favorite finds: victorian photography
I've been working on an art project lately that has me trawling through Pinterest for old photos, and I've found some really wonderful stuff I wanted to share. Some of these are dated and location marked, but some are sadly unattributed, due to the nature of Pinterest :( Either way, I'm fairly sure these are all either Victorian or early Edwardian. (I've done my best to make sure there's no AI here either!)
(C.1895.) Two librarians. Glad to see I'm not the only or the first person to resort to climbing on the shelves to reach a high book.
(New Athens, Ohio. Photographer: J.E. Williams. C.late 1800s.) You can tell this has to be late 1800s because they're getting silly with it; as camera tech gets better, both the camera's exposure time and the cost to get your picture taken have gone down, meaning more informal photos towards the end of the century.
(No info.) A lady getting her measurements taken. This is still done today! This is probably a wealthy woman having a dress custom-made for her. The tape basically creates a 3D model of her body that the dressmaker can take very exact measurements from. I especially love the dressmaker's chatelaine and hair; judging off those, I think it's safe to say this is around mid-century.
(1904.) A wedding reception! Toasting to the new bride and groom. I think they must be in some sort of greenhouse, or else they converted the parlor into one for the reception. You can see the structure of the bride's bodice really well here.
(1880.) I looove this photo. Look at that huge grin! I feel like he's imitating some older family member here. Although the banjo itself might be his, it looks the right size for him. A new present, maybe?
(South Carolina, USA. 1912) Made mom laugh. I wonder what situation this photo was being taken in? Is it a family member behind the camera, an older child maybe?
(C.1800s) This one is from an old Buzzfeed article, but no citation :( I wonder if she's a debutante. All-white isn't unusual, but the fur stole (?) she's wearing speaks to a special occasion of some kind.
(No info.) Caught napping, with her shoes on and her hair still up! I love how you can see the weight and texture of the fabric in the way her skirt folds.
(1915.) All dressed up for their first communion, as you can see from the white arm-bands on the left arms.
And finally, for this post at least:
(C.1855-60) What I assume to be somebody's pet, because the Victorians were all about bringing undomesticated animals into their homes. Somebody must have loved this raccoon a lot to get an ambrotype done of it in the '50s!
