This pretty, colorful card features a small cottage on a snowy hill, with carolers singing at the foot of the hill. A gilded moon rises over the trees. Just a lovely scene.
May Christmas
bring you Gladness and the
New Year
greet you with Success
and Happiness
Janet Kerr
This photo shows what some call an “transition era” dress. It has the dropped shoulder seams of the 1860s, but the apron and drape of the 1870s. It’s an excellent example of the transition away from the cage (hoop skirt) and toward the bustle. The photo mount has rounded corners, putting it in the 1870s, but it could be within the first couple years of that decade. You will note the trims added to the sleeve, as well as the ringed apron. Very nice dress.
The photographer of the image was H. G. Pearce, No 87 Westminster Street, Providence – I assume Rhode Island.
Here’s another colorful card, this time signed by Velma.
Little choir boys lift their voices,
And all the world today rejoices,
May your heart sign bright and clear
With joy today, and all the year.
A second greeting sent to Anna Chodl, this time from 1913. The card is again written in another language. You can see on the back that a stamp was once on the card, but it’s likely a philatelist removed it at some point. Note that the greeting includes the address (?) 3145 Russell.
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.
Who Were They? 