July 24, 2015

The serving barkeep

By C.E. Ryan
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.

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July 24, 2015

The Eavesdropping Two

By C.E. Ryan
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.

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July 23, 2015

Protect us, fern

By C.E. Ryan
Two with ferns. RPPC. Private Collection.

Two with ferns. RPPC. Private Collection.

I remember seeing footage of families waving fern at departing WWI soldiers. Fern is a strong symbol of protection and the love and care of family and community. These two look close and each have fern in their hand. The gent on the left reminds me of Liam Neeson.

RPPC: AZO 1904-1918

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July 23, 2015

This puppy’s thirsty

By C.E. Ryan
Giving the pup a drink by the wagon. RPPC. Private Collection.

Giving the pup a drink by the wagon. RPPC. Private Collection.

These three are hanging out by an untethered wagon, perhaps a father and his two sons. The bottles they’re holding look ‘dusty fresh’ from the cave; maybe this was the homemade kind of fizzy drink. The puppy on top of the metal milk jug survived and most likely went on the hunt for a fresh bowl of water right after. Ha!

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July 22, 2015

Victorian gentleman Walton Stauf of Baltimore

By C.E. Ryan
1880s Walton Stauf. Cabinet card. Private Collection.

1880s-1890s Walton Stauf. Cabinet card. Private Collection.

back of card signature.

back of card signature.

Mr. Cool is posing in a fine long tail coat with matching waistcoat, and with his hands in pockets. He doubled up his fob chain, made a hole into the waistcoat pocket, passed it through and extended it all the way to his pants’ pocket -that’s one very long chain. I can see this gent thinking up something like this after losing an expensive pocket watch and then wanting the replacement to be more secure.

Well, we know he was right-handed. :)

And from the suit with the creased pants that he wasn’t hard up for money, but I couldn’t find anything about him. Pity!

There were/are very few Staufs in the U.S. A Henrietta Stauf emigrated from Germany to Maryland passing through Canada in 1858. She likely was related to Walton.

Photographer: Jeffres & Rogers. 112 N. Charles St. Baltimore. Maryland. The back is blank.

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