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The HBC biography section is for people or families that have achieved some degree of notariety or fame. HBC readers in many cases have submitted family portraits. HBC has until now not added them to the biography section. We believe now that this is a mistake. Many of the HBC readers contributing family portraits can also provide details about the boy and him family. This background information help us to assess social trends and put the fashions involved in perspective. This is just why the biographical section is an important part of HBC. As a result, HBC has decided to create pages for these relatively unknown people, when some basic family data is available. Incidentally if you find a relative here, please do tell us somehing about him. Here we are listing these biographies alpahabetically to facilitate looking up individual names. The alphabdetical list is the primary data base in this section. While we have not persued geneolgical resreach on these individual, having the names and in many cases the loaction provide the potential to acquire more back ground information in the future which may provide additonal insights into the fashion and life style trends.
Here we see Smirnova Evgeniya Ilyinichna with her son. Unfortunately we do not know his name. Smirnova was born in Morozova, (1869-1961). She was the wife of Smirnov Petr Petrovich. Smirmov in the 1910s was the owner of the Firm P.A. Smirnov in Moscow. The boy looks to be wearing his school uniform. The school may have had a summer and winter uniform. We are not sure about this.
We note a cabinent card portrait of the three Smit children in the Netherlands during the 1870s. The children wear fur trmmed overacoats and fur hats. The girl has a muff. We can't tell what the children are wearing under their coats. The bys are probably wearing knee pants as we can see their long stockings. They are depicted in a studio sleigh winter scene. We do not know their first names, but their fther was Cor Smit.
This English CDV portrait shows an elegant lady with her two sons. The lady is Elizabeth Smith (1816-1900), Nee Fawcett. Her sons are Thomas Fawcett Smith and Robert Alfred Smith. For some reason Mrs. [Luike?] Wildon Grange is written at the nottom The boys look to be about 6-11 years old. Their fashion-concious mother wears a voluminous dress. The boys wear identical light-colored vested cutaway jacket suits wih knickers and matching kight-colored stockings. The small collars and stock-llke bows help to date it to the 1860s, The pointed corners of the CDV mount and studio set further confirm the 1860s. The studio was Wilson in Slingsby.
Clarence Smith here wears a white tunic and black belt. It looks like a sailor-dtyled tunic, but it is difficult to make out the details. This was a popular style for boys at the time. He has white long stockings to mstch jis white tunic suit. Clarence also has shoulder-length ringlet curls. This was a style that was declining in popularity. Clarence looks to be about 3-4 years old. We do not know who the photographer was, but we know Clarence was from McKeesport, Pennsylvania. And the portrait was apparently taken in 1909. His parents were Edward and Grace Smith.
A HBC reader has provided information about a very interesting book of letters written by
Nellie R. Campbell from Maine. She married a man called George Campbell and moved to the prairies of Canada, living on a farm in Saskatchewan near Saskatoon where she also taught in a rural grade
school. She wrote a very informative series of letters from Saskatchewan to her relatives in New England, extending over the period 1920 to 1944. These have been published in a book entitled "Loving
Yours, Nellie: Letters Home and Published Articles" edited by Sandra Hyslop and Pat Klassen (Victoria, B.C.: Trafford, 2004). Nellie and George adopted an orphan boy in the mid-1920s named Emerson Albin Smith and reared and educated him. The attached photo shows Emerson after his adoption in November, 1925, when he was about three and a half years old.
We note a portrait of a fashionably outfitted London boy. It is undated, but we would guess the 1870s. His name was George Charles Smith and he was 4 1/2 years old. He has a straw boater hat and wears a dress with a large white collar and a dress done in vertical stripes. He has short white socks. I'm not sure what kind of hair cut he has. It almost looks like there is something wrong with his hair.
We have no information about this boy, other than a oil portrait. The boy was was English. His name was Joseph Smith and was 7 years old when painted by G.W.Jackson during May 1852. He ears a black jacket and bow-like black tie with a plain white shirt and collar.
