A late 19th century photo showing a boy painting a face on the back of his father’s bald head while his mother looking on.
Category Archives: 1800s
The First Photograph of a Woman Smoking: Lola Montez 1852
Considered to be the first photograph of a woman smoking, this is Lola Montez’s portrait by Southworth & Hawes. A savvy self-promoter, Lola Montez is the first woman ever to be photographed smoking. She made sure the cigarette is the focus of the picture. (Metropolitan Museum of Art) This is Lola’s third and most provocativeContinue reading “The First Photograph of a Woman Smoking: Lola Montez 1852”
Vintage Photographs of Egypt From Between the 1860s and 1890s
River view, Alexandria The Adelphoi Zangaki (Zangaki Brothers) were two brothers of Greek origin, active as photographers in Ottoman Egypt from the 1860s through to the 1890s. Little is known about them, except their initials, C. and G., and that they worked out of Port Said and Cairo from around the 1860s through to atContinue reading “Vintage Photographs of Egypt From Between the 1860s and 1890s”
Yesterday Today: October 17
1938 Phantom Corsair 1938 Phantom Corsair
Earthmen From the South of Africa, Exhibited in England, 1853
Flora and Martinus, a 14-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl from South Africa, were exhibited as ‘earthmen’ in private drawing rooms in 1853, in central London. As so-called ‘human curiosities’, the orphaned San children posed in traditional costume, danced, sang and mimed to entertain visitors… Different to most other variety acts of the time, they performedContinue reading “Earthmen From the South of Africa, Exhibited in England, 1853”
Amazing Daguerreotypes Taken by Augustus Washington in the Mid-19th Century
Born 1820 in Trenton, New Jersey as a free person of color and immigrated to Liberia in 1852, American photographer and daguerreotypist Augustus Washington is one of the few African-American daguerreotypists whose career has been documented. Washington moved to Hartford, Connecticut, teaching black students at a local school and opening a daguerrean studio in 1846.Continue reading “Amazing Daguerreotypes Taken by Augustus Washington in the Mid-19th Century”
Two Ould Friends
Group of six creative cabinet cards that were most likely used to advertise the photography studio of Orgill, (John), Hartford, Connecticut. This marvelous series has an Irish theme as we see two buddies leaning on each other with a sign above that reads, Two Ould Friends. Next we see them joking around in hilarious drinkingContinue reading “Two Ould Friends”
Victorian Fatherhood: Sweet Studio Photos of Men With Their Children in the 19th Century
Of all the characteristics attributed to defining Victorian male masculinity, the one least emphasized or spoken about was that of the Victorian man as a father. Little attention was directed to the role the Victorian man played as a father till the end of the period. If the public and private spheres were defined byContinue reading “Victorian Fatherhood: Sweet Studio Photos of Men With Their Children in the 19th Century”
40 Incredibly Colorized Photos of Berlin in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries
The Industrial Revolution transformed Berlin during the 19th century; the city’s economy and population expanded dramatically, and it became the main railway hub and economic center of Germany. Additional suburbs soon developed and increased the area and population of Berlin. In 1861, neighboring suburbs including Wedding, Moabit and several others were incorporated into Berlin. InContinue reading “40 Incredibly Colorized Photos of Berlin in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries”
The “Golden Age” of Childhood: A Gallery of 45 Amazing Daguerreotypes of Siblings From the Mid-19th Century
Daguerreotypes were the first commercially viable photographic process. Developed by French chemist Louis Daguerre in 1839, the technique quickly made its way to the US in the 1840s, the beginning of what some historians characterize as the “golden age” of childhood. To make the image, a daguerreotypist polished a sheet of silver-plated copper to aContinue reading “The “Golden Age” of Childhood: A Gallery of 45 Amazing Daguerreotypes of Siblings From the Mid-19th Century”
