Category Archives: Types of Photographs

1911 Dean of Northfield, MN

1911 Dean in cap. RPPC. Private Collection.

1911 Dean in cap. RPPC. Private Collection.

I posted this one on tumblr a while ago but I decided to get it, so here it is for this blog.  Dean is posing with a leg up for this snapshot. He sent this picture on October 11, 1911 from Northfield Minnesota. His note is below. I especially like the past part. Is Old Fred a dog?

rppc-dean-back


Daydreaming in Chiaroscuro

Boy in chiaroscuro. RPPC. Private Collection.

Boy in chiaroscuro. RPPC. Private Collection.

An artistic portrait of a teen with a half smile. He’s holding a large book, looking up and off to the side as if daydreaming. The background reminds me of a church or school hall.

RPPC: The back is divided with no stamp box.

Creative Commons License


1910s young man with the upturned collared shirt

RPPC. Private Collection.

RPPC. Private Collection.

He has his collar upturned and it looks like an all-in-one dress shirt + collar. This gent was an early adopter.

And there’s something of a defiant sneer behind this half smile. I’m willing to bet his father of the more conservative, detachable starched collar camp didn’t like that his son wore those shirts.

I can hear the father say “Get this travesty of a shirt off and get a proper collar! What is this world coming to? You look undone!”, to which this young gent replied something like “You and your stuffy old ways! I’ll wear what I want!”

Think I’m exaggerating? :) For us today this may seem like a ridiculous issue, but there was an uproar over the adoption of collared shirts into the mainstream. They were thought to make a man not look like a proper gentleman. Oh, the decaying of society! The British were especially against this trend coming from America. Surprised much? Well, they lost this battle.

rppc-loup-city-gent-2

Photographer: Elsner Studio. Loup City. Nebraska

RPPC: AZO 1904-1918


The serving barkeep

Barkeep serving group. Tintype. Private Collection.

Barkeep serving group. Tintype circa 1880s-90s. Private Collection.

A tintype of a barkeep standing over a fur rug and re-enacting pouring ale to a group of gentlemen with a little boy looking on. The gent to the far right’s expression is funny. He looks disappointed as if saying “but there’s nothing in my glass…”

Studio photographs of fellows drinking together were very common. Because saloons were most always the main place for men to socialize and organize away from the house,they wished to remember their after-work get-togethers with a studio picture.


The Eavesdropping Two

Cabinet card. Private Collection.

1890s-1900s Cabinet card. Private Collection.

More ladies than gents on this beautiful cabinet card of what looks like three sisters and their brother with the light bowler. They’re posing in a fun and unusual way.

That or actors? I cleaned up and enhanced this one. The lady in front moved some and is a bit blurry, but ever-so-slightly.

The front and back are blank on white card stock.

Cabinet card.

Cabinet card.

Creative Commons License
Digital restoration work titled The Eavesdropping Two by Caroline C. Ryan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.