Tag Archives: Historical Research

Collecting, Military, Photography, Tintypes

A little corrective history

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Someone who shall remain unidentified was selling a tintype on eBay. I won’t describe the image in detail, except to say that the subject matter was of sailors. There was a unique identifying feature in the photo that had the potential to point either to World War I or the Civil War. In doing a tiny tiny bit of basic (wikipedia) searching, the more logical conclusion is WW I. The seller had it labeled as a civil war image. I emailed him and pointed out the reasons why the image was WW I. His response back was “I know of no WW I era tintypes as the process was obsolete by the 20th century”. The tintype was around as a souvenir photo at carnivals and fairs into the 1930s. I have some tintypes in my collection that show people with cars. I know I shouldn’t pick fights with people on stuff like this- I don’t care about what it sells for and I don’t want to disrupt this guy’s business, but inaccuracy with something like this rankles me, moreso when it’s caused by unwillingness to do basic research, and even moreso when it’s done out of greed. A WW I tintype of sailors is probably worth $20-50. A Civil War tintype of sailors, tack at least another zero on those numbers, and depending on condition and quality, possibly two more zeros.

Here’s a good simple reference on the history of the tintype, if anyone is interested:

Ohio Historical Society Collections Blog

Collecting, Photography

M.E. Bennet of Washington, DC by Schroeder & Rakeman

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M.E. Bennet, by Schroeder & Rakeman, Washington DC

Another little CDV added to the collection, from Schroeder & Rakeman, 344 1/2 Seventh Street. It’s nice to find an image that is identified, even if the subject remains anonymous after the naming. I’ll have to do some digging around to find out who this might have been. Obviously the photo was made post- civil war, as it shows the dome of the US Capitol completed in the painted backdrop. I did look up a map of Washington DC from the 1850s to see if I could find the ‘N.L. Market’ referenced in the photographers’ back stamp. While the building (or place – the market could have been a permanent outdoor location), the address is part of what is now called the “Market Square” office/condo complex, including the Navy Memorial. Another option for the studio would be at 344 1/2 Seventh Street, SE. Which ironically enough puts it within a block of Eastern Market. I can find no reference to Eastern Market as anything other than Eastern Market, however, which throws this location for the studio into doubt.

Collecting, Photography

Thrills of discovery – researching your finds

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As I’ve been collecting images, especially photos more than a century old, I get curious about what I find. Who was this person? Where were they from? What did they do? Where was this photo taken? Oftentimes, those anonymous images are destined to remain that way, completely unidentifiable. However, sometimes you can do some digging and find out some really amazing things about your images. Three examples:

Pleasant Valley Winery, Hammondsport, NY Carte de Visite by Matthew Brady

I found this CDV by Matthew Brady on Ebay. The location was unspecified. Given that it was taken by his New York studio, I guessed it was also in New York state somewhere. New York has a number of wineries, so I figured it might very well be the Taylor Winery. Google is your friend on such quests – I did a Google Image search for Taylor Winery, and was coming up a bit short, but by happenstance I found a photo of the Pleasant Valley winery building which looked an awful lot like the main building in the photo. Further research on Pleasant Valley showed that the winery was the first bonded winery in the United States, and that it opened its doors in 1860. Perfect timing for a CDV by Brady, who might have actually taken this photo (and not one of his assistants, which was common) given that the Civil War had not yet started, and he would have had time to travel to Hammondsport from New York City to take the photographs himself.

Horatio B. Buck, MD - 1st Lt. 11th Volunteers.

Another Ebay acquisition. This one took a bit more digging, but through a link I found on Google, I was able to find a fair bit of information on Dr. Buck. Trying to figure out what his name actually was was the bigger challenge, as his handwriting is somewhat loose. I’m still trying to find out more about him- where he served, what battles he worked at, etc. The amazing thing is that so many Civil War records are available online.

Family in Novelty Car, Cliff House, San Francisco

This was another fun one. Completely anonymous tintype. I was trying to put a date to the image, with little luck. The car is a generic “car type” and not representing any actual vehicle. Then I took a look at the backdrop. Gosh, that looked familiar. Again, Google Images is your friend in a quest like this. The scene? Cliff House in San Francisco, with Seal Rock in the surf. Cliff House in the form shown in the photo burned down in 1907 (yes, it survived the 1906 earthquake only to perish a year later in a fire). Given that most cars prior to 1905 or so didn’t have that form factor of a semi-closed four door body, that would put it between 1905-1907, and of course locate the photo as having been taken at or near Cliff House.