Stuart Osborne in Liverpool
This charming portrait of a smiling young boy reminds me of a young Jerry Mathers (Leave it to Beaver). This boy is identified on the back as Stuart Osborne, aged 3 yrs 5 months. There is another name scrawled lightly in front of this ink inscription, possibly Louri or Lowri. Stuart is wearing a sailor suit, with an anchor on the collar. The image was probably taken in the 1890s.
The photographer imprint shows Mowll and Morrison, 45 Hardman Street and 5 Myrtle Street, Liverpool. From the map it looks like those addresses could be adjacent, since Hardman street turns into Myrtle, so that address is probably a single studio – it would not make much sense to own two studios within a block of one another. That assumes the street numbering was different than it is now, as current maps show those two locations about a block apart.
Wherever they were located, Mowll and Morrison had one of the nicest imprints on the back of their cabinet cards — as the above illustration shows. Three women, I assume representing The Three Muses, though they do not match the classical muses. The central figure is mounted on a chariot and holds a staff with flame at the top, a clear sun reference, as the horses carry her across the sky. On the right another woman, one breast bared, holds a painting or drawing, and so refers to art. The woman on the left has something in her hand, I guess it could be a scroll, and so represents the literary arts. Or she might be the only one who represents one of the classical muses, Clio, the muse of History.
The Philadelphia Peace Jubilee, October 28, 1898
Here again we have one frame from a stereo pair. The photograph is by B L Langley, and the stereograph was published by Keystone View Company. The card title shows:
9430 – The Civic Parade and Court of Honor, Peace Jubilee, Phila., Pa., Oct. 28, ‘98.
The Peace Jubilee was organized to celebrate the end of the Spanish American War, and the return of the soldiers. The event took place over several days, from October 25th through the 28th. This was on the last day, when local citizenry could parade in their fraternal, religious and business groups and bands. The preceding day there was a military parade, originally scheduled for the 26th, but delayed a day by intense rainfall.
At least some of the soldiers felt less than honored to be there. One wrote these lyrics, to be sung to the tune of When Johnny Comes Marching Home:
“We went to the Philadelphia Peace Jubilee,
Hurrah, Hurrah!
But divil a thing did we get to see,
Hurrah, Hurrah!
We got nothing to eat and marched all the day;
When the parade was over they shipped us away;
We’ll all be marched to death –
When Company D comes home.”
This photograph is from one panel of a stereo pair, published by Wilson and Havens. Notice how the veranda wraps around that huge tree — how ecological! I hope the tree never fell on that beautiful house. The title reads:
#165. Residence of Harriet Beecher Stowe, at Mandarin, on St. John’s River, Fla.
The photographer’s imprint shows:
Published by Wilson & Havens,
No. 143 Broughton St.,
Savannah, GA.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 Jun 14-1896 July 1), famed abolitionist and author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), is said to have ‘fled’ to Florida after her brother Henry Ward Beecher, also a prominent abolitionist as well as social reformer and clergyman, was accused of adultery, sparking a national scandal.
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.
Pueblo Indians of Taos
This photograph is one panel from a Keystone stereoview from ca 1900. Below is the printed description from the back of the card. Notice how the language, though ostensibly educational, is in fact patronizing, often derogatory and factually suspect.
211-(13720) Pueblo of Taos Indians – Lat. 30° N., Long. 106° W.
The Pueblo Indians of the Southwest were very different from those farther east and north. They were partly civilized and knew how to weave baskets and blankets and to make pottery.
They are rather shorter and darker in color than other Indians, but are very strong, with great endurance. they are able to walk or run long distances or climb difficult mountain trails with burdens that would tax the strongest white man. They are not warlike and often build their homes on high mesas or on cliffs for the sake of security. Their homes are of adobe or stone set in lcay mortar. The rooms are square with flat roofs. Sometimes as a precaution against attack their houses were made with no outside doors or windows. Then a trap door in the roof with a ladder gave access to the interior. Different families do not have separate houses, but all live in one great building to which rooms are added as needed. Sometimes a whole village will live in one compact building like this. An important feature of each pueblo is the underground chamber for the use of the various ceremonials. They are very fond of ceremonials and have one for each occasion. The snake-dance of the Hopi Indians is an example. Each man has but one wife and the woman is the head of the house.
The Pueblo Indians are skilled in making pottery and in weaving blankets and baskets, each Pueblo having its own patterns by which its baskets may be known. They cultivate the land, raising corn, beans, melons and various vegetables. Sometimes they construct irrigation systems to bring water to these fields. They grind the corn between two stones and bake it in cakes upon hot stones. Notice the ovens.
