I’m so excited to share this photo with you today – a woman’s traveling costume from about 1910. The pleated skirt is very stylish, partnered with a high collared white blouse, set off with a pin at the throat.
Don’t you love the long jacket? Large puffed sleeves with slim lower sleeves – and the black collar and cuff with stars. The dark gloves are a good contrast to the white outfit.
And can we talk about the hat? The multitude of flowers give this outfit a softening touch. It looks very nice with her feminine hairstyle.
A great photo of this husband and wife, if not quite as well made as some. You can see the jewelry of the wife and her black lace collar. One feature that dates this photo to around 1887 is the geometric line below the photo and above the studio imprint. Also, the gentleman’s jacket buttoned at the very top.
Another interesting fact is the photographer who took this was a woman. There were quite a few women photographers in the late 1800’s. Many started helping their husband’s or father’s with photography and ended up being one!
This photo was taken by Ella Willis, or possibly one of her sons, Nathaniel Parker Willis or Lewis Willis. The father and husband, Abner Delmar Willis, was a photographer in Crawford, Illinois, from 1866 through 1892, when age forced him to give up his work. At that time the studio continued as Mrs. Willis and Son, as listed at the bottom of this photo.
But twenty years before that date, she was making photographs of her own – with her cards listing Ella Willis Art Studio, Crawfordsville, Indiana. Perhaps she was on a level with her husband? His cards read, A. D. Willis, Crawfordsville, Indiana. Such a modern woman – with a husband that appreciated her talent!
Son Parker Willis had his name on cards – possibly after his mother retired – or before! A family of photographers.
Today I share this photo of a very distinguished looking gentleman from Louisville, Kentucky. Any photo from Kentucky I find I buy. This gentleman’s hair blends with the background, but you can definitely see his kind eyes and his patrician nose.
I would date this photo to the late 1890’s due to the collar of this gentleman, as well as the embossed name and address at the bottom of the photo.
And the advertisement covering the back of the back of the card was also used during the 1890’s. E. Klauber, Photographer and Art Dealer, 332 Fourth Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky.
Edward Klauber was a photographer for many years in Louisville. The first instance I could find was for his shop located on 403 Main in 1864. In 1868 he moved to 58 W. Market, and remained there through 1870. 1871-1883 his shop was at Third Street at the NE Corner of Jefferson Street. In 1884 he moved to 332 Fourth Street and remained there through at least 1907.
I read online that Edward Klauber was considered by many to be one of the best photographers of his time. He came from Bohemia at the age of eighteen. His ‘large and elegant studio was compared to the studio of Matthew Brady in New York City. The studio was lavishly furnished. Stage personalities like Mary Anderson enjoyed having portraits done by Klauber when they were in Louisville performing at the Macauley Theatre. Klauber’s studio closed in 1913 and he died in 1918.’ (From The Cabinet Card Gallery) Since his first photography studio opened in 1864, he was at his job for 50+ years!
Isn’t this a lovely young woman – with almost a smile on her face! What drew me to purchase this photo was the dress – definitely an 1890’s style, but I also like the small pattern in the material – in addition to the ruffles and lace. You can also see she wears a small comb in her hair. The extremely high collar is consistent with the 1890’s, as well as the thick gatherings in the bodice. The small puff sleeve at the shoulders, with fitted sleeves down to the wrist, and an extra ruffle at top, date this to the early 1890’s, before the huge leg-o-mutton sleeves of the later years of the decade.
This photo was taken by Lochman Photography at 707 Hamilton Street, Allentown, Pennsylvania. With a little research I found a Benjamin Lochman in an 1861 city directory, a photographer, at 9 W. Hamilton. By 1880 he was located at 707 Hamilton. Benjamin was born in 1825 and died in 1912. His wife was Catherine, and children, Eugene, William Jerome and Ellen.
I purchased this wonderful photo just today at J. Sampson Antiques and Books on Main Street in Harrodsburg – another of our treasures! As I walked through the store after checking through the books (found one on Scott County history, the Wilderness Road, Shakertown and the old Mud Meeting House), I saw this picture and fell in love!
This woman is quite beautiful – a classic beauty with a romantic hair style. But her dress steals the show. The high collar, ruffled cuffs, the entire dress is lace, lace and more lace. And in the beautiful white of the turn of the 20th century. How I wish we knew her name. I suppose she will remain the beautiful mystery woman!
Goodrich Nursing Home in Lexington, Kentucky. My Aunt Lil’s nursing home, run about 1940-1960? Not sure about the dates. Aunt Lil is in the dark dress at the bottom of the photo.
This is a great photo of my Aunt Lil and her nursing staff at the Goodrich Nursing Home in Lexington, Kentucky. Aunt Lil, actually my great-aunt, was born Lillian Catherine Montgomery, March 11, 1900 – always easy to remember old she was – in Washington County, the daughter of Robert E. Lee Montgomery and Frances Barber Linton. She married Guy Goodrich in 1933. They had no children, but Aunt Lil devoted her time as a registered nurse, a graduate of St. Joseph Hospital School of Nursing in Lexington. She began Goodrich Nursing Home and ran it with an iron fist. Patients always came first. She was a stickler for cleanliness and demanded superior work from her staff. She was well known in this field, and well loved by those who worked for her.
I have very vague memories of visiting Aunt Lil and Uncle Guy’s home in Lexington – I always thought it very fancy! I particularly remember her plates with pink flowers and green leaves in her china hutch. In later years, after Uncle Guy passed on and she sold the nursing home, she returned to Springfield, in Washington County, and lived near her sister – my grandmother. It was at this point our relationship grew, since the genealogy bug had been handed down to her, from her mother – and also handed down to me from the same, my great-grandmother. As far as I know, we were the only two in the family so obsessed! I would visit her for lunch and we would pore over all the delicate pieces of paper of our ancestors, handed down through the years, and look at those faces in photographs of so long ago. Sometimes I miss her so!
Aunt Lil was rather a roving senior citizen. She would move to Springfield, be there several years; miss Lexington; move there for several years, miss Springfield, and move back. Torn between two worlds. In her last years she lived in a nursing home in Springfield, but acted like she was the one taking care of things. I suppose once a nurse, always a nurse!
Isn’t this a lovely woman in a beautiful dress? When I think 1860’s, Civil War era, this is what comes to mind. The huge skirt, with hoops, is the epitome of the time, but notice the jacket with matching scrolls from the bottom of the skirt – the entire outfit comes together with that pairing. The hair is parted in the center and pulled back, as in the early 1860’s, but you can see an earring, and a ribbon, giving a little more decoration and leading towards the end of the decade. Her bonnet is in the chair and she holds a parasol.
Because the dress is very fashionable, with more decoration than the early years of the decade, I would date this photo to about 1867-1868.
This is a small carte-de-visite, and on back is ‘photographed by A. Copsey, Sudbury, Suffolk’. Just a little research led me to Ambrose Copsey, born about 1832, who married Mary Garwood. By 1866 the couple and their children had moved to Sudbury. More information, plus a photo of the artist and his wife can be found here.
I’m so excited to share this photo with you today – a woman’s traveling costume from about 1910. The pleated skirt is very stylish, partnered with a high collared white blouse, set off with a pin at the throat.
