ClassyArts Blog

If you go to an internet search engine, and type in “M C G Kimball” — you will get results similar to those I have just checked, over 1600 results, almost all of them to the photographer in Concord New Hampshire. But wait a minute … there never was a photographer named M C G Kimball in Concord.

Many members of the Kimball clan became photographers. The first, it would appear, was William Hazen Kimball, who learned the trade in 1844. By 1850 he was joined by Joseph L Kimball, probably his brother, who was a year or two older than William according the census records. Joseph named one of his sons William H Kimball. It was William Hazen Kimball, however, who started the photographic dynasty, as his three eldest sons all took up the business, Richard H (the eldest), Willis G, and Howard A. Howard, born about 1845, was the only one whose birthplace is listed as Pennsylvania, the rest were born in New Hampshire. William may have taken his family to Philadelphia when he decided to learn the daguerrian arts.

All records from 1860 on (when he was 17 year old music student) list Willis with two middle initials, Willis G C Kimball. In that year, the William Hazen Kimball family was living in Franklin New Hampshire, and William was listed as a Photographist. The eldest son, Richard, had stayed behind in Concord, where he is listed as an Ambrotypist, and living in a residential hotel. William’s brother Joseph was living in Nashua New Hampshire, and listed a Daguerreian.

During the Civil War Willis joined up, and by 1865 held the post of Captain in the 18th New Hampshire. He married Ella Lois Gove probably just before entering the army.

By 1870, William and family were back in Concord, and operating a photo gallery. Son Howard is listed as a photographer, and living with is parents. Willis, now in his mid-20s, is a photographer in Concord too, probably in his father’s studio. His second son is named Richard, after his brother who is no longer listed anywhere nearby, and may have been deceased. Joseph Kimball has given up photography, and is a farmer in Zeandale Kansas.

Sometime before 1880, Willis took over the photo studio, and his father went to work as a librarian in the state library. Howard continued working as a photographer in Concord, specializing in stereo views. He may have had an arrangement with Willis to print the stereos in his darkroom.

It was in the late 1870s or very early 1880s that our problem with the alleged M G C Kimball began, as Willis used this imprint on the back of his photographs:

W G C Kimball of Concord NH imprint

That poorly chosen font design is doubtless the cause of all subsequent confusion. It does look like M G C Kimball, does it not? Unless you look very closely, and even then there is room for doubt. But wait, that imprint has a monogram!

People often ignore monograms, but they are in important clue to photographer identity. A great many imprints have just the photographers surname. When a monogram is present, it is usually possible to distinguish between photographers of the same surname, based on the initials. If the monogram is well formed, it is even possible to get the initials in the correct order, though sometimes they are poorly done, and misleading regarding initial order. Let’s decipher this monogram and see what we get:

Well that clears that up. No doubt about it, you could put them in a different order, the those are the letters there. W G backward-C K. Reversing a letter is not unknown, but it is fairly unusual — probably due to the similarity with the G and the fact that this monogram had to accommodate four initials instead of the typical three.

There was no M G C Kimball. Myron H is the only M Kimball I found who was a photographer, and there is no evidence he worked in New Hampshire, let alone Concord. The monogram proves that this imprint, which resembles M G C Kimball, belonged to Willis G C Kimball.

Willis continued to be listed as a photographer in Concord through the 1910 census. Howard is still listed as a photographer in 1920 — when he would have been 75, though he is only shown as 70 on that census. And M G C Kimball? Well, he never existed. I’m sure of it.

W G C Kimball

Ambrotype advertisement from Lothrop G Bean in Lowell MA

This is a clipping from an 1858 Lowell MA newspaper, showing an advertisement for ambrotypes. It reads:

Patent Ambrotypes
If you wish a clear and life like picture of yourself or friend, visit Bean’s, 234 Merrimack street, where beautiful pictures are taken for 25 cents. Mr. BEAN is the only one in Lowell that makes the Patent Ambrotypes. Lowell, March 2, 1858.

This would be Lothrop G. Bean, as indicated in this entry in Craig’s Daguerreian Registry:

Bean, Lothrop G.

