I don’t have a photo of the exterior nor know the location or names. The last two outdoor images were on the back of the interior shots.
I titled this Edwardian based on the ladies’ dresses, but the furniture might be considered Victorian. I know a few of you collect and know your antiques. Enlighten us.
One of the photos has something that says Hawkeye on it, so maybe this was in Iowa? I can’t make out the outside photos that have signs-one says, silverware, I think, but thats all I can make out. Maybe there’s a town on that sign. The one woman’s collar looks like it would hold her head up through anything! And, I wonder if someone famous was being buried? All those people look to be trying to see into a cemetery.
You’re right about “silverware”. I took off my reading glasses 😆, and it looks like it might say “jewelry” or “jeweler”, then “rubies”. Can’t make out the next word, or the name above all of it.
I know this is nuts but I feel like I recognize some of the photos in the old pictures of the Edwardian interior. If I had more time I would try to link some of them here. Pictures of my great great grandparents were on the walls in the house I grew up in and there are three in this pictures that look really really really familiar. I wish we knew where the house was located!
I say Edwardian, early 1910’s, theres an automobile in the first exterior pic looks like a funeral, the girls look to me like they are possibly trying out their new camera which was all the rage at that time, maybe a boarding house and they are off in college?? I love they way they sorta stage the room for the pics and all the photos of their friends on their wall, I have my great grandmother’s photos from the 1910’s and it was the same lots and lots of small photos of friends, dozens of them
I think it’s a public event of some kind, perhaps a political rally. That’s a monument yard, not a cemetery, and it’s not a funeral.
Early 1900s is a good guess. I always love these casual interiors with all of the cabinet cards displayed on the walls and dressers and tables back then. Some of the furniture is probably older and from a few years back and passed on. Wall to wall carpeting with throw carpeting over it. Love it! Not something people do anymore.
I do love this lounge. This piece I believe folds out to be a bed. Great period fabric and gimp. Not the very tiny tacks used to hold the gimp in place. You can see the indents.
Thank you so much for posting these! I love interior shots, not only because they give us documentary evidence for textiles, wallpaper, carpeting, etc. but also because they show the domestic sphere. The snapshot display board made me smile–it’s very much like the ribbon-crossed ones we see today. I would say the two young ladies are relaxing, but that doesn’t seem right given the tight lacing and celluloid collars. At least they’re getting the weight off their feet.
Some of the furniture appears to be older, but like most real households, they have a mix. The newest furniture in our house is a sofa I bought ten years ago, and the oldest is my great-grandfather’s desk from before the Civil War. We don’t have anything that would pass for new. Our interiors aren’t typical of 2022, but there are plenty of staged magazine layouts to show future generations what is trendy, if not the way people actually live. 🙂
Quickie comment. She is not dead. Plenty of sites and videos are available out there that explain postmortem photography versus not. Educate yourself 🤗
That’s all.
Many people have and are continually mislead by what constitutes as Postmortem Photography. There are a lot of misunderstandings about the contraptions used in cabinet cards for example that assisted in people keeping still for a clear shot. Also people sometimes sit stiffly due to their clothes which gives them an unnatural looking pose. Doesn’t mean it is a dead body.
This is a wonderful site that actually explains about photography from this period. It helps debunk some of the postmortem photography myths as well as the assumption that people throughout the entire 19th century needed to sit still for a very long time to get exposure. They did not. Only the case in earlier photography.
👉 Clearing Up Some Myths About Victorian ‘Postmortem’ Photographs – Atlas Obscura
Another myth this doesn’t touch on is that people didn’t smile in photos because they needed to sit still for too long. That is totally false. Even portraiture books stated to keep a calm serious look, without grimacing or cheeky smile. Look relaxed. Though not all knew how to engage in that and have RBF. (resting b*tch face). Really it was the trend for many, many decades to have serious portraits of yourself done.
Yeah, the reason I brought it up was a comment (not approved) that there was a stand sticking out from the curtain. :/
I blame the movie “The Others”. It reached an audience that didn’t know about postmortem photography. Now all of a sudden, anyone that is sitting or laying down or has their eyes closed means they are dead. Just…no. Ugh. lol
😂 I assumed actually there was a comment or comments crossing that line. It seems they always appear when photos are posted like this. I always assume they’re coming! But I thought for those who think it and not post, why not have a link to help sanitize the dirty thoughts lol.
Yes! The Others! I remember thinking that same thing when I saw that movie too. “Oh boy here we go!” It was not a dark thing but in sad desperation to have a picture in a time when photos were so much more rare than today. Imagine having a baby and never having a pic of it and it dies before you can photo it? I’m sure the parents wanted that keep sake even if it was hard to look at. But also, in some cultures, some people still take pictures of the dead in caskets. Just to remember them by. I know you know all that but just for some who may be curious.
As a victorian era glass collector, the comport is a sawtooth pattern that was introduced in the 1850’s and has remained popular in various forms & makers til about 1900. The rose bowl is also pressed glass and was made by Fostoria glass Co. and introduced in 1898. So this photo is definitely around 1898-1900
Oh cool DJZ! I am not a glass collector like you but wanting everything I own to be 1870-90s, I am always on the lookout for EAPG Bryc Bros Magic pattern. I own plates, pitchers, comports, cake dishes, sugar bowls, fruit stands and wine glasses. Similar to how I collected an entire set of Rogers Bros Laurel silverplate ware which I’ve posted here before.
I have a few pieces in that pattern. I dont have any of the comports, i think i have a pickle/relish dish, and maybe a milk(1/2 pint) pitcher
Oh yes. I have the pickle relish dish and the celery vase too.
Bryce made some very beautiful patterns in the day. Three other companies from this period that made stunning pressed glass, Riverside Glass Co., Adams Glass Co. and Hobbs
It was fun to see the hanging lamp in #11 is an original of my replica. This was the “too much is never enough” era. I think the photos near the monument park were taken at a parade. Notice the flags on the cars/buggy. Prior to TV and constant news, everyone would all turn out for the famous, the political and the unusual, parade them around the town square and have something to talk about for years – entertainment. Thanks for posting, Kelly, how fun! I’m betting for those of us who have the “can’t throw anything old away gene”, we could find many other photos to enjoy, too.
It is so true! I used to cover my entire house with flags and bunting like you see in the old photos. Third floor down to the porch. NOW?? People would politicize it which is sad because it has zero to do with politics. I hate politics.
I’d say just a bit earlier than 1910. The bicycles seen in pic #22 standing and all piled up near the tree all have all white tires which pre-date the introduction of carbon in tires which was invented in 1904 and in widespread use by 1910.
All of that beautiful furniture, glass, photos, fans, curtains, every bit of it! 😍 😍 It’s the reason I became a graduate certified antique appraiser. If I could go back in time and stay for a week or so, I’d stop right about here in this era. Absolutely love everything in these photos!
That secretary in pic 9! Want!
My guess would be pictures from a women’s college & dormitory—the sitting rooms of one—based on similar pictures, the arrangement of the photographs, the furniture, and so on.
I feel that the two ladies were trying to relax for the photograph – as much as their corsets and stiff collars would allow!
In photo #1, the book with “Hawkeye” on the cover is the 1898 Yearbook for the State University of Iowa. Link:
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/islandora/object/ui%3Ayrbks1_7901#page/14/mode/2up
Possibly a photo of a sorority house or university housing?
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