So excited to share this photograph of a beautiful woman with you!  Even though we have only a head and shoulders shot we get a good idea of her dress.  The early nineties were a time of high collars.  From the Ladies’ Home Journal of August 1890 came, ‘To permit one’s neck to show in daytime is bad form.’ She wears a dark choker around her throat, the only visible jewelry.  The trim of the 1890’s was often concentrated on the bodice, and we can see this at the bottom of the photo.  The fabric of the bodice is heavily embroidered with tiny pearls in the shape of roses.  The buttons from the throat to the bodice are very decorated and set close together.  The upper sleeves give a hint at the ‘gigot’ sleeve to come later in the decade.

The uneven scalloped edges of this photo date from 1887-1894, another sign of the early ’90’s!

Albert Marton, photographer, was listed in the Bloomington census of 1880 as 28 years of age, single, born in Prussia; with him lived three siblings – Tena, 26, sister, also born in Prussia; Lewis, 21 and Henry, 18, both born in the United States.  Albert must have been very successful at his profession as he wrote A New Treatise on the Modern Methods of Carbon Printing in 1905.