Figure 1.--Here we see a portrait done with a plain paper frame and embossed studio logo in 1902. The boys were Edward and Lawrence.

There seems to be a very destinctive shift made at the turn of the 20th century, although this transition mzay have varied from country to country. After the turn of the 20th century, at least in America, cardboard CDV and cabinent mounts gave way to paper mounts of various designs. We are not entirely sure just when this occurred, but we note that by the very early 1900s there were large numbers of portraits in these paper mounts. Notice the American portrait here done in 1902. These were not the cheap paper frames used for tin-types, but rather often artistically done frames with heavy paper and embossing or fancy print. Often very large frames were used for rather small images, some times printed in circles and ovals. Some paper frame had the photographer indicated, others were blank. The paper frames were less elaborate by the 1940s, but the images inside tended to be larger than earlier in the century. These paper frames largeky disappeared during the 1950s. Much of our assessment comes from the United States. We are not at all sure about styles and chonological trends in other countries. All of these different approaches and the styling associated with them can be used to help date photographs. This is, however, a vast topic which will take some time and effort to develop.

The 1900s

There seems to be a very destinctive shift made at the turn of the 20th century, although this transition mzay have varied from country to country. After the turn of the 20th century, at least in America, cardboard CDV and cabinent mounts gave way to paper mounts of various designs. We are not entirely sure just when this occurred, but we note that by the very early 1900s there were large numbers of portraits in these paper mounts. Notice the American portrait here done in 1902. These were not the cheap paper frames used for tin-types, but rather often artistically done frames with heavy paper and embossing or fancy print. Often very large frames were used for rather small images, some times printed in circles and ovals. Some paper frame had the photographer indicated, others were blank. We note brown and grey were popular colors for the mounts. We also note narrow, but elongated mounts with small photographs.

The 1910s

We seem to find portraits no longer commonly mounted on cabinent cards, but we still do see card mounted portraits. The presenttation is rather like a paper frame. Postcard prints were also common and these were not mounted in frames. The post cards can often be dated to an extet by the stamp boxes on the reverse. The frame portraits are more difficult to date. We note grey as a populsar color for the frames. We often note that the frames were often larger in area than the actual potrait, although we do not see the really small area portaits that were common in the 1900s. Also we do no longer see albumen prints. Designs for te frame can also help date the portraits, but here our knowledge and archive is not yet large enough to prperly assess this.

The 1920s

We no longer see CDVs and cabinents cards. The popular postcard format portraits and sbapshots begin to decline in popularity. We see portraits commonly being placed in large paper frames. We see various kinds of these frames. We continue to see the paper frames being done in America with gray frames. We are less sure about Europe. We do not yet have a good feel for the color and style of the frames during the 1920s. We need to expand our archive. The actual size of the photograph tended to be much larger than the photographs we generally saw in the paper frames we began to see in the 1900s. We are not yet sure just when and where stad up frames began to appear.

The 1930s

We note stand-up frames in the 1930s. We think most portraits came in stand up frames. We are not yet sure about the color and decoration. We note one portrait measuring 3 1/2" by 5". It is in a studio cardboard folder and frame that measures 4 3/4" by 7 1/2". The frame is printed on the lower right corner "Hollingshead Woodland, Cal." At the bottom of the cardboard frame is the fold-back flap to make it stand up. On that written in ink is "John Louis Sanstrum April 1935". The photo measures 3 1/2" by 5". It is in a studio cardboard folder and frame that measures 4 3/4" by 7 1/2". The photo is printed on the lower right corner "Hollingshead Woodland, Cal." At the bottom of the cardboard frame is the fold-back flap to make it stand up. On that written in ink is "John Louis Sanstrum April 1935". A good example is an unidentified American family. We belikeve these stand-up frames first appeared in the 1920s, but we are not yet positive. This needs to be confirmed. They were common in the 1930s.

The 1940s

The paper frames were less elaborate by the 1940s, but the images inside tended to be larger than earlier in the century.

The 1950s

We hace only limited information on 1950s paper frames at this time. We still see paper frames in the 1950s, at least the early 50s. We note frame styling that looks like art deco styling from a earlier period. The frames we have found are the stand-up time which had a kind of foot that could be folded out to support the portrait. We do not yet have much information on how common they were during the decade. Our initial assessment comes from the United States. We are not at all sure about styles and chonological trends in other countries.

The 1960s

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Created: 7:25 AM 3/19/2007
Last updated: 4:42 AM 3/6/2008