-This cabinet portrait shows Harry Smith holding a rifle with his dog beside him. The portrait was taken by Jackson in Franklin, Pennsylvania. He looks about 6 years old. The portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken in the 1890s. Note the leather leggings.
We note quite a number of studio portraits taken at English seaside resoorts with apprppriate backdrops. A good example is John Smith at Blackppol in 1898 with an elaborate donkey and cart get up. John wears a broad-brimmed sailor hat with what looks like a white dress with a large square collat, but it is a little difficicult to make out the details of the garment. There is a great backdrop with the beach and recognizable tower.
A HBC reader tells us, "My father's name is Joseph P. Smith, Jr. I have a photograph of him wearing knickers and striped kneesocks. Another photograph shows my dad (the taller one) and my uncle, Charles Smith. Both were students at St. Henry's (German) school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The photographs were taken about 1940. My dad was born in 1932. Their mother was German. In the other picture, it appears that my uncle, with the fancy armband, was celebrating his First Communion."
This Daguerreotype portrait of a boy aboy 5 years old. The boy is named in the protective case, but the writing is difficult to make out. We seem to see Thomas Smith, but can't make out the rest of the writing. Hopefully readers will be able to pick out some of the other words in the names. The names could have been the parent's name who ordered the portrait. The boys wears a button up tunic with a small ruffeled collar and no bow. The portrait has been colorized. Note blue has been selected. We suspect that the color is accurate, but we are not at all sure about the shade. I seem to see "color dress Blue" on the third line. Perhaps tht was instructions to the colorizer. Note that the boy's tunic was referred to as a dress. I am not sure his mother or people in the fashion industry woukd have used this term. The portrait is undated. Ww suspect it dates to the 1840s, in part because of the simple brass frame plate. More ornate frames were common in the 1850s, although this assessment is only suggestive, not definitive. Notice that the boys holds a small basket. This may mean that the portrait was taken in the spring fof Easter. Note that his boy's thumb is hooked into his tunic above a button for support. This presumably was instructions given by the portutarist.
Here we see a CDV portrait of an English mother with her two sons. There is some disagreement over who they are. The name written at the bottom is Mrs. [Lusile?] Wildon Grange. The dealer, however, reports that she is actually Elizabeth Smith n�e Fawcett (1816-1900) with her two sons. They are Thomas Fawcett Smith and Robert Alfred Smith. The boys wear matching cut-away jackets vested suits with bloomer knicker pants. The boys also have the same small collar and bows. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1860s to us. The studio was Wilson in Slingsby. This is a village in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire.
Here is a portrait of four siblings (two boys and two girls). The girls are wearing fancy bonnets, dresses, and pinafores. The boys are less formally dressed. They wear Civil War kepis, blouses, and kee pants.
One of the girls is holding a basket of flowers. Children's blocks are scattered on the floor. The younger boy is holding a tin sandpail. The studio was the Baker's Art Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. The studio boasts "Grand Prize and Highest Award at the World's Fair. There are two sets of coin-like logos on the bottom left of the cabinent card--prizes awarded at the Columbian Exhibition (World's Fair). The names of the children are written on the back of the cabinent card in pencil. The only names I could decipher were James Smith and Byron Smith, 3 yrs.
The Smith children were photgraphed on the porch of their family home. They lived in Archbald, Pennsylvania. The photograph was taken in 1910. Archbald is located near Scranton in the mining country of eastern Pennsylvania. The photograph shows the four Smith children (Jesse and Lester standing in back) and Vera and Bertha (in front). The boy in the chair at the left is a friend (the family name was Schmitt) of the other children. Schmitt was 6 years old. Vera was 8 years, Bertha was 10 years, Jesse was 12 years, and Lester was 13 years old. All the children wear the standard black long stockings of the period (note the mostly obscured legs of the older boys in the rear). The boys all wear suits.
