Who Were They?

I owed you a photo because I missed Monday somehow. Too many things going on, perhaps? :-)

This image is identified as Jacob Black. I particularly like the penmanship – we just don’t see beautiful handwriting all that much anymore. My child at age 13 cannot write her entire name in cursive although she wants to. It just isn’t taught in schools anymore like it was in previous generations. She has little reason to write by hand when so much is done on the computer. I wonder and worry sometimes at what this generation of people is going to do when they have to read and write something in the future – will they even be able to decipher “vintage” handwriting?

Mr Black sat for his photograph at the W. H. Whitehead’s Parlor Gallery, at 29 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA. The area currently consists of brownstone-style buildings configured as apartments. It’s possible these are original buildings – see image below. Do you think the photo gallery was in the first floor location, or in a walkup? I also love that he isn’t looking directly at the camera, more offside and with a bit of a snarky expression.