Cover Detail: Marcellus Family Scrap Book Photo Album, ca. 1920’s, 32.0 x 25.5 x 3.0 cm, black cloth album featuring hundreds of Marcellus family (Marselis) photographs dating 1870’s-1920’s who settled in the Bronx, New York State. The four children of Isaac N. Marselis (born Philadelphia, PA ca. 1866) & Lena M. Brown, (born E. Hampton, CT ca. 1867) were all accomplished child models as well as artists and dancers. Inset Album Leaf Group: At top center in wheelbarrow, ca. 1910, gelatin silver print, 10.7 x 11.5 cm on album leaf, 30.8 x 23.4 cm: L-R: Victor H. Marcellus: 1898-1968, Irene L. Marcellus: 1900?-1959, Virgillia Marcellus: 1893-after 1962), Violette Rita Marcellus: 1902-1979. Other photographs believed to show Victor with toy rifle at upper left, two photos of Irene at bottom and grouping of three female siblings with their mother at bottom center. From: PhotoSeed Archive

L: Violette, ca. 1915-20, graphite and watercolor on paper, unknown American? artist, inside front scrap album cover, 32.0 x 25.5 | 13.6 x 16.5 cm. This profile artist’s study shows Violette Rita Marcellus, whom The Sun newspaper of New York City on 13 July 1919 reported: “Violet Marcellus, who is Harrison Fischer’s favorite model, has made her stage debut in “The Greenwich Village Nights” at the Greenwich Village Theatre.” Violette listed her profession as showgirl on the 1920 US Census and married the following year to Garner Benson Mann, 1887-1962. R: Photo believed to be children of Violette’s sister, Irene Marcellus, (Copeland) dated July 4, 1931 on verso: L: Peter Copeland, 1927-2007 & Doris Irene Madden, 1929-2005. From: PhotoSeed Archive

L: Virgillia or Irene Marcellus Holding a Rose, ca. 1900-1910, unknown American? photographer, gelatin silver print, 14.2 x 9.5 cm on album leaf 30.8 x 23.4 cm. An artist’s model from the age of two years old, Irene Marcellus went on to be a dancer in the Ziegfeld Follies by the early 1920’s; a silent movie actress and acclaimed sculptor while still a teenager. This photo may show Irene (or older sister Virgillia) around the age of ten, perhaps taken as a study photograph for a painting. R: Grouping of photographs show Irene Marcellus on separate album leaf, 30.8 x 23.4 cm. Gelatin silver prints, ca. 1910. The photo at lower right shows an unknown man posing while smoking a pipe, possibly Irene’s father, Isaac N. Marselis. (b. 1866) From: PhotoSeed Archive

L: Album Leaf, Marcellus Family Album, ca. 1915-25, various photographers, featuring gelatin silver, halftone reproductions and hand-colored photographic post card, 30.8 x 23.4 cm. The larger photographs feature Irene Marcellus and perhaps her younger sister Violette, and portrait of Irene at lower right, possibly by Arnold Genthe. R: Irene or Violet Marcellus Posing, 1918, Arnold Genthe, American, born Germany 1869-1942, digital file from 5 x 7 in. glass plate negative. Besides Genthe, Irene and Violette were photographed by other famous photographers including Alfred Cheney Johnston, Edward Thayer Monroe and Edwin Bower Hesser. From: Genthe photograph collection, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Scrap Album Leaf Featuring Irene Marcellus, ca. 1915-20, detail: various gelatin silver photographs by unknown photographers, black paper album leaf, 30.8 x 23.4 cm. Born around 1900, Irene was profiled in a 1916, Daily Standard Union, Brooklyn, N.Y. newspaper article: “Irene Marcellus won her first recognition in a painting of a slumbering child. Her mother was a model of more than ordinary ability and took Irene with her when she herself posed. She induced her baby daughter to feign sleep and the irresistible curly head and chubby arms won her immediate recognition.” Photo at upper left may be by Arnold Genthe. She has signed photo at upper right: Irene. From: PhotoSeed Archive

