My excuse for ignoring this blog and the associated site for the past few months has been that I was working on a new website. Well it is still not done, but it is far enough along that it can support a few beta-testers while I work out final kinks. The site is for Antiques and Collectibles, including old photographs of course, so anyone who reads this site should go join. The site is called AmTiquing — please check it out and let me know what you think of it. Remember, it is a work in progress, now is the time to make suggestions!
January 24, 2012
Pen-Mar Park and Blue Ridge Scenery
Group of Holiday Tourists at Pen-Mar in the 1880s
This photograph, one panel of a stereo pair, taken in the 1880s. It is marked on front #558, Pen-Mar and Blue Ridge Scenery, Western Maryland Railroad. The back of the card has a long list of titles, but the numbers go from 401 to 517. Several of the titles are for the Pen-Mar area, where the Western Maryland Railroad had developed a resort in the late 1870s. The village of Pen-Mar was established to support that park, with hotels and services. It is on the border, straddling the Pennsylvania-Maryland line.
Notice how this image shows several young girls, all of varying ages and heights, but with nearly parallel hemlines. The length of the skirt was not standard, but its height above the ground was — so as girls grew their skirts were styled progressively longer.
Notice too that the right-most man and girl next to him are both standing partly within a railroad track — the train appears to have passed within about one meter of the hotel. That man also wears a railroad company cap, though straw boaters seem more popular with the youngsters. Those ladies who are wearing hats have very large brimmed styles, for shade from the summer sun.
The photographer for this image is marked on front as H. Frank Beidle, though on back the name is repeated and spelled H. Frank Beidel. The latter spelling is more common for this photographer, who was born Henry Frank Beidel about 1856 in Pennsylvania to German born parents, Henry C. and Catharine Beidel. The younger Henry had just one sibling, a sister named Laura who was about two years younger.
All of the records for both Beidel families was found strictly within two adjacent counties in South-Central Pennsylvania, Franklin and Cumberland. That is appropriate, as both the town of Shippensburg and the township of Southampton, which surrounds it, span the border of these two counties. In 1860 the family was living in Southampton township, Cumberland county, and the elder Henry worked as a wagon-maker. By the 1870 census they were living in Franklin county. In the 1880 census, when the younger Henry was in his early 20s, the elder Henry was again in Southampton township, now working as a store clerk, and H. Frank Beidel was already working as a photographer in Shippensburg.
It seems probable that H. Frank Beidel learned photography from a relative, as Craig’s Daguerreian Registry notes an L. S. Beidell in Chambersburg in the mid to late 1850s — about the time H. Frank Beidel was born. Chambersburg is only about 10 miles southwest of Shippensburg, and was the city where H. Frank Beidel spent the latter years of his photographic career.
Beidel took photographs, including stereoviews, in Shippensburg from about 1880 to 1890. He is last noted there in the 1889 directory. In 1891 he appears in Chambersburg. In the mid 1890s he married Annie, and in about 1896 their only child, Hester Beidel, was born. Annie died sometime between the 1910 and 1920 censuses, as she is listed in the former, and H. Frank is listed as a widower in the latter. Annie continued to live with her father at least through 1930, the last mention of them we have found. H. Frank Beidel was still active as a photographer in Chambersburg in 1930 when he was in his 70s.
December 23, 2011
Two Sailor Lads
Tintype Portrait of Two Sailors
This is a tintype portrait of two sailors in uniform. I think that style of uniform, with flap-front trousers and mortar-board type hats, was English, but those features may have been used in other countries as well. And being sailors, they could be in port almost anywhere in the world when the picture was taken. As with so many tintypes, there is almost no clue as to the photographer or location. The only possibility I see, is that someone might recognize the distinctive pillar and bench (or low wall?) the seated fellow is perched on, or the background, which is only visible at the edges because the photographer chose to hang a plain backdrop directly behind the subjects. If either of those appear in card-mounted photos with a photographer’s imprint, we might discover the location. The identities are even more elusive. An expert in uniforms might be able to tell what country they come from, and a rough time-span, but recognizing the sailors would require a descendant identifying them from other family photos. A very ‘long-shot’ — but it could happen.
December 21, 2011
Three Siblings Tintype
Tintype Portrait of Two Boys and Girl
This is a nice, classically composed group portrait of thee children. The eldest, the only girl, wears separate blouse and skirt, with billowing sleeves gathered at the cuff, a wide belt with large buckle, and patterned dress, very typical for both young ladies and adult women in the mid to late 1860s. The older boy stands behind her, one hand on her shoulder, wearing a jacket buttoned at the top but opening and spreading below, though we can not see much of it because he is behind the other two. The younger boy has checked pants and checked shirt, and a light jacket, probably Zouave influenced (as is the older boy’s jacket), with a double row of piping along the edges. All three look directly into the the camera. Like so many tintypes, there is no identification of either the subjects or the photographer.
December 10, 2011
Christchurch Street in Bournemouth, early 1920s
Christchurch Road in Bournemouth, Dorset, England early 1920s
This image shows downtown Bournemouth, a popular resort town in Dorset, England. From the automobile styles and ladies fashions, this appears to have been taken in the early 1920s. The view down Christchurch Street has many signs, but most are too far away to be legible. One shows F W Todman, but I can not read the small print to see what Todman’s business was. The flatbed truck to the right, with crates on the back, says ‘Potato Merchant’ along the side.
