The Clover Leaf Picnic Club, 1895, Trenton, Missouri

So, 118 years ago members of a group call The Clover Leaf Picnic Club got together and had their picture taken, and an instant in time was captured and still survives. A bit faded maybe, but in the world of antique photos, it's alive and kicking.

I think there are 20 men and women in this photo, all look to be in their 20s or 30s. Everybody is pretty well dressed, much, much, MUCH more formally than people would be today.  Especially for a picnic.

I've looked at each individual, with a magnifying glass no less, just to see fashion details and expressions.  One person, the woman in the light blouse in the front row, is not looking at the camera.  I wonder what she was looking at and was thinking about.

This a large photo, almost 8 X 10.  The photographer was Smith of Trenton, Missouri.  My attempts to find anything about The Clover Leaf Picnic Club remain aggravatingly illusive.  Maybe I could contact the Trenton, Mo. Chamber of Commerce, see if they know anything.  I suppose it was a social club, a means for young men & women to put themselves in close proximity to each other during the late Victorian era.

Update: Sold!

1898 Photo of a Man Tossed into the Air

This is an interesting photo of a person participating in a blanket toss, dated 1898.  The photo shows a couple of buildings, a crowd of people, and a man in mid-air, holding on to his hat.  A couple of people on the right side of the photo may be wearing military uniforms.

It is an albumen print with a cardboard mounting, and it is a bid faded. One thing that interests me is that it's 1898, and the photographer has managed to stop motion - the man in the air is obviously moving, and the shutter speed was apparently fast enough to capture it without any kind of blur.

The following information is written on back:  "Some of the sporting camp life.  Tossing in the blanket.  Taken by Corporal Harmon.  May 10, 1898."  It was signed by H. B. Roderick.  The corporal's name is hard to read - It could be Harman, or maybe even Herman.


Update:  Sold!

Cabinet Photo of Five Men under a Portrait of Galileo

It's been awhile since I posted anything in this blog and I've been told by my better half it would be good if I did.  I don't disagree, so I'll try to do better, starting now.

This is a late 19th century cabinet photo - maybe as early as the 1870s, maybe not - of 5 men standing and sitting under a portrait.  One holds a long cylinder like object.

We have determined that the portrait is of Galileo, which made me think that the object one person is holding may be part of a telescope.  However, someone else thinks it is a Narwhale (or narwhal) tusk, and it may very well be, because it really doesn't look like part of a telescope.

These people may be academics of some sort, they just have that look.  There is no photographer information, and no writing to give us a clue as to who they were.

I rate this somewhere between unusual and really unusual for a cabinet photo.  Most are very formal portraits, this one is not.

Comic Postcard - Boarding House Table Manners

 

I like postcards for lots of reasons - sometimes they provide views of things that don't exist anymore, sometimes, especially in the case of comics, they're a little odd. 

 

This is a nice colorful comic postcard, postmarked in 1913 - the state is Florida, but I can't read the city - addressed to Miss Nellie Herford, Marshall, MO., in care of Ben Hur Stock Farms.  The men in the postcard are embossed.

 

This card shows what is probably a sleazy character trying to get in good with whoever is top dog a a boarding house, with instructions on how to get a better selection of food.  Is it a comment on the human condition?  Probably not.  But for some reason I like it.

 

This looks like it may be part of a whole series of cards of this nature, but I don't know that for sure. 

 

 

 

 

Three Men in Top Hats, from Wenatchee, Washington, and Coldwater & Saginaw, Michigan

 

This is an interesting photo.  There are 3 men, all dressed to the hilt, including gloves.  They look to be in their 30s, the one sitting on the left maybe even a little younger.  The clothing indicates they were doing well for themselves and had (or at least aspired to) some social standing.

 

What makes this really interesting though is what is written on the back. 

 

The man sitting on the left is identified as F.W. Baker, Medical Arts Co., Wenatchee, Wash.  There is also a PHC - 90 in the description, but I don't know what that means.

 

The man sitting on the right is identified as W.H. (Belva) Lockwood, 41 Hull Street, Coldwater, Mich.

 

Whoever wrote this was not sure who the man standing is, but it is either a  Dr. Parkinson, or a Dr. A. S. Rogers, both from Saginaw, Mich.  Whoever the man standing is, he was described as "now dead".  

 

I have no idea who wrote this information, or when they wrote it.