L: Proud Mother Marcellus, ca. 1920, gelatin silver print, 7.7 x 10.2 cm on album page 30.8 x 23.4 cm. Wearing her own hat in a humorous show of solidarity, Lena May Brown (Marcellus), holds a framed photograph believed to show daughter Irene Marcellus wearing a more elegant chapeau. The others are likely family members, perhaps her sister at right and husband. R: On another album leaf, a similar candid photo, 7.6 x 10.1 cm, with a proud Lena and possibly husband Isaac now showing off a cardboard display of daughter Irene Marcellus holding up a glass. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Scrap Page: Violette Marcellus Posing, ca. 1915-20, various gelatin silver prints, 10.1 x 7.6 cm by unknown photographer on leaf, 30.8 x 23.4 cm. This series of nine photographs show the artist’s model and dancer Violette Marcellus posing on a rooftop. At center, she sits before a tapestry backdrop and suspended bust. Besides being previously described in this post as Harrison Fischer’s favorite model in a 1919 article, Violette and sister Irene were members of the Helen Moller Dancers taking part in Miss 1917, a short-lived Broadway musical revue known today as George Gershwin’s introduction to musical theatre. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Young Models All, L: Victor Marcellus Posing in Turban with Pistol, 1915 or before, gelatin silver print by unknown N.Y. World photographer, 14.0 x 10.4 | 30.8 x 23.4 cm. The second born of the Marcellus family siblings, Victor H. Marcellus, 1898-1968, was also a child model who went on to serve in the U.S. Navy. The verso of this photo, which may have been used as part of a story by the World on the Marcellus “Most model” family, includes first publication notice in 1915: Victor Marcellus: 1st pub mag(azine) Nov 7/15. R: Virgillia Marcellus Artistic Study, ca. 1905-10, unknown American? photographer, gelatin silver print,14.5 x 9.9 | 30.8 x 23.4 cm. Known as Virgie to her sister Irene, Virginia “Virgillia” Marcellus, 1893-after 1962, was the first born Marcellus sibling. She was an artist’s model from a young age and became an interpretive dancer by 1919, the year she married Arthur Everard Laing, 1897-1980, a writer. They later had two children, Bruce and Leone. In the 1930 U.S. Census she was living with her parents in Queens, N.Y. with artist as listed occupation. By 1962, “Mrs. Laing” is mentioned as children’s librarian at the Chester, CT public library. From: PhotoSeed Archive

All About Dance, L: An unidentified dancer at left strikes a pose next to a fellow performer believed to be Irene Marcellus. Playbill identifies Irene as having been a performer for the Greenwich Village Follies of 1919, the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic of 1920 and the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 and 1922. Gelatin silver print from this period by unknown photographer, 10.3 x 6.0 cm. R: This illustration by an unknown artist of an Assyrian Dancer (…Barte.-(Danza Asyrian, 6.) postmarked Nov. 1919 was made into a rppc and mailed to Irene Marcellus when she was living in Greenwich Village. It may have had something to do with her run that year as part of the Follies. 8.0 x 8.3 cm. LR: Now standing outside a stage door, this is the same performer seen at far left. (10.3 x 5.9 cm) At right, a young woman believed to be Irene Marcellus exercises in a print dated 1917 on verso with notation in graphite Physical Culture—perhaps a dance class promoted and rebranded by the New York City Department of Education as Physical Education. (9.8 x 5.0 cm) From: PhotoSeed Archive

Nijinsky? This gelatin silver snapshot (8.7 x 5.5 cm) of a performer balancing on one foot is thought to be Russian Ballet dancer and choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky. (1889-1950) The image, notated in graphite on the verso: West 46ST. New York City | Cookie (sp?) was glued into the Marcellus album next to the Assyrian Dancer illustration seen with this post. The US premiere of the Ballets Russes production of the L’après-midi d’un faune, (Afternoon of a Faun) ballet, which took place at the Century Theatre in New York City on January 17, 1916, originally had Léonide Massine in the role of faun. He was replaced by Nijinsky by early April, leading the Ballet Russe in “A Tour of America” from Oct. 1916 to Feb. 1917. Nijinsky’s ground-breaking role as the faun was made famous in a series of photographs taken in 1912 by Adolph de Meyer and published in a limited edition collotype folio in Paris in 1914. A potential clue as to why this photograph appears in the Marcellus album may be the result of the intersection of Irene Marcellus and sister Violet with American ballet dancer and choreographer Adolf Bolm, then dancing with the Ballet Russe. In 1917, Bolm, working with Nijinsky as part of the second part of a two-part American tour, injured himself and had to recuperate in the US, where he stayed and later choreographed for the New York Metropolitan Opera. As reported in the NY Times on Oct. 15, 1917 under Theatrical Notes: “The Misses Irene and Violet Marcellus of the Moller Dancers have been engaged for the ballet which Adolf Bolm is staging In the Century revue. “Miss 1917.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

Random Album Snaps by Unknown Photogs, Top L: ca. 1915? gelatine print, 6.8 x 8.0 cm, Man with striking resemblance to Russian Ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky, with inscription: “B.S.C. Moscow, I Team, Winter 1914/15. (“M.B.S.C.” hand-drawn as shirt emblem may refer to British or Moscow Sports Club active before First World War.) Top Middle: Unknown man holding handle—perhaps of a letterpress—inscribed in graphite on verso Luigi. (8.7 x 6.7 cm) Top R: Well-dressed gentleman seated before window. (no inscriptions—9.5 x 6.0 cm) Bottom: Photograph of man with embellished face makeup signed: To my esteemed friends— —Barile 7/23/16. Difficult to identify, but one possibility may be Xavier J. Barile, 1891-1981, an American painter, graphic artist, illustrator and art teacher born in Italy who opened his own art school in New York City in 1919. (8.6 x 8.0 cm) From: PhotoSeed Archive

