Old Photographs, Part Two

August 04, 2009

Old Photographs, Part Two

I've just completed scanning the first of the old photographs I've been archiving. I started with the oldest, most delicate and fragile ones, including some tintypes. I am truly grateful for technology: though I plan to take the most precious of these artifacts to an archivist for expert preservation, thanks to our home office scanner, I now have an electronic file (backed up on a flash drive) that not only preserves the images, but allows me to share them.

This photo below is affixed to a postcard-sized piece of photoboard, a common technique for memorykeeping from an era in which people kept mementos in everything from shirt pockets and jewelry boxs to cigar boxes and coffee cans. On the back is written in painstaking script the name of my grandmother (the little girl in the photo), her parents and her brothers, and the year 1900. Looking at the picture closeup, one can discern a third child peeking over my great grandmother's shoulder; too shy or hon'ry to show their face.

This is a tintype of western settlers, which from the plate quality and their dress I guesstimate to be circa 1880's. From their facial features I believe them to be my grandfather's people, but the picture is not marked, so I can't confirm that.

From these two generations came my grandmother and grandfather. This is an early homesteading picture of them. It's not dated but from my grandmother's marcelled hair and t-strap shoes, and the fact that there are no babies in the picture, I date this to circa 1927. The glazing on this photograph illustrates the good fortune of having technology to preserve these heirlooms.
It's appropriate that I'm working with old photographs today, as today would have been my oldest uncle's 80th birthday. So in honor of him, here are two pictures of him with grandmother, the first clearly marked on the back as being of him, the second which I believe also to be.