Almira Richardson, 1860s, photo by S. Anderson, New Orleans, Louisiana

This is a CDV photo of a little girl with the name Almira M. Richardson written on back.  It was taken by S. Anderson of New Orleans.  It is about 2 1/4 by 4 inches, has square corners,  the mount is very thin and it has thin borders, all of which date it to the 1860s.

What makes this interesting to me is that there is an orange two cent  internal revenue tax stamp on back. This were issued by the federal government and were required to be placed on back of CDVs (among other things, I assume) from August 1, 1864 to August 1 1866.

Of course the early to mid 1860s was a time of civil war in the United States, and Louisiana was one of the confederate states.  My assumption is that this tax stamp dates it from sometime between April 1865 (the official end of the civil war) and August 1866.  New Orleans was occupied during part of the civil war period, so it's possible the stamp could have been placed on earlier.

RPPC Helen Campbell, Girl Evangelist, 1927

This is a Real Photo Postcard (RPPC) of Helen Campbell.   The inscription on front says "Yours in His service" the Evangelist Helen Campbell.  Someone has written a date on back, "October 27, 1927".   It has an AZO stampbox on back with 4 shaded in squares in each corner, which lends a little credence to the date written on back.  This was a formal portrait, there were probably many, many copies made, and some were made into postcards.

This is a girl who definitely had her 15 minutes of fame.  There is a site called www.girlevangelists.org, and Helen Campbell is listed there along with 100s of others.  Apparently child evangelism was a big thing in the 1920s.  There is a short article about her - she was born in 1915, started preaching at age 9, was associated with the Pentecostal movement, was active in the San Francisco & Oakland, CA areas at least, and apparently drew large crowds.  I also found a couple of news articles and advertisements about her.  When this picture was made she would have been 12 years old, and more or less at the height of her fame.

I have no idea what happened to her.  I had never heard of her before I came across this postcard, and I don't know what she did in later life.

You're only a child prodigy when you're a child.  At a certain age, you're not much different than anyone else who may be gifted in whatever area you're a prodigy in.  I have a feeling this is what happened to Helen Campbell - at some point she was no longer a child evangelist, she was just an evangelist.

I could find nothing about her personal life, other than she traveled with her grandmother.  It is even possible that she's still living, she'd be in her late 90s now.

Update: Sold!

Pearline Soap Powder 19th Century Die Cut Trade Card

This is a little different for this blog, because it is not actually a photograph.  It is a late 19th century embossed lithographic die-cut showing a very young girl in a fancy dress and bonnet.  The back of it is completely covered by verbiage, touting the benefits and modernity of Pearline Soap Powder.  

Trade cards were little bits of advertising, frequently no larger than a present day business card, given away free, or perhaps with a purchase of a certain product.  Some came in series or sets and the people who inhabited the 19th century apparently loved to collect them.  There are still tons of them about, most are not very expensive, and some (like, in my opinion, this one) are quite nice.

Cabinet Photo of a Teen-aged Girl with long Hair from Easton Pennsylvania

There is nothing unusual about this Cabinet Photo, I just like it.  It's a formal studio portrait of a teen aged girl,  standing with her hand on one of those fancy couches whose name I can never remember.  She has quite long hair draped over her right shoulder.  Her dress is not even quite ankle length, which, along with the way she's wearing her hair, was probably an indicator of youth and an unmarried status at the time (probably 1870s).

The photographer was McCabe, located at 429 Northampton Street, Easton, PA.  I was not able to find out any specific information about the photographer, and there is nothing to indicate who the subject of the photo was.  It's just a nice picture.

Leona Belle Cook - Age 3

 

This is a antique photo (cropped from the original) of a little girl named Leona Belle Cook, aged 3.  The photographer information is only given as "Taylor".  We've seen other photos with "Taylor" in a similar style from Rochester, New York, so perhaps that is where this is from.  We found some information on a Leona Belle Cook by doing a simple google search.  Assuming it is the same person, she was born in August 1913, and died in November 2007 in Venice, Florida.  If those dates are correct, then this photo dates from 1916-17 or there abouts.  Based on the type of photo those dates seem about right.

 

We have another picture of Leona Cook when she is older, looking like in her late teens or early twenties, and she has something of a not quite but almost flapperish hair style. 

 

This is a nice photo, and with the mounting it is fairly large.  I like it because it has toys in it - she 's holding on to a wagon with a doll in it. It may have just been a photographer's prop, but it may also have been a favorite toy of a little girl.

Snapshot - 7 children, boys, girls, baseball gloves and a cat

I may be the only person on earth who thinks this is a cool picture.  It could be that I'm inventing the quirkiness about it.  

This is a snapshot, I'd say late 1950s or very early 1960s.  There are no dates, names, or writing of any kind.   Also no stamps or indication (that I could see) of the kind of photo paper used.  But based on the clothing, that is what I think.

