A Southern Belle

This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a show run by the Photographic Historical Society of New England, which was a virtual treasure trove of old photos! I had a difficult time keeping myself (and my checkbook) under control! I bought a number of fantastic images which will be appearing here for your viewing pleasure in the future. Today, I am presenting one of my most interesting finds, a haunting image of beautiful Southern woman holding her summer hat, taken in Winchester, Virginia by Lupton & Brown near the end of the Civil War or immediately after that devastating conflict.

There were very few communities, North or South, that were affected by the war as much as Winchester was. Situated in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, known as the "Breadbasket of the Confederacy", Winchester changed hands over 70 times between Union and Confederate forces from 1862-1864. At least four major battles took place within the town limits, and many other bloody skirmishes nearby. Lincoln's Secretary of War Edwin Stanton summarized his impression of Winchester by noting that "the men are all in the army" and "the women are the devil", while Union General Robert Milroy bluntly said that "Hell is not full enough ... There must be more of these Secession women of Winchester to fill it up." The unknown lady in this historic photograph would have lived through all this turmoil, and a closer examination shows she was wearing a ring on the third finger of one hand, probably a sign of her marital status. It's quite possible her husband fought or even died for the Southern cause, and she had this cdv taken to give to him, which was very common for military families then as it is today. The devil is in the details!

A British Lady

During the Victorian era, the word "lady" carried a great deal of weight; indeed, particularly in England, the term was used to define a woman's social status as a member of the upper classes. One only needs to glance at this striking image from the early 1860s to see that this beautiful young woman was a lady of significant stature and must have made heads turn when she entered a room wearing this gorgeous, but cumbersome crinoline hoopskirt. It looks absolutely majestic, but it must have been a tad difficult to move around in that thing! A closer inspection also reveals this British lady was wearing a hairnet, or snood, and also a cross pendant around her neck. She definitely was a lady of style and substance, but leaves us wondering who she really was. The backside of the photograph tells us it was taken at the studio of "E. Swift & Son Artists & Photographers, 126 Bold Street, Liverpool." Interestingly, Bold Street is one of the most famous streets in all of Liverpool, famous today for its shops and also purported to be haunted. For more, see http://www.icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0300whatson/0800events/2003/10/30/let-s-do-time-warp-again-50061-13572570/

A Trip over Bloody Brook

This past weekend my wife Celia and I had the pleasure of traveling out to western Massachusetts to visit our dear friend from college Jared Rose. This is really a beautiful area and we spent much of our time traveling around Deerfield, one of the most picturesque and historic towns in the entire Bay State. However, some 333 years ago, Deerfield was the site of one of the most horrific encounters between Native peoples and English colonists in our history. On the morning of Saturday, September 18, 1675, about 80 colonial soldiers, nearly all of them from Essex County in Massachusetts (where I hail from) were traveling through the wilderness on their way to the settlement of Hadley, transporting threshed wheat sorely needed by the growing garrison there. As the soldiers crossed a small brook on that late summer day, they stopped to relax and pick some wild grapes that were growing nearby, fed by the pure cool water that would soon be flowing with their blood. Many of them had laid down their matchlock muskets, and were caught off guard when a band of several hundred Native American warriors ambushed them. The English troops stood little chance, and within a short time nearly all of them had been killed. A band of troops under the command of Thomas Mosely arrived at the scene to drive the Indians off, and the next day, they assumed the grim task of burying at least 64 dead colonists in a mass grave that now lies in the front yard of a house a short distance down the street. Looking at this old photo, the monument erected in 1838 marks the spot approximately where the massacre occurred is still there. The old house in the photo is long gone, and today oddly enough, a high school school stands near the spot of one of the bloodiest events in early American history. Bloody Brook, as it became known, flows clear today but only if it could talk, what stories it would tell!

Little Woman

This charming little girl seems to me an incarnation of a character from Louisa May Alcott's famous 1869 novel, Little Women. I am simply fascinated by the wistful gaze on this girl's face. You could say she was definitely "photogenic." The unknown photographer who produced this tintype also did a very nice job tinting her cheeks, coloring the lovely plaid dress and gilding the pages of the book she is resting her hands on. The quilt used the to cover the table next to her has a beautiful pattern and is wonderful photographic evidence of 19th century textiles. Sadly, this young girl will also forever remain anonymous but she is still a great joy to look at and wonder who she was. Please click on the image to get a closer look.

