produced in the 1880s, as a sub-variety of cigarette card. Though some of these were simple head-and-shoulder portraits, there was a greater interest in images of baseball players actually playing baseball. The problem was that camera technology at the time was not quite up to the task of actually capturing action (at least, not without extremely specialized equipment like Muybridge's). The compromise was these posed studio portraits. Baseball players would pose as if throwing, catching, or batting balls suspended on wire. Most, it must be said, were not natural models. 

Large numbers of these early baseball portraits are held by the Library of Congress, which has over 2,000 early baseball cards (photographs, lithographs, and half-tone), and the New York Public Library, which holds many cabinet card-mounted versions of the same photographs used for the mass-produced cigarette cards (see, for instance, this mounted print and this cigarette card). This post draws mainly from the higher quality card-mounted prints from the NYPL, but interested viewers are highly advised to check out both collections--even for a non-baseball fan like myself, they are tremendous fun. 

New York Public Library

Deacon McGuire, Philadelphia Quakers, 1886-1888. Source

New York Public Library

Unidentified player. Source

New York Public Library

Jack Clements. Source

Edinburgh in Calotype

David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson were a pair of Scottish photographers working in the 1840s. They are best known for their wonderful portraits, but over the course of their sadly short partnership (Adamson died only five years in, aged 27) they also created quite a few city views. This blog has previously featured a selection of their photographs of St. Andrews, Adamson's hometown; today is Edinburgh, the city in which they worked. At a time when most photographers worked with daguerreotypes, Hill and Adamson used the negative-positive process, creating negatives on paper (calotypes) which could then be printed on salted paper. The Special Collections at the University of Glasgow holds large numbers of their original negatives, and their online collection provides digitally reversed positive images. 

The photographs are wonderful not only as some of the earliest views of a beautiful city, but for the aesthetic of the early paper negative. Even with skill level like Hill and Adamson's, the process was still highly unpredictable. The photographs are imperfect--which, I feel, is ultimately a testament to the incredible fact of their existence. 

University of Glasgow Special Collections

View of the Mound, 1843. Inverted negative--the writing in the sky is a watermark in the paper, made visible by the process of negative scanning. Source

University of Glasgow Special Collections

A view of the Old Town. Source

University of Glasgow Special Collections

Edinburgh Castle and the Grassmarket. Source

Victorian Fun at the Beach

It's always delightful to come across photographs of nineteenth-century people having fun. We're so used to the image of the stern, still Victorians that as soon as you see them relaxed and smiling, they almost stop seeming like Victorians. Suddenly they look like they could be people we know, just in costume, and the gap between 2014 and 1894 seems suddenly a lot less. 

These stereographs, from the Atlantic City beach in the 1890s, have quite a bit of that wonderful "just people in costume" feel. 

New York Public Library

1894. Source

New York Public Library

1890. Source

The crowd shots are especially good when you use the NYPL's zoom-in feature: 

Ambrotype People

The ambrotype is something of an overlooked process-- not as stunning as the daguerreotype, not as widespread as the tintype. Though there are several variant ways of making an ambrotype, essentially it is made by applying a collodion emulsion to glass, which is then exposed in the camera. The resultant image appears negative until it is backed by something dark-- usually varnish or dark fabric, although certain kinds of tinted glass serve the same purpose without backing. The ambrotype would then be cased. This process was much cheaper than the daguerreotype (which is made on a silver plate) and so become available to a wider segment of society, although it was soon eclipsed by the much cheaper tintype, as well as the increasing popularity of paper prints. Though the ambrotype has rather gone down in history as a poor imitation of the daguerreotype, at its introduction it was in fact praised for not having the annoying mirror reflections of the daguerreotype! 

Ambrotypes are especially interesting to look at in person-- sometimes you can see the texture of the backing fabric in places, sometimes you can see cracks in the varnish, sometimes interesting effects were added (I've seen an ambrotype where the image was backed in black, but the background was backed in gold paint!). Digitized, it's often hard to even see the difference between an ambrotype and a daguerreotype. My earlier posts, preceding my entry into the field of historical photographs, don't really make a distinction. Still though, the ambrotype belongs to a certain period (about 1855 to 1865) and to certain people who lived during that period--let's celebrate their day! 

George Eastman House

Girl at a window with a book, ca. 1860. Source

State Library of New South Wales

A British officer, ca. 1857-1858. Source

George Eastman House

Two men holding a slate with the date-- Jan 8, 1857. Source

Paris by Photochrom

I am extraordinarily lucky-- not only am I off to Paris today, I am off to Paris on a trip with a curator and photohistorian to go behind the scenes at a heap of museums and other institutions to view photographic treasures. I'm pretty sure I'm dreaming. 

In case I'm not, to celebrate here is a selection of photochrom views of Paris from the late 19th century!