Swedish teenagers, Arne Sohlstrom (aged 14) and his older cousin Julia Moback. had their picture taken in Sweden during 1928. Arne is wearing his school clothes--dark short trousers, long black stockings, low-cut leather shoes, a white shirt with soft collar buttoned up to the neck, and his school cap with a leather bill. This was typical schoolboy dress in Sweden for boys in secondary school during the 1920s. The pair is sitting in the garden outside their house, apparently. Notice that the trees are in full leaf, which probably indicates late spring or early fall. The long stockings were not worn so much for warmth but as part of "proper" dress for schoolboys. It seems to be a bit chilly, however, because Julia, Arne's cousin, is wearing a lightweight overcoat.
Here's a nice historical photo of young Warren Sonneman (at the age of 8 years) with his prize Easter basket. The scene was the annual Easter egg roll at the White House (April 2, 1923) during the presidency of Warren Harding. The boy is wearing his nice Easter tweed suit--single breasted with leather buttons down the front and on his breast pocket. He is wearing a formal shirt, probably with a detachable collar, and tie. I think that he is wearing a knee pants suit, but there appear to be no ornamental buttons at the leg hem. Knee pants were still worn in the early 1920s, byut were rapidly going out of style. He wears the customary long black stockings.
Here are the grand children of the famed March King--John Philip Sousa who led the Marine Corps band ('The President's Own) as well as his own for many years. His father enlisted him in the Marine Corps band at age 13 to prevent him from running away to join the circus. His parents were of Portuguese and German origin. The chilldem are the four childrem of Sousa's son, John Philip Sousa Jr. the family is traveling to Europev on an oceanliner which is howpeople traveled to Europe at the time (October 1924). The children are not named, but look to be about 4-12 years old. The younger children wear fur caps. The older boy holds a flat cap. The all have heavy coats, planning to spend winter winter in Europe. The two boys wear knickers, we think with knee socks. The knee socks are light colored with checkered tops. At the time long stockings were more common. All the children wear the same socks and high-top shoes.
The boy here is Percy King Sparks. He looks to be about 5 years old. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Percy Sparks. That is all we know about the family. The name of the studio and location is not indicated. That was the case for many portraits taken after the turn-of-the 20th centyry. We know the portrait was taken in 1912. Percy wears a white summer a sailor suit. It looks to be a tunic suit, I think with bloomer knickers. Thereis calopping on the collar and sleeves. He has a black belt, fairly standard with tunic suits. It s a little difficult to tell the way the portrait was posed. He had white three-quater socks and ankle patrent leather shoes with bows. His hair is done in page boy bangs. The 7 x 11 inch portrait is done with an oval frame.
Here is a wonderful photo postcard of three well dressed young boys. Two boys are standing and a baby is seated in a wicker stroller. Mom has set out potted ferns on stands with lace curtain windows make for a wonderful picture of turn-of-the century America. The snap shot is undated, but we would guess was taken about 1905-10. The two older boys look to be about 4-5 years old. There are two brothers, perhaps photographed with a neighbir child. Written on the back in ink is: "Ray & Vernon Kathman, Gilbert Speckman, Aurora, Indiana". Thus we know their names abd where they lived. Both boys wear tunic suits. Ray wears a colored suit with a ruffled collar. I'm not sur about the color, perhaps pale blue. Gilbert wears a white suit. Both boys wear white caps, but it is a bit difficult to make out the types. Ray wears black stockingss. Gilbert wears white stockings with strap shoes. I'm not sure about the color of the shoes.
Douglas Spedden was an American boy who went everywhere with his parents. They were very wealthy and liked going on European tours. They travelled by ship to Europe and then travelled to lots of places by train. Douglas was then a boy of 7 years. On one occasion they travelled to Paris on a night train. Douglas found this exciting and enjoyed travelling in a sleeping compartment where he had a bed and slept throughout the journey. When the holiday was over they caught the Paris to Cherbourg Boat train and boarded a ship and
had an adventurous voyage back to America.