I thought I would post something a little different for everyone today. I woke up early this morning, and the thick fog and misty atmosphere got me in the mood to watch a scary movie that evoked a forboding sense of our dark past or imagination. As some of you may know, I have been a big fan of vintage horrow flicks since I was a little kid. A while ago at Best Buy I picked up this amazing and really cheap dvd collection of fifty old horror movies dating from 1920 through the 1960s! So today I thoroughly enjoyed watching the classic 1920 silent film "Mr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" starring John Barrymore, the brilliant actor who was Drew's grandfather. Barrymore's performance as the charitable young doctor who transforms into a hideous fiend that roams the streets of London is really incredible and compelling to watch. This very early movie also starred the beautiful Nita Naldi, an American actress from New York, who played the young Italian dancer who Mr. Hyde seduces. If you would like to watch the whole film, which is only about an hour long, please click on this link: http://www.archive.org/details/DrJekyllandMrHyde You won't be disappointed!

Captain Ahab?

This headshot of an unidentified Civil War era gentleman has always reminded me of Herman Melville's immortal character, Captain Ahab, in his masterpeice Moby Dick. Actually, the man's face bears a striking resemblance to the late brillant actor Gregory Peck, who gave one of his very best performances in the captivating 1956 film adaptation of Melville's novel.

"Captain Ahab stood erect, looking straight out beyond the ship's ever-pitching prow. There was an infinity of firmest fortitude, a determinate, unsurrenderable wilfulness, in the fixed and fearless, forward dedication of that glance. Not a word he spoke; nor did his officers say aught to him; though by all their minutest gestures and expressions, they plainly showed the uneasy, if not painful, consciousness of being under a troubled master-eye. And not only that, but moody stricken Ahab stood before them with a crucifixion in his face; in all the nameless regal overbearing dignity of some mighty woe."

(Moby Dick, Chapter 28)

Who the guy in this picture was we'll never really know, but the photographer's backmark on the reverse side of the image tells us that it was taken at the studio of Robert J. Chute at 13 Tremont Row in downtown Boston, not in New Bedford!

Three Brothers?

Celia bought this striking daugurreotype for me a few weeks ago at Prozo's auction house in Rutland, Vermont. This image, and others which will appear sometime on my blog, came from an estate sale in upstate New York, so it possible this image was taken in or around New York City, during the 1850s. The two older young gentleman are wearing high or "stand-up" collars which were popular during the 1840s and the subsequent decade, though I must say they look pretty uncomfortable! Even though they are staring hard towards the camera, there is a sense of closeness and camraderie here; the young man on the right has his right arm behind the young boy and the boy has placed his right on the leg of what was probably his oldest brother. Perhaps what is most remarkable about this historical image is what was revealed when I took the dag out of its case to clean it. Scrawled in pencil in a shaky nineteenth century hand is the following inscription: "Allen, 13 Feb 10, 1854, Sam, 19, 1854, John, 22, 1854." We are very fortunate to know what these young men's names were and probably when this priceless photo was created! As with all the other images I have posted, please click on any of them for a closer look!

The Little Drummer Boy

Since I began playing the drums myself at a very young age, you will probably understand why I absolutely had to have this photo the first time it caught my eye at a local shop in Exeter, NH! It was taken in Boston at the studio of JW Black at 173 Washington Street sometime during the 1860s, revealed by the photographer's backmark on the reverse side of the carte de visite. Unfortunately when the person who glued the very fragile image to the white card, they didn't do a very decent job and ended up creating a few wrinkles in the photo which may appear like black lines across my scan. Still this is a wonderful portal to the past! Even though he is wearing what appears to be a dress, which was commonly worn by both little boys and girls at this time, this remarkable child has an interesting, pensive look on his face and has a tight grip on the drum stick. Who knows, maybe he went on to rock it out with John Philips Sousa!!