Library of Congress

Hôtel de Ville (Paris City Hall). Source

Library of Congress

A view over the city and the Seine. Source

Library of Congress

The Champs-Elysses. Source

Composite Portraits

We all know how difficult it is to get a good group portrait-- the more people there are, the less chance there is of everyone looking nice, or even just not blinking. When you add in the desire for a nice composition, well-lit, with a variety of engaging poses, there doesn't seem much solution except photoshop. 

19th century photographers agreed. Why try to get a good group portrait when you can crop together a bunch of nice portraits taken separately? So some of them--most notably Montreal photographer William Notman-- did exactly that. Notman would taken dozens of individual, studio portraits, then cut each figure out and paste them onto a painted backdrop. More paint was used to get light and shadow and contrast just right. At this point, the image would look like this, and be very large (I've been lucky enough to see examples in person; the ones with dozens or more figures are easily 3 by 6 feet). This creation would then be photographed itself, so smaller, more "photographic" images could be printed and given to all the persons involved. (The Montreal Musee McCord Museum, home to Notman's archive, has a much more detailed write-up, if you are interested). 

The final results are a strange sort of hybrid, somewhere between photograph and painting, almost uncannily in their resistance of categorization. Though these images have been digitized in black-and-white, most of the photographs are albumen prints-- dark purple and cream when first printed, usually brown and yellow today, after deterioration (as can be seen in the final image). 

Bute House skating party, Montreal, 1873. Source

Royal Scots D Company, Montreal, 1884. Source

Railway Engineering Department staff, 1896 (image copied 1922). Source

Stereo Daguerreotypes

As you might know, sterograph cards were a hugely popular thing in the later 19th and early 20th centuries. These cards use two photographs taken from slightly different angles to produce a single image with a 3-d appearance, when viewed through a viewer (or by someone who is good at Magic Eye). However, the concept of stereo photographs was around from the very beginning. Daguerreotypes are quite interesting to view in stereo-- they are a) very very detailed, so the 3-D effect is especially profound, and b) essentially on mirrors, so extra work is needed to get a proper view. Some places, such as the studio of Southworth and Hawes, created whole installations where daguerreotypes could be viewed in stereo. In the mid 1850s J. F. Mascher invented a special type of daguerreotype case that could be folded out into a viewer (though, speaking from experience, it still takes a bit of fiddling to get the right angle of light). These days, the 3-D stereo effect is also often hard to get due to deterioration; one side may be more tarnish or dirty than the other, ruining the effect. Still though, they look neat!

(By the way, one of the most common uses of the stereo daguerreotype was for pornography. Unfortunately I've yet to find a public collection with any of these online... but thought you'd like to know!)

Library of Congress

Portrait of an unidentified woman. Source

Harvard University, Houghton Library

Tinted portrait of an unidentified man. Source

Library of Congress

Bust of William Robert Grant. Source

Love Songs of the 1890s

For Valentine's Day! A selection of illustrated covers to popular love songs of the late 19th century (and 1901). 

Back in the days before any form of recording, sheet music was the popular way to take music home for repeated enjoyment. The amazingly diverse collections of the New York Public Library include an immense collection of American sheet music spanning the 19th and 20th centuries-- thousands (from 1890 to 1922) have been digitized. Though this post only includes covers, all the sheet music itself can be accessed-- follow the source links if you are interested!

Since I"m a romantic, I've chosen the more romantic kinds of love songs for today. If you are feeling less than romantic, just have a browse through the 'love song' heading of the collection--there's plenty of heartbreak and cynicism as well, don't worry (I'm single too!). 

New York Public Library

1901. Source

New York Public Library

1894. Source

New York Public Library

1891. Source

Indigo Agonies

Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952) was one of the first prominent female professional photographers in the United States, working mostly as a photojournalist and portrait photographer. The Library of Congress has about 20,000 of her prints and 3,700 thousand of her negatives, dating from the 1880s to 1940s (you can find the digitized photographs of the collection here). 

This post focuses on just a portion of her early work, printed in cyanotype form. I'm not sure how often these cyanotype prints were intended as a final form,  or if they were used purely as a proof prints or reference prints for negatives (as, for instance, these cyanotypes were). Some, it seems were put into personal books made by Johnston. 

Most photographs were taken in or around Washington D.C.

Library of Congress

The cover of one of these personal books, and the source of the title, "Indigo Agonies", which is great. The book, made in 1888, is from Johnston's very earliest days as a photographer; she became a professional shortly afterwards. The photograph depicts Johnston at her camera (see second to last image in this post). Source

Library of Congress

Photograph of women being photographed, ca. 1890. Source

Library of Congress

Students sketching at the edge of a pond, about 1899. Source

Wanted Posters of the 19th Century (With Photographs)

The Nova Scotia Archives has a terrific collection of wanted posters from 1868-1888 (assembled in a scrapbook from the time period), and something I find especially fascinating is the number containing photographs, even at this relatively early date in the history of photography. The photographs appear to come from prior studio sessions of the individuals in question, probably either reprinted (studios kept negatives on file) or re-photographed from a carte-de-visite or cabinet card and printed for the posters. It's an interesting contrast, the genteel carte-de-visite portrait paired with the crimes their sitters are accused of. 