Charles Hart Spencer and his wife Mary Acheson Spenser were a prominent upper-middle-class family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in the late 1890s and early 1900s. They had seven children--two boys (Mark and Charles) and five daughters (Adeline, Kate, Ethel, Mary and Elizabeth). They were solid Presbyterians like so many other prominent citizens of Pittsburgh at the turn of the century. They lived on Amberson Avenue, one of the finer streets in the Shadyside district of Pittsburgh near the University of Pittsburgh in the East End of the city. Shadyside is (and was) a lovely area with spacious houses and tree-lined avenues, giving little sense of the industrialism, especially the steel industry, that made the city so prosperous. The present photograph was taken in July, 1900, by Mr. Spencer, the father of the children, who in his spare time was something of an amateur photographer. The family spent vacations at another large house in Marion, Masssacusetts.
This caninet card shows Manlee Spores all dressed up in long pants sailor suit for a formal studio portrait. Manlee is not a name we have noted before. He is wearing a traditional sailor suit with a flat top sailor cap and long pants. The pants have a stripe. It was probably a blue suit. Manlee has long ringlet curls. It was rather unusual for a boy to wear such elaborate ringlets with a cap or hat. Usually mother wanted to show them off. He looks to be about 5-years old. The portrait was taken by a studio in Eugene, Oregon. The cabinet card was one of the new styles that appeared after the turn-of-the 20th century. The mount measures 7in x 11in The image itself measures 3in x 5in. The mount helps to date the portrait to about 1900-05.
This portrait shows German mother Ida This portrait shows German mother Ida Spuehler with her son who is not named. The source dated the portrait to 1880. We think it mre likely dates to the 1890s based on mother's dress styles. Her son's first name is not indicated. He looks to be about 5 years old. He wears a low neckline frock with a low waistline and ribbon waistband. It seems to be covered with cut-out lace. Notice that he also has a necklace. The shoulder ribbon symbolized leading strings. with her son who is not named. The source dated the portrait to 1880. We think it mre likely dates to the 1890s based on mother's dress styles. Her son's first name is not indicated. He looks to be about 5 years old. He wears a low neckline frock with a low waistline and ribbon waistband. It seems to be covered with cut-out lace. Notice that he also has a necklace. The shoulder ribbon symbolized leading strings.
This cabinent portrait of Albert Staebler was taken in Clevland, Ohio. It is undated, but looks to us as if it was taken inthe 1880s. He wears a suit with a long jacket and vest. He looks to be about 13-years old. Note the rosary and what looks like a homberg hat. Note the rosary meaning that Albert was Catholic. Until after the Civul War, except for the Irish, there were relatively few Catholics in Americ. Beginning in the 1870s and especially the 80s, very large numbers of European s began emigrating to America, many were from Catholic countries. Cleveland was one of the growing industrial cities that attracted immigrants seeking jobs. Albert was probably from Germany, although we do not know when his family emigrated from Germany.
We have found a ninth plate (2"x 2 1/2") Civil War tintype portrait in a full case. Although invented in the mid-1850s, we do not see as many Civil War tintypes as Ambrotypes for some reason. Pictured is a young Confederate volunteer in a shell jacket wearing a kepi. He is identified in pencil on the inside rear paper of the case as 'Stafford' of Company D, 17th Virginia Regiment. The writing has derteriorated quite a bit and we do not see a date. A little research may uncover his first name and date of service. He looks to still be a teenager, perhaps 18 years of age or so. It is youth like this that have caused some authors to refer to the Civil War as the Boys' War. Stafford was probably young enough to serve a regular infantry men. Younger boys served as musicians, both drummer boys and bugglers. The 17th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was raised in Virginia for service with the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. It primarily fought with Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It was formed at Manassas Junction (June 1861) using the already formed 6th Battalion Virginia Militia as its nucleus. The soldiers like Stafford were recruited in the city of Alexandria and counties of Arlington, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, and Warren. Thus we know that he was from Northern Virginia. The 17th served at Bull Run (around Manasas where the Regiment was formed), the Peninsula Campaign, Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Antitem, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and Appomattox. It was not dibanded untill Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House (April 1865). A true fighting regiment.
