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Archiver > VINTAGE-PHOTOS > 2006-12 > 1167592923


From: "Donna Lee" <>
Subject: Re: [VINTAGE-PHOTOS] Old Photo Question
Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2006 19:22:03 GMT


Hello Carole,
Thats another good one . Money was very hard to come by for most people back then and I'm sure your right . I never knew about the neck brace . I have some that have the person holding a small book which I believe to be a Bible and in back of the person is something that looks like an oval thing, looks like a cardboard cut out to me . Could it be that the person is in a coffin ? The eyes are open . I have one of my gr gr grandmother . I do know that they would pose dead people because they wanted a photo to remember them by but they want the person, such as a child to look alive . So they would dress the person in their best cloths, sit them in a chair with a pillow or lean them on a living person so as to look alive . I have seen many like this.
Gives me the creeps, but I guess they felt it was the only thing to do as they didn't have camera like we have today . I guess they also did it for loved ones who lived in the old country or some other place far away .
This is a great subject and a lot of help to those who are new to this subject . It took me a nember of years to learn what I know and I'm sure there is a lot that I don't know .
Donna Lee

Have A Happy Day , From Donna Lee , Remember , Jesus , is in control of everything ! So rest in Him.


-----Original Message-----
From: Carole Johnson
Sent: Sunday, December 31, 2006 9:26 AM
To:
Subject: Re: [VINTAGE-PHOTOS] Old Photo Question

If you look closely at photographs made in the late 1800s-early 1900s
you
might notice a doily or scarf on the back of the chair of the person
posing for the photograph; This was to conceal a brace that held
the head still. Some of the photographs might take several
minutes to expose. A lot of photographers worked out of their wagons
and traveled throughout the country. Some merely placed the
chairs outside near the home. Some used backdrops to
improvise a studio. Almost all of my old photographs were
made this way. For my poor ancestors they were probably
not smiling thinking of the costs and the money lost to
the traveling photographer!

We have a great photograph of my husband's ancestor made
this way - just outside her old rickety home. She is holding
a small dog so tightly that her knuckles are white. We estimate
it was made around 1880.
Carole


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