Artist & Subject, L: Irene Marcellus shown sculpting a clay bust, ca. 1915-20. Unknown American? photographer, gelatin silver print, 13.5 x 8.4 cm. From a 1916, Daily Standard Union, Brooklyn, N.Y. newspaper article on Irene: “While posing for a picture that required her to keep her arms outstretched she played with a bit of clay to keep her mind occupied. With one hand she had modeled a tiny figure of Venus that was so well proportioned and exhibited so great an originality that she was encouraged to continue her work. She took some clay home and making herself some tools of wire hair pins and penholders, continued to model. …Artists and painters who have seen her work declare that she is unquestionably one of America’s rising sculptors.” R: Portrait of Irene Marcellus, 1918, with monogram in lower right corner obscured by brown paper frame dated 18. Possibly done by a family member—Virgillia? as monogram incorporates stylized M—this graphite on paper portrait with overall dimensions 13.9 x 10.2 cm is pasted next to a photograph of Virgillia in album. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Top: Rambling Timbers Living Room at Hewnoaks, ca. 1915-18, gelatin silver rppc, 8.7 x 13.7 cm. Aspiring artist Irene Marcellus furthered her artistic education by spending a summer at Hewnoaks, the artists retreat in Lovell, Maine owned by American artists Douglas Volk and wife Marion Larrabee Volk. Rambling Timbers began as a 19th-century farmhouse before the Volks “transformed it into a Tudor Revival-style summer home in 1901.” Still used as an artist’s retreat in the present day, “Rambling Timbers features a large, airy living room with a working fireplace (seen here) that is favored by residents as an informal gathering place and is often used for events and other receptions.” Notice the busts of Abraham Lincoln by Volk at left background and Lincoln’s death mask perched atop a shelf nearby. The framed oil portrait by Volk of Abraham Lincoln displayed on an easel in the photo was painted in 1908 and reworked in 1917 before being sold as part of the WWI relief effort to Thomas B. Clarke on Feb. 2, 1918. Now in the collection of the National Gallery of Art, this view was most likely taken before that sale. Bottom Left: Rambling Timbers Exterior at Hewnoaks, ca. 1915-18, gelatin silver divided-back AZO rppc, 8.7 x 13.0 cm. This postcard was sent to Virgillia Marcellus, then living in the Bronx, by her sister Irene, who wrote: “Dear Virgie, This is our home this summer. Best wishes to all. Irene“. The Volks renovations to Hewnoaks “introduced latticed windows, hewn wooden lintels, and a stucco exterior. Somewhere between 1904 and 1912, they added the dining room and kitchen wings. By 1904, Swedish-born woodcarver Karl Von Rydingsvard had added intricate Arts and Crafts-style carvings of natural motifs to the exterior.” Bottom Right: Now held by the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the oil on canvas work Woodland Nymph was painted by Douglas Volk around 1904. This Sunday rotogravure reproduction clipping was pasted in the Marcellus scrapbook, perhaps giving a clue that a Marcellus family member— Virgillia?— posed for the work. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Sculpture and Sketches, ca. 1915-25, various gelatin silver prints, graphite on paper sketches and commercially-printed lithographic reproduction on album page, 32.0 x 25.5. Dominating the central focus of one scrapbook leaf is this photograph taken of a plaster medallion plaque of the mother of daughter-artist Irene Marcellus signed and dedicated to her. (Lena M. Brown, (born E. Hampton, CT ca. 1867) Two other paper sketches in opposite corners are by an unknown artist; the photo at bottom middle is believed to show Irene with big sister Virgillia and her parents; the performer at top right rehearses in the same space as the Nijinsky photograph in this post; the lithographic stocking cutout “Merry Christmas to You” is surely a bit of a joke, as it was drawn by someone with a similar name: Irene Marsellus. See another example of Irene’s sculpture: “War“, executed in 1915—part of a sculpture competition on the same theme held by the Friends of Young Artists that year in New York City. Digital copy by Bain News Service of glass plate negative now held at the Library of Congress. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Going for a Ride & Lost Silent Film Set, L: 1916, gelatin silver print, Francis Herbert Kellar, American, 1888-1934, 10.7 x 7.8 cm. Performers believed to be members of the Helen Moller Dancers, of which Irene and Violette Marcellus were members, go for a ride aboard the Eastern Star, a runabout. She won the time prize in the New York-Albany race according to the August, 1914 issue of Power Boating magazine. In her 1918 book Dancing with Helen Moller, Moller’s philosophy of dance stresses: “dancing is Greek plus American adaptability and creativeness.” M: 1921: Irene Marcellus on the now lost 1921 silent film set for Bob Hampton of Placer, set at Glacier Park in Montana. She is not listed in the film credits and probably appeared in background scenes. Gelatin silver print, unknown photographer, 8.5 x 4.5 cm. R: Irene Marcellus stands at right on a platform with others, most likely on the Bob Hampton of Placer film set in Montana. Ca. 1921, gelatin silver print, unknown photographer, 10.1 x 7.9 cm. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Virgillia Marcellus: Interpretive Dancer, L: Virgillia Marcellus Dancing, 1919, unknown American? photographer, gelatin silver print, 12.2 x 4.9 cm. From: PhotoSeed Archive. R: Virgillia Marcellus In “The Danse Macabre” The Approach of Dawn, halftone plate, The Lotus Magazine, April, 1919. This photograph accompanied the article “Individualism in the Dance” written by American author Arthur Everard Laing, 1897-1980, Virgillia’s husband. He wrote: “Miss Marcellus states that her interpretations are purely instinctive almost impulsive and that practically no study is devoted to the aesthetic effect She has said that no two interpretations of same theme are alike in detail.” (p. 193) The first photo is believed to be an outtake from the same photo session. Marcellus danced at least until 1926, with a review that year in The Billboard on April 10 exclaiming: “The Valkyrie, a short, swift dance with music by Richard Wagner, is next. Virgillia Marcellus is the dancer, and she displays talents worthy of more important work.” (Credit: web)

