Who Were They?

Three cute kids, two in matching outfits. The girls don’t look terribly happy to be having their picture made and the baby just looks adorably bewildered. At first I thought the child in the center back was a boy, but then spotted the hair bows laying across her shoulders. Because the two older girls have their hair parted so severely in the center, I am going to venture a guess that the baby is also a girl.

I think this photo is a little later than the 1890s because although you cannot see it on your monitor, when I hold the photo in a certain light, I can see the silver reflection of the chemical process that was used in the early 20th century. If you have seen studio photos of your granddad made in the 1920s or 30s, it will have that reflective property too. Also, the cardstock is a little heavier and not of the same quality as earlier cabinet cards. This cardstock is starting to really get mangled on the edges, as though it was not sealed well. Finally, you can clearly see three ink marks along the bottom of the card, which I believe were made by someone writing the names of these children somewhere other than in the Dobb Long Book. I find that an interesting piece of the puzzle, but I don’t know what it means.

The photographer is very difficult to make out, but I think it is McFarland in Washington, KS.