I collect photographs dating from the 1840s to the 1940s. I am drawn to these images as irreplaceable and almost magical glimpses into our collective history, time capsules of past moments preserved only on fragile glass and paper. These are not for sale. I’ve digitally imaged them here to increase the chance of their survival and to share them with others who may enjoy them as well. I’m not an expert, but I’ve identified people, places, and ages of the images to the best of my ability based on occasional notes on the backs, paper and printing, and on the contents of the images.
- Robert Beauford
1880 to 1890 Photographs
Cabinet card photograph (1887-1894) of a young lady with a rose corsage and fancy dress. She also has a decorative pin at the front of her collar. The uneven scalloped edge of the card suggests the period from 1887 to 1894. The slightly puffed shoulders of her bodice also suggests the very late 1880s or early 1890s, as does the style of the photographer's imprint on the front of the card, which is set apart form the image by a line, characteristic of that time. The photographer imprint indicates Charles C. Crabb, of Seymour, Indiana. Charles Crabb is a known photographer working in Seymour in that period. As a child, he was the youngest drummer boy in the Union Army, at 13 years old, and was later a remarkable inventor.
Cabinet card photograph (1889) of a young lady. The image shows only her head and upper torso, but reveals some lovely decorative details of her dress, as well as an unusual pin on her collar, upon which appears to be suspended a tiny lock. An old inscription, written on the back of the card with a dip ink pen, says "Katie Johnson, age 23 years, 1 month 26 days, weight 128 lbs. Feb. 9. 1889. Carrie" (This would make Katie Johnson's birthday December 14, 1865, 4 days before the US ratified the final end of slavery at the end of the Civil War.) A second note, written with a modern ball point pen, reads "Katie Johnson, age 23 yrs, Feb. 9, 1889 My aunt (great) - the sister of my grandmother [Reeves?]." The photograph and its mounting are in every way consistent with the date written on it. The photographers front inscription reads "Railroad Hutchings Photo Car." The Hutchings Railroad Photo Car was operated by 3 brothers, George Washington Hutchings, Samuel H. Hutchings, and Otis Lincoln Hutchings. The railroad car was a complete traveling photography studio, darkroom, and sleeping quarters. It traveled from town to town in Kansas and Nebraska from at least 1885 to 1896, making and selling photographs for periods ranging from several days to several weeks in the towns visited. The brothers also operated several stationary studios, and many existing photographs carry their various family mark. In Feb., 1889, the car may have been in Washington, Kansas.