Irene in the News, L: In 1921, this photo of Irene Marcellus and publicists copy appeared in newspapers around the US: “The face and form of Irene Marcellus, one of the “movie” beauties, are said to be known to more than 50,000,000 people in the United States, as she has been reproduced on the covers of more than 200 magazines by some of the most noted artists. She is herself a talented sculptress.” (The Evening Gazette, Port Jervis, N.Y. Jan. 29, 1921) R: Mystery of the Indian Prince and the “Follies” Beauty was the headline for this full-page article in The Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine Section on Oct. 7, 1923 profile on Irene. Hindu author “Prince” Sarath Kumar Ghosh had left his estate, worth less than $5,000 to her and sister Violet and one other beneficiary when he died in 1920. The “Prince”, according to another breathless 1923 article in the Buffalo Sunday Courier had declared Irene: “Possessed a “Flawless, Flower – Like Beauty.” “He met her when she was 15, and was playing host at Lavish Parties in His Gramercy Park Apartments.” The large photograph at right in the Inquirer article was by American photographer Edward Thayer Monroe, 1890-1974. (Credit for both: Web)

Filming Out West, gelatin silver prints, ca. 1920-21 on album leaf 30.8 x 23.4 cm. For at least several years beginning in late 1920, Irene Marcellus was under contract with Hollywood film director Marshall Neilan. Four of these six photos were taken on the set for the now lost Neilan 1921 silent film Bob Hampton of Placer, set at Glacier Park in Montana. Members of the Blackfeet Tribe were used as substitutes for Sioux in the film—a lead-up to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. UL: Irene sitting on a stump wearing a fur coat, 10.5 x 5.9 cm. UM: Irene holds ceremonial pipe between two Blackfeet Tribe members, 10.5 x 6.0 cm. UR: Actress Marjorie Daw grins for the camera with a tipi behind her, 1920, 10.2 x 5.9 cm. LL: Irene with unknown person—with what appears to be a hotel complex (Glacier Bay?) behind them, 10.5 x 5.9 cm. LM: Unknown: perhaps from another film? Two children on a white horse pulling a plow, 7.1 x 8.2 cm. LR: Blackfeet woman in front of tipi, 10.4 x 5.9 cm. The roles played by Marcellus in Neilan productions are uncredited. She did appear in a Christmas promotional photograph in December, 1920 with Wesley Barry, who played Dick in Bob Hampton of Placer. The press reported Irene’s first film would be The Lotus Eater, a 1921 film starring John Barrymore with Colleen Moore. In an Oct. 1920 issue of The New York Star, an article on how Marcellus was recruited by Neilan was described in How Picture Stars Are Made Over Night: …Mr. Neilan, who has acquired the title of ‘The Columbus of the Movies’ as a result of the many persons he has brought out as stars, while attending a roof show in Manhattan spied Irene Marcellus in a group of beauties behind the footlights. “In five minutes Mr. Neilan was behind the scenes being introduced to Miss Marcellus, Do you want to be a star in motion pictures? asked Mr. Neilan. I would be most delighted, replies Miss Marcellus. “What salary do you want,” asked the producer.”The amount was named and he voluntarily doubled it. From his pocket he drew an old envelope, wrote the terms on the back, obtained the signatures of Miss Marcellus, the stage manager as witness, and then signed his own name. In just about the time it takes to tell the deal was closed. …From musical comedy beauty to star of the twinkling cinema is a big leap, but the judgment of Marshall Neilan has never failed, as evidenced in the cases of such present day favorites as Wesley “Freckles” Barry, Marjorie Day, Colleen Moore and others.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