Front row left, there is a boy in a white t-shirt, blue jeans with the cuffs rolled up (just like the cowboys wore them), most likely wearing black high top converse all-star tennis shoes and a baseball glove.  He is kneeling and looking very serious in a classic little league team picture type pose.  He's the only one kneeling, and is obviously out of sync with the rest of the group.

In contrast to his seriouness, the boy behind him has place his baseball glove on top of his head.  And the boy next to him is holding a cat.  The girls are just standing there and smiling, more or less like normal people.  Some of those girls have to be sisters.

It is a very typical picture in a sense.  Some grown up made them all get together to have their picture snapped.  But in another sense, it's a little odd.  Unlike many, many of these type of amature snapshots,  personalities were captured.  Accidently, I'm sure, but captured just the same.

Meet Little Martha Sharples, 1892-1926.

This is little Martha Sharples - a bit larger normal Cabinet Photo with 3 views of the little girl. 

I know this is Martha Sharples because it says so on the back - and it also gives her married name (Hess), and her parents names - David T. & Adeline Sharples.  With that information you can find out a lot about this little girl.

She was born Nov 22, 1892 in Elgin (Kane County) Illinois, which means this photo was taken in 1897-98, give or take.   She married a Henry Lawrence Hess in on April 26, 1916 in West Chester, Pennsylvania - their 96th anniversary is coming up.  I have no idea of the events surrounding a move from Illinois to Pennsylvania, but apparently it happened.   She had two children in the next couple of years, and then a daughter on May 28th, 1926.  She died about a week later, June 2, 1926, at the age of 33 at Media (Delaware County) Pennsylvania.  Although I can't say with 100% certainty, it seems pretty obvious she died from some complication arising from giving birth, probably excessive bleeding or infection.   Both of her parents, David & Adeline Shaples, outlived her.  I believe she was their only child.

I suspect there is no one alive now who ever met or knew Martha Sharples.

Martha's daughter, the one born in 1926, died in 2010, at the age of 84. 

  

I look at these old pictures, and sometimes I find myself mourning for these people, who are for the most part long gone. I actually feel sad for them.  In this photo, Martha is a little girl.  She seems happy and well cared for, and I'm fairly certain no one expected her to die as a result of child birth.  Everybody expected her to get married, have children, become a grandmother and so on.  But fate had something else in store for Martha Sharples Hess.  She never saw her children grow up.

Update:  SOLD!

Little Girl Holding a Parasol

This is an 1880-90s era cabinet photo of a little girl holding a parasol, perhaps an umbrella.  I looked to see what the difference was & I gather that all parasols are umbrellas, but not all umbrellas are parasols.  A parasol, as its name implies, was used to shade a person from the sun.  It was not water proof.  Although I don't know for sure what she is holding, I think it is a parasol.

This is a studio photo, made to look like an outdoor setting.  It could be a beach setting, but there's something that looks like a big tree behind her, so I don't know.  And I love her expression.

I like this photo because of the girl's expression & the props in it.  The photographers were Wardlaw & Learnen of Rochester, NY.

Update:  Sold!

Snapshot of Gisela, a little girl playing with a doll, Germany 1928

This is a snapshot of a little holding a doll in her lap.  There is writing on the back in German: "Gisela im September 1928 auf unserer Veranda".  To me it looks like she's sitting on an apartment balcony, so I translate this as "Gisela, September 192, on our balcony".  There is another building in the background.

This is a neat little photo (and I do mean little - a shade less than 2.5 x 3.5 inches), and the writing on back just makes it more interesting.  A little girl sitting side ways in a chair, with bows in her pig-tails, wearing a dress and knee socks, holding a good sized doll & doll sized umbrella, looks up and smiles for a quick photo.  An instant in time, gone forever.

When I looked at this picture, before I even looked at the writing on back, I immediately thought "European", and I'm not sure why.  I lived quite a while in central Europe, and there was just something that was familiar, can't really put my finger on it.

The writing on back is in German, and the date is 1928, so this little girl - though I'm positive she had no clue - was in for some hard times.  WWII would start in 1939, so she'd be in her late teens or early 20s, and no matter what her situation in life, things were going to be hard at best, very possibly life threatening.  This is like a picture of the calm before the storm.   Actually the calm between two very large storms.

Since this is dated 1928, I'd say she was born somewhere between 1918 & 1920 - which means if she survived WWII, she could still be alive.  She'd be very old, in her 90s.

Update:  Sold!

Little Girl, Big Dog - Early 20th Century Postcard

For some reason people seem to like little girls with big dogs.  I can't blame them, I partial to the dogs, myself.  Just ask Pickles.

There is a whole series of these cards, and I have a couple of them.  Some of them have the same dog & girl, others are different.  But the background and scene are the same.

I've noticed that postcard publishers do that.  You'll see the exact same pictures in different formats sometimes.  Sometimes you'll see the same picture but with a different caption.  I think I have a postcard which somehow placed the Rocky Mountains in Kansas.  

This is a pretty postcard, early 20th century, divided back.  On the back the word "post card" is printed in about 20 different languages.

Not sure what kind of dog it is, but it's pretty good size.

Update:  Sold!