The boy in the cabinent portrait here is Burgess Stanley age 2 years, 2 months. We do not have an information about Burgess or his family. It was very common for boys this age to wear dresses. Burgess was photographed by Taylor & Preston in Salem, Massachusetts. The portrait is undated, but it looks like the 1880s to us. The dress here seems a very simple dress with what looks like a small lace collar. He has front bangs and his hair is long at the back, but not curled.
This cabinet portrait shows a little girl and her big brother. Unfortunately we can not see the photographer's name and loctuon of the studio,. Both children are wearing dresses. The yonger child wears a plain dress. The older boy wears a plaid dress. Both have big white collars. Their names are Edith and Harry Staples. They look to be about 1 and 4 years old. The portrait is undated, but we would gues it was taken in the 1880s.
This cabinent card portrait shows Frank Stearns in his military cadet uniform. He looks about 12-13 years old. Frank attended the Brooks Military Academy. Many private schools in America were military schools, especially boarding schools. This was an intrestin development in that America, unlike Europe, did moy have alargestanding army or military tradition. Note the keppi. After the Civil War, most military schools adopted these caps as part of the uniform. The photographer was Theo Endean in Cleveland, Ohio. The portrait is undated. It looks to us as if it was taken in the 1880s, althouhh the erly 90s is possible.
This cabinet card is undated, but looks to have been taken about 1900. The two older brothers may be twins. They look to be about 4-5 years old. They are dressed in identical classic Fauntleroy suits. They have Fauntleroy blouses with huge collars and cuffs trimmed in lace. The boiys have large floppy bows, probably red bows. The suit is composed of cut-away jackets and knee pants. We are left tp wonder about their headwear. They are seated on a fur rug, admiring their new baby brother who is in a bassinet. The boys lived in Ravennah, Ohio. The boys are identified on the back of the cards as: Earl Orrin Stevens, Perry Howard Stevens, and baby Harold Wheeler Stevens.
This is a CDV portrait of a little boy holding a black hat which appears to have ashort streamer. This is interesting because most early CDVs don't include the headwear. The portrait was taken by Garrett in Wilmington, Delaware during 1865. Written near the bottom of the back of the mount is, 'C. Stewart' which we assume is the boy's name. There is evidence that there used to be a tax stamp on the back of the mount but it is long gone. The gum residue, however, helps to conform the date. The boy looks to be about 4-5 years old. He wear a buton-on style, a popular style at the time. The outfit was done with long pants. We see some boys this age wearing bloomer knickers or knee pants, but most boys still wore long pants, even very young boys. Noticetheres nly the barest of hints of a white coolar.
The Serbian boy here is Miodrag Stefanovitch who was found abandoned on the roadside by a British soldier during the Great Retreat. The soldier was a member of the Brotherhood Movement. Miodrag was adopted by the DErbyshire Federations of Brotherhoods which provided education, food, and clothing. This is a postcard sold by the Brotherhood Movement to support Miodrag. Note the cap. it was the same style worn by the Partisans in World War II.
James Douglas and George Dixon Steinbrecher seem to be two American brothers of German origins. Their first names reflect the level of Americaization. We have two photographs of the boys, a studio portrait and family smapsgot in the backyard with the family pooch who looks petered out. We suspect from playing with the boys.
The boys are wearing matching striped r-shirts and Koveralls or other childrens overalls, not standard bib-front overalls. I had a pair like the ones here, only I think in black and white. The Koveralls were done with blue stripes. They were playwear, but by the 1940s we see studio portraits being done with playwear.