The “Model” Family at Home, ca. 1915, Gertrude A. Brugman, born Holland, 1875- , gelatin silver print, 11.8 x 17.0 cm. The Marcellus family were deemed worthy of newspaper coverage because of all family members had or were models for artists and photographers. This photograph was taken in the parlor of their Bronx home. Left to right: Irene, Virgillia at easel, Victor kneeling next to his mother Lena May (Brown) Marcellus and Violette at far right. The photo has stamps on verso for Brugman, an independent photographer (220 W. 14th St.) who was born in Holland, and the Art Dept. of the N.Y. World newspaper. An article about the family later appeared in Lena’s hometown paper, the Norwich (CT) Bulletin, in 1921: “The papers have been featuring the “most model” family—Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Marcellus and their daughters. Virginia, Irene and Violette of New York, models and stage favorites.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

Girls Playing “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”, unknown photographer, possibly Adolph Petzold (American, born Germany, 1858-1936), Aristo (gelatin silver) divided back rppc, ca. 1910-15, 8.5 x 13.6 cm. Unsigned, this photograph was purchased along with a postcard to Petzold written by critic Sadakichi Hartmann (1867-1944) postmarked 1904, along with several Petzold frame labels from the 1902 San Francisco Photographic Salon. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Branch from Wild Apple Tree”, (possibly Pyrus Malus) S.W. Bridgham, American, (1842-1915) mounted albumen silver print, ca. 1880-1890, 20.4 x 15.0 | 27.8 x 23.2 cm. Samuel W. Bridgham held the vice presidency of the New York Camera Club in 1892 and later became president. In March 1891, Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin reported some flower studies from “the same camera” taken by Bridgham—part of recent efforts—“gave token of careful work.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

“But other fell into Good Ground,…” with original letterpress page at left. Samuel Hudson Chapman, American (1857-1931), mounted platinum print within self-published volume: “The Parable of the Sower, Illustrated From Life, With The Series of Pictures Awarded The Allison Silver Cup of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia For the Year 1900“, S.H. & H. Chapman 1348 Pine Street, 1901: 19.7 x 14.6 | 31.5 x 25.4 cm. A farmhand sows seeds in the springtime, most likely taken in the Italian countryside. A dealer in rare coins along with his brother Henry, this Philadelphia resident was an accomplished photographer and president of the Photographic Society of Philadelphia at the time of publication. From: PhotoSeed Archive

L: “Clare Cressey Shipman with Apple Blossoms”, 15.5 x 11.3 cm. R: “Wooded Carpet of Spring Blooms”, 17.3 x 11.6 cm. Both: C.M. Shipman: American, 1874-1947, platinum: ca. 1904 or before, tipped to black art-paper album leaf, 27.9 x 36.0 cm. Clare Cressey Shipman, (1879-1944) spouse of amateur photographer Charles Melville Shipman, examines apple blossoms in the Springtime. The photograph was most likely taken in the borough of Richmond on Staten Island, New York City, where the couple lived at the time. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Watercolor Studies: Purple Iris, & Sweet William at Center”, each dated and signed 1912, Arthur H. Lindberg, American, 1895-1977, each leaf: 30.5 x 22.7 cm. The Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State College holds the artist’s work: bio: “Arthur H. Lindberg was a realist artist, illustrator, and teacher. Many of his works are comprised of Buffalo’s industrial scenes, factories, grain elevators and steel plants during the 1940s and 1950s. He also portrayed the beauty of nature through his use of oil, watercolor and pastel. He was drawn to water as a subject. particularly waterfronts of the New England area. Lindberg was born in 1895 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and began taking art classes at the Worcester Art Museum at the age of twenty. He continued his studies at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn for two years before serving in France during World War I. He briefly returned to Worcester following his service, then continued his art training in New York during the late 1920s and early 1930s. He studied at the Grand Central School of Art under Harvey Thomas Dunn and Dean Cornwell. as well as the Art Students League of New York City under Frank Vincent DuMond and George Brandt Bridgman around 1935. He returned to the Pratt Institute the following year, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1939.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

