Category Archives: Collecting

Cabinet Cards, Collecting, Native American, Photography, Portraits

Native American portrait by Gilman L. Eastman, Portland, Oregon

April 25, 2013 dcphotoartist 3 Comments

Here is a stunning Native American portrait from Portland, Oregon.

I’m showing the back and front separately because the image is just so nice I wanted to let it stay larger on the page, and I also wanted to keep the text on the verso very clear because it’s so specific and unusual. It really speaks to late 19th century business style for a custom service business.

This photo would have been taken between 1886-1900, my guess is the earlier part of that period based on the style of the mounting card. Again guessing, this looks like Chinook tribal decoration but I could be completely ass-over-teakettle wrong, so if anyone has a better idea or knows specifically (and even better, if you can identify the sitter!!!) please let me know!

Here is what I found about Prof. G.L. Eastman in Portland:

R. L. Polk’s Portland City Directory:
1881: I didn’t find any reference to G. L. EASTMAN.
1887, page 202: EASTMAN, George L., artist, 229 5th.
1889, page 234: EASTMAN, Gilman L., photographer, 283 1st, res same.
1890, page 223: EASTMAN, Gilman L., photographer, 283 1st and 169 3rd, res 283 1st.
1897, page 257: EASTMAN, Gilman L., photographer and printer, 203 1/2 1st and 167 4th, res 203 1/2 1st.
1903 and 1904 didn’t have anything on EASTMAN the photographer.

Ancestry:
1900 Census, Idaho, Ada County, Boise, Wd 2, E.D. 2, Sheet 10B, line 93:
EASTMAN, Gilman L., Boarder, White, Male, born Oct. 1848, 51, Married, 7 years, born in Maine, father born in Maine, mother born in Maine, occupation Photographer.

Ancestry:
U.S. National Home for Disable Volunteer Soldiers 1866-1938, Sawtelle, Los Angeles County, California.
#13021, Gilman L. EASTMAN
Military History:
Private, E. Company, 30th ME Inf.
Enlistment: 19 July 1864. Augusta, Maine
Discharge: 20 Aug. 1865 Savanah, GA.
Domestic History:
Born in Maine. Age 68. Height 5′ 10″.
Religion: Protestant. Occupation: Photographer.
Residence subsequent to discharge: Salt Lake, Utah. Married. Nearest living relative: Mrs Minnie EASTMAN.
Date of Admission: 6 Apr. 1915; 26 Sept. 1917; 5 Sept. 1918; 10 July 1919.
Discharge and Transfer: 31 Jan. 1917; 6 Oct. 1917; 9 Oct 1918. In the same column was a stamped date “Sept. 17, 1924”.
Pension Certificate: 1078,985.

Ancestry:
1910 Census Utah, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake City, E.D. 145, Sheet 1A, stamped #216, lines 88-89, shows Gilman L. EASTMAN as age 62, a photographer born in Maine, with 23 year old wife named Minnie and daughter Minnie L. age 11 months. It also shows they hav been married 2 years and this is Gilman’s 5th marriage.

Ancestry:
1920 Census, California, Los Angeles County, Malibu, Dist 486, Sheet 18A, stamped #24, line 38. in the National Military Home.
Gilman L. EASTMAN is listed as an inmate, born in Maine, age 73 (see census for additional information).

If anyone is interested in this Gilman L. EASTMAN, there are several Ancestry Family Trees posted by Ancestry members for Gilman.One of these postings had several sources attached to their information, some of which are above. They also show the name for his middle initial L. and the names of his parents and names of other spouses. Date and place of birth and death are also listed.

Based on the above information, your G. L. EASTMAN, photographer, was Gilman L. EASTMAN. He was a photographer in Portland, Oregon, possibly from about the end of 1886 until at least 1897, and possibly a year or two more. He was in Boise, Idaho for the 1900 census.
[Information gathered for city directories was usually done at the end of the prior to the year of the directory in order to be printed in time to issue the first part of the year for which the information was gathered.]

