Figure 1.--This image shows Else and Erna Malha, siblings of Ernst and Wilhelm Mahla, probably about 1897. They both wear dresses. Photo supplied courtesy of the MD collection.
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Figure 1.--This image shows Else and Erna Malha, siblings of Ernst and Wilhelm Mahla, probably about 1897. They both wear dresses. Photo supplied courtesy of the MD collection. |
The Mahla brothers had two siblings, an older sister and I think a younger sister. There was a beautiful older sister 'Else' who was born on October 2, 1885. The portrait is an excellent depiction of a girl's dress in the 1890s--note the puffed sleeves. I wan't sure about the gender of the
younger child, the hair looks like a boy, the dress could be either gender, but I am not sure about the bracelets on the wrist. The fact that their brothers had their portrait taken together suggests that this is a portrait of sisters. It seems likely that the boys and girls each had their portraits taken seaparely. The names on the back of the photo read Else und Erna Mahla. Our German readers can tell us that Erna is definitely a girl's name so the portrait is as we thougjt, two sisters. I would guess this photo was taken around 1897. A HBC reader writes, "I thought they probably were but 'she' looks so like her brothers that it is uncanny. Obviously the name is the deciding factor but the fact that she is wearing some kind of bracelet is important too. It would be nice to find a
picture of all the children together but the chances are remote."
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