“A Toad in the Path: Early Spring in Norfolk”, 1888, P.H. Emerson, English, born Cuba, 1856-1936, hand-pulled photogravure from Pictures of East Anglian Life, 16.1 x 26.2 | 33.5 x 42.5 cm. Originally entitled A Toad in the Path, this work was registered for copyright at The National Archives in London in December, 1886. From the letterpress: “The cottages given in our plates are specimens of Norfolk cottages. In one a dike leads up to the picture. This is not a typical specimen of the Norfolk cottage, but of the transition period from the artistic work of old master-bricklayers to the “penny-bank” architecture of the modern builders. This one is solidly built of stone, and, now that it is time-stained, is not ugly. On the left of the dike two little cottage-urchins have spied a toad in their path, and they have stopped to eye the jewelled creature, which has been enticed out on to the grass by the spring warmth.” (p. 131) From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Meadow with Stone Wall in Springtime”, ca. 1910 or before, unknown American photographer, mounted platinum print shown in original quarter-sawn oak frame without glass, 12.7 x 20.1 | 12.5 x 20.1 cm. An impressionistic platinum print study of a meadow in Springtime. The composition is bisected by sections of a stone wall and flanked by flowering trees. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Brook in late Spring or Early Summer”, ca. 1920-30, C.W. Chamberlin, American, 1874-1960, hand-colored bromide print, 13.9 x 25.0 | 15.1 x 26.2 cm. A member of the Cleveland Photographic Society, amateur photographer Charles Chamberlin ran a camera store in Cleveland, OH in the 1920’s. Known as the Kamera & Kraft Shoppe, they advertised: “Kodaks, Picture Framing, Developing and Printing – All Work Done on Premises. Chamberlin was assisted by his wife Orilla Birdell Churchill Chamberlin (1874-1961) who apparently hand-colored customer photographs, including this amateur effort by her husband. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Winter Joy“, Adolf Fassbender, American, born Germany, 1884-1980, vintage bromide Christmas Card, ca. 1935-1955, 13.6 x 10.0 | 16.6 x 12.6 | 20.2 x 15.1 cm. A child is pulled on a sled through fresh snow inside New York’s Central Park, with the former Sherry Netherland and Savoy Plaza Hotels rising in the background. The front of this card (recto) had been remounted and once framed, and in the collection of former Camera Craft editor Sigismund Blumann on his passing in 1956. Fassbender, a contributor to Blumann’s later journal Photo Art Monthly, was known to send photographic cards like this one featuring winter and religious themes to friends and associates during the holidays. Another card owned by this archive contains this sentiment arranged in the shape of a Christmas tree: “May the beauty of this Christmas inspire you and yours throughout the New Year” —The Fassbenders. The artist utilized a copy negative incorporating a masked border with title and signature for these cards. From: PhotoSeed Archive

The Allen sisters of Deerfield: Frances Stebbins Allen at left, c. 1906 & Mary Electa Allen at right, c. 1913, (platinum prints) both: Courtesy Memorial Hall Museum, Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, MA. Center: “Deerfield Street: Childs House”, c. 1900-1905, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, platinum print, unmounted, 15.1 x 20.3 cm. Huge elm trees, now lost, provide the canopy for Old Main st., known as “The Street”, in Old Deerfield village, the photographers long-time home. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Left: a Massachusetts Tercentenary Commission sign erected in 1930 along the Old Main street in historic Deerfield marks the towns rich history, including the 1704 Raid on Deerfield by French and Native American forces leading to 47 deaths. Right: Visitors scoot across Old Main Street in front of the First Church of Deerfield, built in 1824. Known locally as the “Brick Church”, the present Unitarian congregation was originally established as The Congregational Church of Deerfield, 1673. Both: 2025 photos by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

“Hear the Frogs !” c. 1908, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, platinum print, unmounted, 15.6 x 20.1 cm. A little boy and girl stand holding hands while another sits overlooking the banks of the Deerfield River in the town. This work was shown in late 1908 along with 71 other photographs by the Allen sisters at The Art Institute of Chicago. From: PhotoSeed Archive

The Allen sisters issued seven catalogues listing their photographs for sale from 1904-20. Left: Catalogue cover: “Photographs by Frances & Mary Allen“, 1909. Credit: private collection. Middle & Right: opening page & cover: “Catalogue of Photographs by Frances & Mary Allen”, 1920, stapled, light blue paper covered wraps, 14.6 x 8.3 cm, 11 printed sides. Last catalogue issued. There are 556 photographs listed for sale in categories including Landscapes, Country Life, Children, Old Deerfield and others, with unmounted platinum prints in various sizes priced at .35¢ to $3.00 for the largest 11 x 14” print. Link to 1920 catalogue in collection. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Photographic Sales & Exhibits: The Allen sisters marketed and sold photographs from a first floor parlor of their ancestral 18th Century saltbox in Deerfield from c. 1900 until 1935. Top: Allen house postcard around 1905: part of online presentation for Deerfield Arts & Crafts: In the Springfield Republican newspaper, a visitor impression from 1919: “We cross the road to enter the gray old house of the Misses Allen who make photographs. And there in a front room of the house are pictures enough to charm you as long as you can spare the time to look at them. The photographs are the finished work of artists in their handling of light and shadow and the accentuating of detail. The subjects are many.” Screen grab: Courtesy Memorial Hall Museum, Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, MA. Middle: Today, the former sales room in the Allen House has been converted back to a 18th century bedroom. The home can be visited as part of the Historic Deerfield experience. Photo: October, 2025 by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive. Bottom: The Village Room was the first Deerfield Arts & Crafts exhibition space. A detail from an 1899 photograph by the Allens shows various crafts and wares on display, including framed photographs on the walls by the sisters and Emma Coleman. Courtesy Memorial Hall Museum, Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, MA.

