Here’s my last nurse photo, and it is clearly a photo from graduation day. Her two friends might have graduated from another program and not a nursing one. The outside photo really makes those white dresses and caps stand out! The photo was cut in this strange shape, probably for a frame.
Today’s photo is also from the gigantic box and features nurse Louise or Laurie Doyle, RN in 1966. The note on the back of the photo also says Hillside Hospital. The photo is a wallet size, matte finish with that bumpy “school photograph” texture. I remember when my cousin got her nursing degree in the 1980s she also got the cap, but was only photographed in it for her graduation photo. Nurses caps had fallen out of favor and fashion by that point.
Originally the nurse cap was designed to keep the hair in place and present a modest appearance, as well as to quickly identify the nurses in a large group of people. Florence Nightingale, who was the pioneer female nurse in the 1800s, originated the cap at her school of nursing in London. Click through the link to a wiki article about the fascinating woman who gave us the nursing profession we know today.
This small photo was almost lost in the gigantic box I was digging through recently at an antique shop in Orange, CA. It is a 1.5″ by 2″ photo with a name plate underneath the profile photo. Hm, is this a mugshot or a passport photo? A search on the name Katherine A. Jenkins brought me to a nursing license issued in 1967. There were a couple other nurse photos in that gigantic box… Could it just be a coincidence?
This is the last of the hand tinted photos I have. They were all together, so perhaps they were owned by the same person who enjoyed tinting their photos. These two girls are wearing clothing that is distinctly 1920s-1930s. Each has a sash that was tinted. The older girl on the left is wearing gorgeous shoes, and is holding something that is connected to her sash at the waist. The younger girl is holding something in her hand, in between the two girls. They are pretty girls.
The art of hand tinted photos was introduced along side the daguerreotype in 1839. In the 19th century it was most common for the professional photographer to tint the photograph or tintype just after printing. Later photo artists introduced new techniques using oil, watercolor and other types of paint to achieve the desired result. As it turns out, hand tinted photography became quite an artform in Japan in the latter half of the 19th century, with some artists achieving worldwide renown. With the Great Depression, the sale of professional hand tinted photographs declined, but the home artist continued to have access to hand tinting kits. There is a very informative wiki article here which provided me with the brief details I have shared with you.
I find some happiness knowing that I have saved these hand tinted Japanese photographs from complete obscurity.
This was with the previous photo, and shows a small girl in a kimono that has been tinted pink with a blue sash, and her geta sandal thong was also tinted blue. She is sitting on the step and looking back into the house. I imagine her mother called her just at that moment and Dad took the photo anyway.
This is a proud Sepia Saturday post! Please click through and look for camels and presidents, worldwide!
Who Were They? 