This boy here in this CDV portarit is is Crespal Gordon Stoddart. Crespal looks to be about 6 years old. He wears a collar-buttoning Norfolk suit with knee pants, long stockings, and high-top shoes. Notice the Eton collar. It is a light-colored summer suit. The jacket has the pleats and belt characteristic of a Norfolk suit. Norfolk suits were very common in the late-19th and early-20th century. The studio was J. Yoxall in Southport. Southport is a large seaside town in Merseyside north of Liverpool. Crespal may have lived in Southport, or more likely was vacationing there with his family. People at the time dressed up even when on vacation even seaside vacations, including boys wearing Eton collars.
G.V. Stokes was a student at Britain's famed Eton school. He looks to be about 15 years old at the time of this portrait had probably been at the school a couple years. We know nothing about the boy. As an Eton student, however, he must have come from an affluent family. Also this uniform must have been rather expensive. He is dressed in a mid-19th century naval uniform. Eton has a June 4 celebration each year when the boys dress up in fancy naval uniforms I would have guessed that the portrait was taken in the 1890s, but our British contributor tells us that it was in collection of Eton photographs taken from 1901-10.
This cabinet card portrit shows the five children of Henry Storm. We know nothing about the Storm family other than what can be seen in the photograph. This is actually indicated in the portrait which is rather unusual. There are four boys and a girl. They look to be about 5-16 years old. The girl wears a white dress with a colored waist sash, probably blue. The boys wear suits with lapel jackets. The two older boys have long pants. We are not sute about the boy in back. The youngest boy with the Fauntleroy blouse wears knee pants with black long stockings. Younger boys often wore cut-away jackets for Fauntleroy outfits. This boy has a lapel jacket like his older brothers. All the boys have small bows. We do not have the entire cabinet card so we fo not know where the portrait was taken. The studio appears to be Boggess.
This Christmas snapshot was taken in Hettensen, Germany during 1958. Notice the small Christmas tree. Christmas in Russia had been converted into a kind of secular New Years celebration. We are not sure just what kind of effort was made in Germany to change German Christmas traditions. The 7-year-old boy in the center is Gero Storre, who later became a photographer. He is sitting with his parents Karl and Gertrude Storre. Hettensen is a town in lower Saxony which at the time was part of the DDR (East Germany). Gero wears a dark jacket over a sweater with zip-up opening in front, short trousers, and long tan cotton stockings with a Strapsleibchen. You can see the supporter clasps on
his upper thigh. At this time, long stockings were rapidly disappearing in West Germany where tights had appeared. Long stockings continued to be worn in East Germany into the 1960s.
A HBC reader recently acquired an old albumn--almost all cabinet cards. They mostly depict Robert Cuthbert Stowell and his brother Wilfrid who lived at 14 Darlaston Road, Wimbledon, London. Their father (Anthony Stowell) was Chief Inspector of the London & County Bank and was quite old when he became a father as he would have been 49 when Robert was born. At the time of the 1901 Census Robert was 13 years old and Wilfrid was 10 years old, so when these photos were taken in 1895 Robert would have been 7 and Wilfrid 4 years old.
Here we have a painted portrait that we know nothing about. All we know is that we portrait was once owned by J.W. Stratton as indicated on the back. This of course does not mean that the boy pictured was J.W. Stratton, but it may well be as is the only definitive information we have. You would think the portrait was most likely made for the Stratton family. A seller believes that the boy is Italian because of the smock-like white collar, but the boy does not look Italian to us. We would guess that it might be English, in part because of the name. The portrait was for sale in Toronto, Canada which agains suggests it is English. The portrait is undated, but we would guess the 1890s, although we are not at all sure.
This press photo was headed, "St. Patrick's pigeons find a friend". The caption read, "New York.. He's all dressed up and he knows it. 3 year old Lauri Stremm was one of the young fashionables who attended St. Patrick's Cathedral today for Palm Sunday services. Here he makes friends with some of the pigeons on the steps of the Cathedral, one of his feathered friends perching on Lauri's shoulder." New York was of course famous for a Easer Parade down 5th Avenue where everyone showed off their new oufits.