Collecting, Photography, Stereoviews, Travel

Two new stereoviews

April 24, 2013 dcphotoartist 2 Comments

If you’ve been reading my blog long enough you’ll probably remember my saying I don’t collect stereoviews. That’s largely true – I will on occasion buy the odd one if it’s cheap and has an interesting subject, but I’m not really looking for them – collecting them is kinda like getting into sports trading cards of all varieties: just too much out there if it isn’t your primary focus. I am however collecting a specific series because it’s a small series – only about 24 images in total for the full set. The first one in the series that I acquired was found at an antique shop in Sacramento, California. The card shows a station on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, outside Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania (now known as Jim Thorpe, PA). I have since found four more in the series. These are all early stereoviews from the 1870s (one of the new ones posted here today has a date on the reverse in pencil of October 4, 1876), identifiable as such by the size (they are larger than the later cards) and by the paper stock and printing style.

Here are the two latest acquisitions. I had been hunting for more on an irregular basis for the last year-plus, and then finally these two show up at almost the same time, and in quite good condition overall. I suspect it will be hard to complete the set, but it’s not like I’m on a schedule 🙂

CDVs, Civil War, Collecting, Photography, Washington DC

Anonymous Gentleman, by Brady’s Washington DC studio

April 14, 2013 dcphotoartist 2 Comments

If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time you know by now of my interest in images by Mathew Brady’s Washington DC studio. Here is another gem, in near perfect original condition. The sitter is anonymous.

I’ve seen enough of Brady’s CDVs now that I’ve noticed a pattern in the labeling – if you want to tell which studio produced the image, first look at the front – if it says Washington or New York on the front, that’s a 100 % guarantee of where it was taken. If it is not labeled on the front, look at the photographer’s imprint on the verso. The studio that produced it will be listed first: a Washington DC portrait will say “No. 352 Pennsylvania Av., Washington DC & New York”, whereas a New York portrait will say “Broadway & 10th Street, New York, & 352 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC”. Strangely, the Washington DC ones often list only “New York” as the second address, if they list it at all (I have seen it all three ways,”Broadway & 10th”, “New York” and no second address), but the New York ones seem to always list the full “352 Pennsylvania Avenue” as the second address. This of course does not take into account the E&HT Anthony CDVs, which do not list any Brady studio address, but rather state “Published by E & HT Anthony, 501 Broadway, New York” very prominently, and then include the following variations:

From Photographic Negative by Brady
From Photographic Negative in Brady’s National Portrait Gallery
Manufacturers of Photographic Albums
No Brady attribution or mention of photographic albums

I guess it makes sense for Anthony to plug the albums on the backs of CDVs, but they made a full range of photographic supplies from albums to chemistry and cameras. The name lived on in various forms for well over a century – they merged with Scovill around the turn of the 20th century and formed Ansco (ANthony & SCOvill), which then partnered with Agfa in the US to become Agfa-Ansco.

Cabinet Cards, Celebrities, Circus Freaks, Collecting, Photography

Another Sideshow Little Person to Add to The Catalog

April 12, 2013 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

This is a cabinet card (roughly 4×6″), as opposed to most of the CDVs I’ve been collecting, which are 2 1/2″ x 4″-ish. Major Littlefinger and his wife are depicted here, circa 1880, on a cabinet card by Eisenmann, “the Popular Photographer” who specialized in photographing the theatrical profession (and by theatrical profession, I mean that in the broadest terms – he not only photographed actors and musicians, but sideshow performers and circus freaks, basically anyone who could be called an “entertainer”).

More about Major Littlefinger – from http://phreeque.tripod.com/major_littlefinger.html

CDVs, Celebrities, Circus Freaks, Civil War, Collecting, Photography

Yet More Little People

April 11, 2013 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Unknown Little Person, H.B. Gerncore's Temple of Art — Unknown Little Person, H.B. Gerncore’s Temple of Art

I’ve had a devil of a time trying to decipher the photographer’s name on the back – the best I can tell is it’s either H.B. Gerncore or H.L. Ger-something-something. In any case, it’s a beautiful photo of a strikingly proportionate little person. I’m frankly not even entirely sure he’s a little person and not just a pre-teen in a well-tailored suit. But the top hat and tails make it more likely he’s an adult sideshow or circus performer.

The Strattons, George Nutt and Minnie Warren in their Tuilieries outfits

Here’s yet another photo of Tom Thumb and company, this time in the outfits they wore to meet Napoleon III. Also an Anthony print, with the facsimile signatures on the back. Again no attribution of the photographer, so while it is possible it’s a Brady, it’s likely not. Notice the hand-coloring of the women’s garlands and the men’s watch chains.

