This mounted and untitled photograph with cover sheet is not signed, but is likely the work of E.D. Goulding, as other similarly mounted photographs by him owned by the PhotoSeed Archive carry this signature. Amateur photographer Edward D. Goulding, is believed to be the same E.D. Goulding who was manager of the Liverpool Steamtug Co., with an early reference for him listed in the 1875 volume: The Commercial Directory and Shippers’ Guide.

Margaret Goulding Vacuuming  (1.)  is an arranged genre photograph believed to show Margaret Goulding- E.D. Goulding’s spouse. It was most likely entered in an amateur photographic contest, possibly from the Liverpool area in England. The subject matter for the contest may have been to illustrate the photographic theme  of “Work”, as another photograph signed by him featured this theme. (2.)

Provenance: acquired 2013 from third party who had purchased a small archive of Goulding’s work from a Wirral auction house, west of Liverpool. Other mounted photographs are signed E.M. Goulding, believed to be by Goulding’s spouse, Margaret Goulding. The archive was contained within a loose folio with label:

Pictures from the “Studio”  1917.

Mount card recto details: flush attached cream-colored cover sheet mounted to upper margin verso.

Mount card verso details: signed Margaret Goulding in graphite. Below this:

Tech. (?)  10
Comp (?)  8
_____________
      18

The vacuum shown may be an early “Sweeper-Vac” model manufactured in Worcester, MA.

1. title of work supplied by PhotoSeed
2. known example not held by this archive showing industrial worker using hose to spray water with title on mount recto work.