This tinted photograph shows American boy Robert William Strong and on the back dates it to 'Circa 1897'. Apparently this was written somtime after the photograph was taken. He looks to be about 8-9 years old. The portrait is an enlarged phoptograph that has been colorized. There is no indication as to the studio and where the portrait was taken. There is not a lot of detail, but Rober seems to be wearing a large white ruffled collars and floppy bow. he jacket has lapels and was wirn open to show off the fancy Fauntleroy blouse. The coloration is interesting and provides an insight into suit colors. Robert has short hair, but the part while not a center part is well toward the center and not a normal left part.
Sailor suits were still popular in middle-class families during the 1920s. The brothers here both wear sailor suits (figure 1). The older brother wears a button-on suit. The younger boys wears a blouse than extends over the waist. Only the younger boy wears a dickey. Both boys wear knee pants. These two Berlin boys are Rudolf and Owlald Struckmeier. They had their portraits taken in 1922. The boys look to be about 5-8 years old. Body posture can be reveiling in these old photographs. We would guess that the boys were very close. Both boys have their hair cut in bangs.
Archaeologists and Mesoamerican scholars George and Gene Stuart was interested in the Mayan hieroglyphics. Their son David was born in 1965. They took David with them on field trips to Maya archaeology sites. David Stuart became fascinated by the Mayan writing and became a kind of junior archeogist. All the time learning more and more about the then unreadable language. Western scholars tended to think Masyan glyphs reprecented concepts. The Soviet scholars thought the images were phonetic. At 18 years of age, David became the youngest recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship prize (1984). This achievement came from his knowledge of the Maya civilization and his understanding of the Mayan hieroglyphic writing system This started from his childhood interest in Mesoamerica. David eventually made a great discovery that was a break through in reading the Maya hierglyphs. He discovered that sets of images did indeed represent the same sound. Today scholars can read Mayan texts in their entirety.
This studio cabinet portrait shows the Stubbs family children. The enscription on the back reads, "Floyd, Myrtle, Beatrice & Bernice Stubbs Children of Wm [William] Stubbs." The four children, a boy and three girls, look to be about 6-14 years of age. Floyd wears a plain Norfolk knicker suit. Note the Eton collar and small bow. The girls all wear fancy dresses. Two of the children wear dark long stockings. They all have high-top shoes. Presumbly the other two do as well. The portrait is undated, but the pinking on the card suggest it was taken about 1888-95. The balloning sleeves on the dresses suggest that about 1895 is a good estimate. Unlike most cabinet cards, the studio and location are not indicated.
This classic cabinet card portrait shows English boy Theodore Quintus Studd wearing a classic sailor-style kilt suit. We do not know how old Teodore was, but he looks to be about 4-5 years old. The portrait was taken in 1896 so he would have been born about 1891. We know nothing more about him. Theodore's sailor blouse hs trafitional three-stripe styling although his dickie has an unsual cross-tie pattern. Note the balooning of the sleeves. That was a very popular dress style at the time and was not use in standard sailor blouses. His kilt skirt has box pleating and stripping at the hem. Notice the whip, often used as a prop when younger boys were photograohed in skirted garments. The studio was Browning in Exeter.
A HBC reader tells us, "This is my grandfather, Johann Christoph Friedrich Stueck, who was born in Kassel, Germany, 1865. He was the owner of Stueck's Hotel in Kassel. He later settled in Wiesbaden, where he married Marie Schramm and bought the Beausite Hotel. This picture was taken when he was perhaps 12 years old. My father, Carl Ferdinand Friedrich Stueck was born in Wiesbaden, 1892. He settled in the Netherlands after World War I, where he married my mother, Johanna Betti Riddering.
All we know about the boy here is that hisname written on the back of a cabinent card was Mark Stump. Unfortunately the card is damaged so that it is difficult to read where the portrait was taken. I think it is Allentown, Pennsylvania. We know nothing about him and his family. He looks to be about 9-years old.The portrait is undated, but we would guess it was taken in the late 1890s about the turn of the 20th century. Both the sailor suit and the green card mount suggests the late-1890s to us. Mark wears a classic all-white sailor suit with a saucer cap.