Top: “Allen House, Side View”, c. 1910?,  gelatin silver rppc, AZO stamp box, c. 1918-30, Charles H. Howard, American, 8.7 x 13.8 cm, #41 from series: “Photographic Post Cards of Old Deerfield, Mass., sold by Mary Wells Childs of Deerfield, published by Charles H. Howard, Northampton, Mass.” The woman standing at right is believed to be one of the Allen sisters. Before marketing postcards, Childs made bayberry candles in 1908 and sold rag rugs in 1912 as part of the Society of Deerfield Industries. Historic Buildings of Massachusetts states the Allen House dates to 1734, and “ the land was originally owned by Simon and Hannah Beaman, who had been captured during the raid. The house was occupied by the Bardwell family and then by the Allen family, after the 1842 marriage of Catherine Elizabeth Bardwell and Caleb Allen. In 1896, Caleb Bardwell’s nieces, Frances and Mary Allen, with their mother took possession of the house.” From: PhotoSeed Archive. Bottom: left & right: Two modern views of the home taken in June, 2025: side view and frontal view. Photos by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

The Allen House: Rear Views: Top Left: “Winter Moonlight”, c. 1906, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, platinum print, unmounted, 20.8 x 15.6 cm. An unusual night-time view of the photographers home. Notice the footprints in snow at foreground. Before altered with a central chimney by Henry Flynt in 1945, the home was subdivided into two living quarters: notice the separate chimneys and lack of dormer windows compared to the modern-day view at right, taken June, 2025. A single dormer window appears in another Allen sisters photo at UMass Amherst dated c. 1913. From: PhotoSeed Archive. Right: David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive. Bottom: “Back of Allen house, Deerfield”, c. 1913, gelatin silver rppc, September 13, 1916 postal cancellation, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, 8.6 x 13.8 cm. From the 2002 volume “The Allen Sisters Pictorial Photographers 1885-1920”: “The vine-covered porch at the far end of the ell, known as the “Cabin,” was the location for many portrait and figure studies. In 1903, the Allens added a new developing room to their home on the second floor above the shed.”( p. 29) From: PhotoSeed Archive

The Street for Arts & Crafts: Left: “The Street: Joseph Stebbins House: Deerfield, MA”, c. 1900, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, unmounted gelatin silver print, 15.4 x 20.5 cm. From: PhotoSeed Archive. Right: Displayed as part of the exhibition “Skilled Hands and High Ideals” at Memorial Hall Museum, this 1911 facsimile copy of the Deerfield Industries street map shows open shops for member artisans. Show copy: “These local women became part of an international Arts and Crafts Movement, celebrating the beauty and virtue of handmade items and revitalizing fast-disappearing craft skills. Beginning with the Deerfield Society of Blue and White Needlework in 1896, Deerfield crafts would soon include basketweaving, metalworking, pottery, furniture making, and more. In the process, Deerfield women transformed an economically depressed agricultural town into a vibrant cultural and tourist center, highlighting its colonial history and selling Deerfield-made crafts across the United States.” Copy photo by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

Making a name for themselves with national exposure in the popular press: Left: The December, 1900 cover of Good Housekeeping was the first time the magazine had used a photograph for a cover illustration. The subject was the photographer’s nephew, Frank Allen, looking for goodies inside his Christmas stocking taken the year before. Right: In the recurring magazine feature: “The Foremost Women Photographers in America”, a full page of the Allens photographs along with their vignette portraits appeared in the July, 1901 issue of the Ladies’ Home Journal. The feature had been made possible by American photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston, who began to promote the sisters work beginning in the mid 1890s. Both: online screen grabs: private collection & The University of Michigan.

