Dating Images of 19th Century Children: Photographic Indicators


Figure 1.--

Photographhy for most of the 19th Century was static, usually taken in a studio by a professional photographer. Outdoor photos did not become common until the late 1890s and especially appearance of the Kodak Brownie in 1900. The photography of the 19th century offers many valuable clues concerning the date of an image. These indicators include the type of image, the pose, the style of print, and who took the photograph. Like the fashion indicators, these are not precise indicators, but can be very useful, especially in combination with other indicators such as clothing and hair fashions. Here we are just beginning to collect information and would be very interested in reader comments.

Image Type

HBC has discussed the various types of photography on the HBC Main Photographic page, including The Daguerreotype, Ambrotype, tintypes, stereoscopic photography, and other types. We have not yet sketched out the precise chronology of these photogtraphic types, but hope to do so eventually.

Pose


Print Style

Photographers made a large number of varying print styles. We discuss these on the HBC Main Photographic Print page. Two of the most important styles of prints were Cartes-de-visite (CDV) which were an albumen print, usually with dimensions no more than 5," upon a cardboard mount. They were popular in the 1860s. The cabinent card was introduced in 1866 and soon surpassed the smaller CDV format in popularity. These prints had stylistic variations whic are useful in helping to date them.

Photographer

Photographhy for most of the 19th Century was static, usually taken in a studio by a professional photographer. Outdoor photos did not become common until the late 1890s and especially appearance of the Kodak Brownie in 1900. Some outdoor images exist before the 1890s, but these were mostly taken of famous people by avid photogaphic enthusiasts like Lewis Carol. Photographers like Matthew Brady that worked outside their studios faced enormous technical and logistical problems. They in fact had to transport an entire studio with them. Thus for the most part out door images suggest a period after the mid 1890s. The clarity of the image and the absence of spotting are other good clues. There are few good images from the 1840s or 50s that are sharp and clear without extensive spotting of the negative. Faces are often blurred in these early images because of the low speed films and the difficultly children had in sitting still. Some good clear images begin to appear in the 1860s, but they are more common in the 1870s and especially the 1880s as the prive of a studio photograph began to decline apreciably. Photographs in the 1870s and 1880s can be very high quality images.

Specific Country Indicators

We are constantly looking for any indicators from specific countries which may help provide clues on dates. So far we have only found one such indicator. There is one useful American indicator, albeit for only a short period--Federal Government Civil War revenue stamps. The U.S. Federal Government to help finnce the Civil War approved a 3 cents tax on all photographs sold in the United States from September 1, 1864 to August 1, 1866. Photographers had to charge for the revenue stamp. This was only a short period, but it does help date the portraits with these stamps. The one thing we do not know is how extensively photographrs complied. Once the stamp was on there we assume that it would stay well afixed or leave a mark where it was removed. So we have a very good indicator for about a 2-year period in the mid-1860s in the northern states and areas controlled by Federal forces..






HBC





Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to:Main 19th century photo dating page]
[Return to:Main photo/publishing page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [Essays] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Satellites] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]



Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits]
[Sailor hats] [Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [Smocks] [Pinafores]



Created: June 2, 2002
Last updated: 10:35 PM 1/31/2006