CDVs, Celebrities, Circus Freaks, Civil War, Collecting, Photography

Two more little people CDVs – The Thumbs, and a trio…

April 10, 2013 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Here’s a CDV of Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren, in middle age. This is an E&HT Anthony CDV, with the facsimile dedication on the verso. The studio that took the photo is unknown, as it is not credited. It is possible that it is a Brady image, as Anthony owned the Brady negatives in later years, but it is also very possible that it is by someone else who sold the negative to Anthony, or was commissioned by Tom Thumb and/or P.T. Barnum to take the photo.

This image is NOT Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren. The little man on the left may be Commodore Nutt, but the woman is definitely not Lavinia Warren OR her sister Minnie, and the little man on the right is definitely not Tom Thumb either. I have seen his image before on other CDVs where it is just him, but I don’t have one of them and I can’t recall the name either. He’s a big name in the 19th century little people sideshow circuit, but I’m drawing a blank (if memory serves, I’ve seen his solo CDVs sell for upwards of $150 each). This CDV is in overall outstanding condition, pinholes at the top of the card mount excepted – the albumen print still looks new.

These were bought as a pair, and were owned by the same individual in the past – it is the same handwriting on the verso that identifies the little people as Tom Thumb and Lavinia Warren (correctly on the one card, wrongly on the other).

Automobiles, Collecting, Photography

Car Wreck ca. 1905

April 8, 2013 dcphotoartist 1 Comment

Here’s a photo I bought of an early car accident, circa 1905. I’ve done some modest restoration work on the image – there was some severe damage to the water under the bridge. It was a quick and dirty repair job, so it should be easy to spot, but I wanted to clean it up to make the image more readable and remove the distraction.

CDVs, Celebrities, Civil War, Collecting, Military, Photography, Washington DC

Update! Identity of Young Couple found!

March 31, 2013 dcphotoartist 2 Comments

The young couple in the previous post are Clara Barton and John J. Elwell, the young man she was linked to romantically.

Clara Barton biography on Wikipedia

John J. Elwell, on Find-a-Grave

While there is no evidence that they were ever sexually intimate, some time after the war, General Elwell wrote to her that he loved her “all the law allows (and a little more perhaps)”. What exactly that meant remains the realm of speculation, as it is certainly cryptic by intent; General Elwell was a married man. Given that he was married at the time of his association with Clara Barton, this photograph becomes an act of bravery and defiance (or brazenness depending on your take of Victorian social mores), although perhaps it could have been passed off as innocent as Ms. Barton and General Elwell both served together in South Carolina at the assault on Fort Wagner, he with the Quartermaster’s Corps, she as a civilian nurse. Certainly at the time she was already famous, and he would have been so as well by the time the photo was taken in 1865, so it may have been at Mathew Brady’s urging that they posed together or it may have been of their own choosing.

Here is an image of General Elwell:

General John J. Elwell

and Clara Barton:

Clara Barton

And my photo for comparison:

CDVs, Celebrities, Collecting, Photography, Washington DC

Portrait of a young couple, by Brady, Washington DC

March 28, 2013 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

here is a young couple who posed at Mathew Brady’s Washington DC studio. They must have been “somebodys” because Brady bothered to copyright the image. I’ve seen enough of his images to notice that the copyright notice is used inconsistently, which leads me to think it was either to protect specific images because of the subject matter, or it may have been time-delimited as a result of a copyright dispute between himself and Alexander Gardner arising out of Gardner’s work for Brady during the Civil War. I’ve noticed it most often on the Fairy Wedding images, but also on the Brady version of the Seth Kinman elkhorn chair (I don’t have the Brady version, just the Alex Gardner version, which has Gardner’s studio stamp on the back, but Seth Kinman’s copyright notice on the front. I don’t recall if the Brady one has Brady’s copyright or Kinman’s).

If any of you Civil War buffs or Victorian America historians recognize this couple, any information would be greatly appreciated.

CDVs, Celebrities, Circus Freaks, Collecting, Photography

Another Tom Thumb, Lavinia Warren, George Nutt and Minnie Warren photo – for Queen Victoria

March 28, 2013 dcphotoartist Leave a comment

Here are the Thumbs, Commodore Nutt and Minnie Warren in the outfits they wore when presented to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Given that the image was produced by E&HT Anthony, in all likelihood it was taken by Mathew Brady in New York upon their return to the US after meeting the Queen. The verso contains the usual “Compliments of …” facsimile signatures of the four subjects. This probably was commissioned by P.T. Barnum to sell at his American Museum.

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