Who Were They?

This is a beautiful image of a lovely little girl from the late 1860 time frame. I am targeting this date because one of the remaining corners of this card is clearly square. The rounded corner didn’t really become popularized until the 1870s. I say late 1860s because the image takes up the full card, which was more common post 1865. The card is badly damaged, I suspect by silverfish or other paper eating insects. The front and back of the card both show strange damage which looks a bit like how termites work their way through wood.

Our young lady is unfortunately quite washed out by the photographic process. We can’t know what color her dress was, and we can’t assume it was even white! I learned long ago that certain colors photographed as black, white and gray, even though they could have been yellow, blue and red! Thankfully the photographer tinted the sash and ribbon ties on the dress in a lovely light blue, added pink to her cheeks, and even colored the chair upholstery green and the wooden frame brown. She has lovely lace on the hem of her drawers and notice her shoes! They are quite high fashion.

The photo was made by R. Taylor at 16 Gt Ryrie Street, Geelong, Australia. I couldn’t find anything to explain what Gt would mean, but I am wondering if it means “great” as in “Great Ryrie Street.” I didn’t find any references to that street, however. There is a “Little Ryrie Street” so maybe Great Ryrie Street simply evolved into Ryrie Street. Ryrie Street is just a short walk from the water of Port Philip Bay. Geelong itself is near Clifton Springs and not too distant from Melbourne. Coincidentally, there is now an antique shop located at 16 Ryrie Street. As you can see in this picture, it’s in a very old building, and maybe it even housed the photography studio at one time. These kinds of connections are just fascinating to me.