Nova Scotia Archives

Source

Nova Scotia Archives

Source

Nova Scotia Archives

Source

Stereographs of Christmas

Stereographs were the mass entertainment of their day, so it is little surprise that, like mass entertainment today, they hopped on the Christmas bandwagon this time of year (though their Santa was a bit thinner than ours!).

New York Public Library

H. Spears Christmas tree with toys, 1873. Source

New York Public Library

Toys set up in a Christmas-decorated room. Source

Library of Congress

"Something for all, I have something for all." c. 1897. Source

"Outside" in the "Snow"

Having your photograph taken in a nineteenth century studio didn't necessarily mean you had to look like you were standing in a studio (at least, with a bit of imagination). Usually this was accomplished by backdrops, sometimes with the addition of props. Sometimes a bit of dress-up, too. 

For a while Montreal photographer William Notman (whose photographs of people "tobogganing" we've already seen) went one further. Notman was well-known for his composite photographs, where the figures from hundreds of individual photographs were carefully cut out and pasted onto a painted backdrop to create a group picture, which was then re-photographed to create the final product. However, the composite model wasn't restricted to group. A figure or two from a studio portrait could also be cut out, and pasted onto the backdrop the sitter desired. 

In very snowy Montreal, apparently a very snowy backdrop was popular. Sitters dressed up in their winter clothes, sometimes even with skates, snowshoes, or curling stones. Fake snow for clothing was also an option. 

Musee McCord Museum

Messrs Crake, 1876. Source

Musee McCord Museum

Mrs. Davidson, 1876. Source

Musee McCord Museum

J. Wilson, 1876. Source

Backdrops of the Civil War

Another journey into the backdrops used by photographer's studios, this time in a certain context. During the American Civil War, ambrotype and tintype portraits of soldiers were made in great numbers by photographers who set up temporary studios at military camps (this blog has featured quite a few). While the majority of photographers just went with the plain canvas backdrop, painted backdrops were also in common use. Backdrops depicting camp scenes--usually with a prominent American flag-- were popular, along with a variety of landscapes, from the realistic to the somewhat fanciful. It is very interesting to see the kinds of scenes these young men wanted to be placed in (or the photographer though they might want to be placed it, at least). 

Library of Congress

A Union soldier with a landscape backdrop. Source

Library of Congress

A Union soldier with a checkered terrace backdrop. Source

Library of Congress

A Union soldier with a military camp backdrop. Source

Chocolate Tintypes

Tintypes-- the very popular late 19th century process of producing a photograph on a sheet of photo-sensitized iron-- are generally shades of grey, from greenish to warm. However, from the 1870s it was also possible to produce tintypes with wonderful brown tones, often known as "chocolate" tintypes. They're still on metal, but you'd never know from the colour alone. I think they're lovely.

These examples come from an archive in Norway, though given the context of their particular collection of origin,  I believe they are actually American.

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane

Source

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane

Source

Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane

Source

"Tobogganing"

This isn't perhaps the most suitable post for early June, but I just came across these and they are far too wonderful to wait until it snows again. 

So it's the 1860s and you live in Quebec, and since you live in Quebec you really love to toboggan. You love it so much that you really want your picture taken while doing it. However, it's the 1860s and cameras are far too slow to capture motion, as well as very cumbersome to take outdoors, especially when it's minus three hundred degrees. What do you do?

The answer, of course, is obvious. You go to the photographer William Notman in Montreal, who provides the fake slope, fake snow, and fake sleds in his studio. All you have to do is dress up in your toboggan clothes and maybe pretend to crash now and again.

Dates range from 1866-1892, with a particular surge in 1869-70. All by William Notman or his studio. 

Musee McCord Museum

Source

Musee McCord Museum

Source

Musee McCord Museum

Source

Friends of the Civil War

As we've seen before-- and as you can see with even the briefest visit to the Library of Congress's holdings-- photographs of soldiers during the Civil War were very popular. After all, this might be first, only, and/or last time one of these men might be able to get his picture taken. With that in mind, I find it striking how many of these men wanted that picture to be with a friend. It's especially touching how they made sure to display the affection they felt for one another, with arms on shoulders, linked arms, and even held hands (the mid 19th century was a lot less uptight about displays of male affection, perhaps surprisingly). 

Ambrotypes and tintypes, 1861-65.

Library of Congress

Private Reggie T. Wingfield and Private Hamden T. Flay in Confederate uniforms. Source

Library of Congress

Soldiers in Union shell jackets. Source

Library of Congress

Sergeant Robert Black and Private Herman Beckman in Union uniforms. Source