This wonderful Daguerreotype has a note in the case telling us that the boy's name was Clarence E. Summer. (The last name os a little indestint.) The note tells us that the boy was 16 years old. This surprised us because he looks younger. I would have guessed he was only about 13 years pld. The dag is somewhat spotted but it is avery cleatr image of a boy in a frock coat with wide lapels and and matching vest. The white shirt collar is indestinct, but we can clearly see a blck silk stock. His hair i cut long, almost covering his ears. The potrit is undated. We might guess the 1840s from the simplicity of th frame, but we are not at all sure about this.
We do not know anything about Percy's later life, but we have two fascinating portraits when he was 6 years old. The portraits are breeching images from Scotland. The photographer is from Lamb late P. Devine, Artist. Edinburgh. I think that means Lamb took over the Devine studio. The advertisement on the back states that they maintain all negatives and have enlarging and painting of photographs. The portraits are phjotographs that have been painted over in color. The child is Percy A. W. Summers, 6 years old. The second photographs was taken on Feb. 7, 1888. He looks younger in the first photograph, so it may have been taken earlier. However, the hair and props look identical in both photographs, which implies that he changed clothes at studio. He probably was breeched on 6th birthday at the studio.
This American boy is identified on the back as B. Curtis Sunderland. The outfit and mount style suggests thsat it was taken about 1900. The photographer is not listed. Curtis looks to be about 4 years old. He wears a light-weight knee pants Fauntleroy suit with a Fauntleroy blouse that had a huge ruffled collar and matching wrist cuffs. He also had a floppy bow with rays of color. He has a ring on his middle finger. We see this occsassonally with younger children, probably for specil occassions..
This cabinent card shows Roy Swanson wearing a Fauntleroy kilt suit. He has a classic cut-away velvet jacket and a long kilt. The kilt is pleated and has kilt styling. As was often the case, the kilt is rather long. He also has a Fauntleroy blouse, but a rather plain one with a white floppy bow. Roy has long hair, but it is not done in ringlets. Roy looks to be about 4-years old. The studio was G.A, Douglass in Manso, Iowa. The portrait is undated, but white whicker furniture often indicated portrais taken at the turn-of-the-20th century in the early 1900s. At the time both kilt suits and Fauntleroy suits were going out of style which probably explains the rather plain blouse. This also suggesrts the very early 1900s.
The Syder brothers had their portrait taken in the 1890s. Sydner is written on the back of the page, but is is unclear, it could be Snyder--a more common name. The boys were photographed at the Williams studio in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. The image is undated, but we would guess the early 1890s. The boys look to be about 3 and 7 years old. The yoinger boys wears a small jacket and matching skirt. I am unsure about the color, but it looks to be solid colored material. He looks to be wearing a fancy blouse. His brother wears a kneepants suit wih long stockings. Both boys have similar ruffled collars and floppy bows--a kind of Fauntleroy touch. They both have short hair cuts.
Here we have a cabinet card portrait of two children, perhaps cousins. The boys wear matching Fauntleroy kilt suits. They have cutaway jackets and matching kukt skirt worn with ruffled blouses and pokasot ruffled blouse. The boys appear to be "Elyde Synder & Elyde Porter", but also written on the card is "Elyde Synder + Mason". Theportrait was taken by Mrs. D. D. Lyon, Woodbine, Iowa". Most photographers were men. Mrs. Lyon was a rare female photographer. The sentimental pose seems to suggest a female photograpger. The portrait is undated, bur we would guess was taken in the early-1890s.
This is Stewart Legge Symonds. He was the son of Benjamin Symonds, a Clergyman of the Church of England--Rector of Haversham, Buckinghamshire. Stewart was 5 years old at census time in 1901 and I would guess that it was around this time that this photo (a CDV) was taken. He weaes a white sailor suit and long curly hair.
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