Figure 1.--A HBC reader has acquired a photographic album of the Haigh family of Grainsby Hall, Grainsby, Lincolnshire. There are about 50 cdvs of the children of the family (5 boys and two girls acccording to the 1881 census) over the period 1863 - 1871.This is a quite nicely tinted Cdv of Cator and Hedley Haigh - dated 1868. Image courtesy of the MD collection.

HBC has several family collections from different countries. Most are albums submitted by HBC readers, both of their own families and by collectors of old photographs. A few are family images compiled by separate purchases of old photographs over time. We are collecting an increasing number of these images which provide a fascinating view of late 19th and 20th century families.

19th Century

Early photographic formats (Daugerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tin-types) were not suitable for albums. This changed sharply in the 1860s with the development of CDVs and cabinet cards. Special albums were created for CDVs. This was very popular in Europe. Caninet cards were more popular in America. Scrapbooking was a popular family activity and photographic portraits might be mixed in with printed material and momentos.

Coe family (America, 1860s)

Here we have what looks like a 1860s photo album with 37 CDVs. It is an excellent example of a period family photo album. It came from the Coe Mansion in Meriden Connecticut. Thus we assume it represents images of the Coe family. There are many photos of babies, children, and adults. Unfortunately the album is not dated. It looks like the 1860s to us. Curiously none of the men wear uniforms. This means that it might date from the late 60s or even the early 70s. The clothing looks to us more like the 60s. The lack of uniforms may reflect the fact the men of many wealthy families did not participate in the War and even when the draft was instituted, bought their way out of it. Here we just do not know. None of the CDVs are identified. Thus we can only categorize them by approximate age and outfits. Some of the children of course may have been photographed more than once at different ages.

Unidentified family (England, 1860s-90s)

A British reader informs us, "I purchased another antique photograph album a few days ago which has some interesting images within it. The album is leather bound with an embossed cover and was given to Mary Ella Capper on the 19th November 1872, there are 125 carte de visites and 16 cabinet cards in the album, mostly images of the Capper, Hardcastle, Mathews and Birt families ranging in date from 1863 to the 1890's and almost all identified and dated. I'm not certain of the connection between the Mathews family and the other families in the album but there are clear connections between the Hardcastle-Capper family and the Capper-Birt family. In particular, Mrs Eliza Capper is the sister of Mr John Hardcastle, Mary Ella Capper (the daughter of Eliza Capper) married Daniel Birt."

Unidentified family (England, 1860s-70s)

A HBC reader has acquired a wonderful Carte de Visite album from an English fmily duing the 1860s and 70s. All the subjects are identified by Christian name and the date the photo was taken. Unfortunately, the family surname does not appear anywhere in the album. It does look like a prosprous family, but thatis all we know about it. Most of the photos were taken in Cambridge so I would assume the family resided in that area, some of the later ones (circa 1873) were taken in Brighton, possibly on vacation. This was a typical large Victorian family. he two boys were Bertie and Allan. Thre were also photos of five sisters as well: Florrie, Connie, Nellie, Grace, and Ethel.

Haigh family (England, 1863-71)

A HBC reader reports, "At a recent photo fair, I purchased the contents of two Cdv albums that once belonged to the Haigh family of Grainsby Hall, Grainsby, Lincolnshire - there are about 50 cdvs of the children of the family (5 boys and two girls acccording to the 1881 census) over the period 1863 - 1871. Almost all of the CDVs are dated and identified on the reverse, which is just as well as this family kept the boys with long hair and in dresses until they were 6 years old at least - a gender identification nightmare as you will see when I scan and send you some of these remarkable photographs."

Unidentified brothers (Hungary, 1892-1911)

Here we do not have informtion on the entire family. We do know that there were four brothers. While we do not have information on the other members of the family, we have very extensive informtion on the brothers over an exteded period, 1892-1911. As we result we have decided to include them her in the family section. This 20-year period provide a wonderful look at boys' fashions at the turn of the 20th century. We at first thought the boys were Hungarian because many of the portraits were taken in Budapest, but we have since learned that they were probably Austrian.

20th Century

The content and character of family albums changed dramatically at the turn-of-the-20th century with the invention of the Kodak Browie. Suddently the stiff studio portraits of the 19th century were replaced with informal, lively snapshots.

Fitzroy-Carrington family (United States, 1904-15)

Harold and Phyllis Fitzroy-Carrington were extensively photographed outside what is probably their home in New York in about 1904-15. A HBC contributor has a collection of nine albums of photographs that were taken by the childrens father, an enthusiastic amateur photographer. As a result, there are many charming images beside stiff, formal portraits. Their father was obviously a wealthy man. They had a New York City brick row house and they also had a country home called 'Mallowfield' at Mamaroneck, N.Y. There are approximately 100 photos in each album, many of them of Harold and his siblings playing with toys, pets, bikes etc some in swimming costumes, some playing musical instruments. The collection is a wonderful view of childhood in a wealthy NewYork family in the years before World War I. I believe that Harold was born about 1897 and Phyllis about 1900.

American family (United States, 1915-28)

Here is a wonderful photo album illustrating the life of an American family during the 1910s and 20s. Virtually every middle class family had alnums like this in the parlor. Snapshots had replaced the CDVs and cabinets cards found in earlier albums. The family is not identified, but the first names of the family children are noted and the last names of neighbor children. This seems to be a comfortable middle class family. They liived in a big house with a porch. There were 200 photos dating from 1915 to 1928. This of course streaches from World War I to just before the Great Depression. Most photos are of children, some with parents, cats, dogs and rabbits, and there are also a few photos from Cornell University with fraternity brothers. Some photos are marked as being from Titusville, Pennsylvania, and there is photo of a house from Montclair, New Jersey. Photos are various sizes and are held to the page as was common at the time with corner tabs.

Unidentified family (Germany, 1920s-40s)

We do not know this boys name or where he was from in Germany. Despite the lack of information, the available photographs provide us some fascinating insdights into this boy and his family. We do know that he is German and was probably born in the early 1920s. I'm not sure if if he had any brothers or sisters. The family was not rich or poor. We would guess lower-middle class. The parents appear to have encouraged artistic pursuits. The father was interested in photography and took artfully as well as humorously posed images of his son. While an entire albumn survived the War, we have only a few of the images. There are thus images from infancy to the boy's joining the German National Labor Service (RAD) about 1938-39. He apparently was wounded in World War II which began in September 1939. We are not sure if he ever actually entered the German Army.

Unidentified family (Germany, 1929- )

This German family photograohic alnum begins with 1929. We do not know just where in Germany the family lived. Only a few photographs at the front, however, are dated. We know it continues into at least the nid-1930s because there are some NAZI images. There are also some portraits before 1929, presumarily of various relatves. Many of the pages are of boys both school and camp scenes. The school scenes are mostly group or athletic scenes. The boys seem to belong to a youth group, but before 1933 not the Hitler Youth. Several of the camp photographs focus on two boys, presumably brothers of the family here. The school scenes do not seem to focus on sny individuals. There is a public scene, we think at the school, which is some kind of NAZI celebrtion. Its not the NAZI takeover which occurred in January. Perhaps it is Hitler's birthday. Many of the later snapshots in the album, in contrast, to the frst photographs are girls and women.

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

Created: June 23, 2003
Last updated: 10:01 PM 3/10/2007