First listed as a daguerreian in Fall, River, Mass. in 1856. In 1858 and 1859 he was listed in Lowell, Mass. He advertised his “gallery of art” at 234 Merrimac St. in 1858 with “no stairs to climb”, and offered photographs and “lettertypes” as well as daguerreotypes. In 1859, at the same address, he advertised the exclusive right in Lowell to Cutting’s patent ambrotype process.

As we can see, the Ambrotype ads actually started in 1858. Lothrop G. Bean was born ca 1823 in Massachusetts, and in 1850 was living in Boston (Ward 4), employed as an engineer. In 1859 he is listed in the Lowell city directory as daguerrian, though I can not seem to find him in the 1860 census. He may be the L G Bean listed in Marlin Texas in 1870, occupation artist (photographers were often listed as artists in those early censuses), but I have no proof of that.

I also suspect Lothrop was the eldest son of Samuel Bean (ca 1796- ca 1867) who was son of Folsom Bean (1747-1830), and who married Adeline Jackman (1804-1869) Feb 28, 1821 in Boscawen NH. Online genealogies list Samuel and Adeline, but they show only the eight youngest children — those who were listed at home in the 1850 census. The 1840 census, however, shows that there were two older children, a male born 1821-1825 and a female born 1826-30. I believe Lothrop was that boy because the 1839 city directory for Lowell shows him as a boarder at S Bean’s on Ads street, and just below that Samuel Bean, whose house was 16 Ads street. Of course Samuel could have been some other relation, but because of the fit with the 1840 census data, it seems more likely he was Lothrop’s father. It was not unusual for adult (in this case, 17 or 18 years old) children be listed as boarders in their parents home in the old directories, especially if they are employed — which Lothrop apparently was, though I’m not sure what to make of the occupation: ‘Trem’ — perhaps it was a typo for Tram, as he was listed as an engineer in 1850.

Brady's Washington DC Studio in Early 1890s

This photo shows a portrait from one of Brady’s last studios. We can see from the shoulder style on the woman’s dress, combined with the facts that it is a black card (both sides) with finely notched gilt edges, that this image dates from very early in the 1890s. The front imprint shows: M B Brady, Wash. D.C. The back is more verbose: Brady’s National Portrait Gallery and Museum of Historic Photography. Penn. Avenue and 13th, Washington, D.C.

Since Brady died in January 1896 I thought this might come from his last studio, but no, he had another after this, not counting the studio in his nephew’s house that was really his last. This is probably not complete, but here is a quick list of Brady’s studios, and known years of operation. Sometimes he had more than one going at a time, so the dates overlap. I took these from various Internet sites, and have not researched their accuracy, so consider this a preliminary list, not an authoritative compilation. Obviously, there is a lot of work to be done yet, determining when studios closed, especially.

A lot of attention is paid to Brady’s Civil War photos. Less, but still significant attention goes to his daguerreotype and later albumen portraits of famous people from before the Civil War. But the bulk of Brady’s career were the 30 years after the war, though this period has received but scant attention by most photohistorians.

In the list below, > indicates he had the studio after the date shown for an unknown period.

• 1823 or 1824: Mathew Brady was born
• 1845-1847: Corner Fulton and Broadway (162 Fulton/207 Broadway), New York, NY
• 1848-1854: 205-207 Broadway, New York, NY
• 1848>: 4-1/2 to 6 West Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, D.C.
• 1853-1857: 359 Broadway, New York, NY
• 1858>: 350-352 Pennsylvania Ave
• 1858-1860>: 205 Broadway, New York, NY
• 1859>:643 Bleecker Street (near Broadway), New York, NY
• 1860-1866>: 785 Broadway, New York, NY
• 1868-1881: 625-627 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, D.C.
• 1882: 450 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, D.C.
• 1883>: 1113 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, D.C.
• 1889: 1833 Fourteenth Street, Washington, D.C.
• 1890>: Corner Thirteenth Street and Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, D.C.
• 1891 “Over the Pennsylvania Railroad ticket office, near the Treasury Department” [Was that 13 and Penn or F St or another studio?]
• 1893: Studio at 1107 F Street, Washington, D.C.
• 1894-1895: Studio at nephew Levin Handy’s house, 494 Maryland Ave, Washington, D.C.
• 1896 January: died in NYC where he had been living for several months.