A profile portrait of a woman-perhaps from Boston Society.

Wilbert Ernest Marshall: 1875-1944

Will Marshall was affiliated with photographer Albert Grant, the duo heading The Litchfield Studio at 655 Mass. Ave. in Arlington, MA, outside of Boston. Listed in the popular photographic press during the first decade of the 20th Century, he generally went by W.E. Marshall (Will Marshall on this mount) as an exhibitor. A note in Photo-Era for March, 1903, showed Marshall as being newly elected as President of the Lens and Brush Club of Boston.

An advertisement in The Arlington and Belmont Directory for 1900 contained an advertisement for The Litchfield Studio on p. 81:

Litchfield Studio -655 Mass. Ave., -ARLINGTON, MASS. -Marshall & GRANT, Props. -For Artistic Work- At Reasonable Prices, -Go to this Studio.-PHOTOS.-CRAYONS.-WATER COLORS.-PICTURE FRAMES.

Advertising copy for the studio appeared in Abel’s Photographic Weekly.  From the issue of November 11, 1911, the editors showcased effective recent copy by the studio:

HAVE YOU A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH?

If you want a picture to look like yourself, to have characteristic pose and natural expression, you will do well to go up to Arlington to the Litchfield studio and consult Mr. Marshall. In his studio you will see photographs of all the prominent families in the state, and each one is an artistic success. As the holiday season approaches people who are to make Christmas gifts should consider how welcome a really good picture of father or mother or the baby would be, and make arrangements for sittings at once. p. 250-2

By 1920, the studio was solely owned by Marshall. In the Resident and Business Directory of Arlington for that year, it showed he also had a branch studio in Harvard Square in Cambridge, along with the following advertisement:

The LITCHFIELD STUDIO “Photographs that almost speak.” WILBERT E. MARSHALL, Prop. STUDIO BUILDING, ARLINGTON, MASS  Telephone Connection – (p. 170)