 

So if you like to search out people in old photos and find their stories, there is a lot here to go on.    Just a note - there was a Belva Lockwood who was woman involved with women's rights in the 19th century.  I don't know if that Belva Lockwood has anything to do with the "Lockwood" in this photo.

 

This is a cropped portion of a cabinet card - the mounting is not in great shape, tho the photo itself is just fine.  The phographer's name was Gibson, of Ann Arbor, and I'm assuming it is the Ann Arbor in Michigan, but the state is missing.

 

The person who wrote all that info neglected to put a date on it, but we're pretty sure this photo is from the 1890s.

 

Update:  Sold!

Bertha Stoneman and other Students, Cornell University, 1889

Every now and then we come across a photo that is out of the ordinary, and we think this is one.  On the surface, it's just a slightly interesting photograph - a group of young people, looks like late teens to early 20s, nicely dressed in the much more formal fashions of the day.  What makes this really  interesting though, is what's written on back.

First, there was a name.   The first name was obviously "Bertha", but I originally thought the last name was "Stoniman", but my wife looked at it and said it was "Stoneman". Following that is "Anti T.N.E. Picnic,  C.U. 89", then below that (in what looks like different handwriting, but I'm no expert)  "Five miles walk to Trumansburg May 25."  Below that is the photographer's stamp "W.L. Hall, Trumansburg, N.Y."

 

So we googled "Bertha Stoneman" and found she was well known in Botany circles in the late 19th & early 20th centuries.  She was born in western New York to a prominent family in 1866.  She was a graduate of Cornell University, class of 1894, and received a Doctorate of Science in Botany in 1896.  She joined the faculty of Wellington College in Cape Colony (South Africa) and apparently remained there for the rest of her life.  In 1906 she authored a text book "Plants and their ways in South Africa".  She served as president of Wellington College from 1928 to 1933, when she retired.

 

Armed with the knowledge that Bertha Stoneman attended Cornell University,  and knowing that Trumansburg, NY is very close to Ithaca (google maps), and roughly knowing the age of the cabinet card based on the clothing of the subjects as well as the style of the photograph mounting,  we concluded that "C.U. 89" meant Cornell University 1889.   Once we figured that out, we determined that T.N.E. was probably Theta Nu Epsilon, a fraternity or secret society of some sort (I suppose of ill-repute).  And this photograph was a perhaps a memento when at least10 people walked to Trumansburg and had a picnic along the way somewhere.

 

We've seen pictures of Bertha Stoneman when she was older, and we believe she is in the middle row on the extreme right in this photo.

 

If anyone knows anything else about this photo, feel free to let us know.

 

It is rare to find something like this where you can find out so much about the person. Without the writing on back, this would be just another somewhat interesting photograph.

 

This Cabinet photo was just in with a larger group we purchased - I wonder about it's travels.  I wonder who owned it and how in the heck did it end up in our possession?

 

Update: Sold!

 

 

Tintype Men & Women, Umbrellas, Cigars, Canes, Hats & a bag

This is a tintype photo of two women & two men, though in reality I'm pretty sure no tin is involved.  But it is a photograph printed on a piece of metal.  Tintypes and similar photographic processes were very popular from the 1850s till near the end of the 19th century.  There is a lot to know about tintypes - plate sizes for one thing.  The size of this one I think makes it a 1/6th plate, which I suppose means a full plate is 6 times as large. But 1/6th & 1/16th size seem to be the most common sizes of tintypes.  I'm no expert, don't quote me on anything.

I like this picture, it has a ton of detail.  Everybody's dressed kind of formally - perhaps a 19th century Sunday afternoon at the boardwalk.  Both men are wearing the same kind of hat, the one on the left has a cigar in his had, the one on the right appears to be resting his hand on top of a cane.   The women are wearing very long dresses, large hats with feathers/flowers, both are holding umbrellas (for the sun, not the rain), and there appears to be a bag of some kind of the floor next to the woman on the left.

   

My opinion is that this was not a planned photograph, where they made an appointment and so on.  I think they just walked in, and it was taken and developed in a hurry.  The backdrop of the photographer's studio is hung kind of carelessly, and everybody looks a little slanted.  I don't think the photographer took a lot of time with this photograph.   I've cropped the picture a bit, the actual tintype has uneven edges and is rounded on the top corners - it looks like it was trimmed hastily.  I think these people were just out for some late 19th century fun in the sun and ducked into a little studio to have their picture made.  It's pretty cool.

I have this listed in the eBay store, you can find it here, if you wish.  At least for awhile.

Update:  Sold!