“A Day Off”, 1913, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, unmounted platinum print, 20.8 x 15.8 | 21.5 x 16.5 cm. In 1913, after a successful session photographing farmhand Dennis Burnett at Mill River (pl. 83), Mary wrote, “I’d rather do country folk at work than anything else in the world. Nothing is more difficult – than to get them in good poses – and unconscious. Dennis B- is a treasure… He has an interesting head – a good bent figure – and is very simple and well bred in manner”. Believed to have been printed around 1920, the orientation of this work has been reversed, compared to plate #83 published in the 2002 volume The Allen Sisters Pictorial Photographers 1885-1920. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Approximately 8500 vintage photographs & original glass plate negatives representing 2500 unique images by the Allen sisters are held at Deerfield’s Memorial Hall Museum. Ray Radigan, Curator & Assistant Director, shows off a platinum print: the sisters photograph “Blowing the Fire”, featuring a young Frank Allen using a bellows fireside. Photographed June, 2025 by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

A permanent exhibit featuring several Kodak cameras and view camera lenses used by the Allen sisters is displayed at Memorial Hall Museum. At center is a copy of a c. 1886 photograph of Mary Allen preparing to take an exposure using a view camera, photographed by sister Frances. Among the equipment is a Bausch and Lomb Optical Company lens from around c. 1890 at upper left and Eastman Kodak No 3-A Folding Pocket Camera, Model B-4, at upper right. Some of the museum’s display copy: “As pioneers in the young art of photography, Frances and Mary Allen were famed for their work in the region. They originally shared a single camera, but eventually had at least four between them. Several of their cameras and lenses were manufactured in Rochester, NY, while others came from Boston, and as far away as Paris.” Photograph from June, 2025 by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

On Display & in Storage: At Memorial Hall Museum, a yearly, revolving  gallery of images are displayed on a specific theme. The current show is called: Allen Sisters on “The Street.” Left: From around c. 1900, the framed photograph “Calls in Cranford”, an homage to English author Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel Cranford, shows a woman in period clothing walking down steps to a home on the Street. Top: An original 18th century “skeleton suit” made of calico printed cotton c. 1792 is framed along with the 1897 Allen sisters photograph “An Old-Fashioned Boy”, showing Carl Allen wearing the suit seated on a chair. Bottom: In storage, museum curator Ray Radigan adjusts the fingers of Frances Allen’s “alphabet glove” (a reproduction) used to aid her deafness beginning in the early 1930s. The museum occasionally uses the glove as a teaching aid in telling the Allen sisters story. Photographs from June, 2025 by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

Record of a Brief Life, by Pen & Camera: Correspondence by the Allens, including letters and at least four diaries by Mary Allen, are held in the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association Library. Left: Detail from diary entry by Mary Allen on October 5, 1913: “Mrs. Thayer came in late to tell us that little Roana Andrews died this afternoon, of Cholera Infantum. She was running around out of doors- barefoot and scantily clad yesterday and ate watermelon. She has been ailing for a few days and her mother had not considered her sick – until she found her unconscious this morn (?) and sent for the doctor. She was dying-only lived a few hours – It was a great shock to everybody, – the little things ran around like the herd of ducks, with little more attention – Vera said she moaned and called for water the night before but no one paid much attention; Poor little (?) ! She was a (cunning – curious?) thing. Frances has been taking pictures of her lately, over and over- She had more flavor in her looks (?) than most of them.” Roana W. Andrews: 1911-1913. Photograph of diary page by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive, courtesy PVMA Library. Right: “Roana Sweeping”, 1913, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, mounted platinum print. Frances Allen photographed 2 1/2 year old Roana Andrews only days before her death. Roana is caught in the moment of sweeping stepping stones using a small broom. Photograph Courtesy Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association’s Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield, MA

The Raid on Deerfield: The Deerfield story was shaped by a surprise 1704 attack by French and Native American forces during Queen Anne’s War that killed 47 colonists in the English village. Left: “Old Sheldon House Door”, this battle-axe scarred front door from the former Ensign John Sheldon house is the centerpiece exhibit at Memorial Hall Museum in Old Deerfield. Top Right: “John Sheldon House 1848”, George Washington Mark, American, 1795-1879. Displayed in the museum is this oil painting of the former home executed the same year it was razed. Mark was a Greenfield, MA folk artist and house painter. Middle Right: In 1929, a replica of the so-called “Old Indian House” was built on a different parcel along the main street in Deerfield. It’s known today as the Indian House Children’s Museum. All: photographed June, 2025 by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive. Bottom Right: Infamous, due to the Raid on Deerfield, countless artistic depictions of the Sheldon home survive, including this likely juvenile or folk art depiction by an unknown hand c. 1850-1900. The work descends from the estate of Samuel Burbank Williams, 1843-1927, whose Deerfield lineage descends to Ephraim Williams, 1691-1754, whose son Ephraim Williams Jr. was the founder of Williams College. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Changing Homes of the Street: Top: “Deerfield Street: Childs House”, c. 1901-1910, unknown American photographer, (possibly Allen sisters who were known to produce cyanotypes of Deerfield), masked cyanotype printed on rppc, 5.7 x 10.0 | 8.7 x 13.8 cm. Dating to around c. 1798, this home was built by David Sheldon (1770-1841) and came to be known later as the “Pink House”: photographer Emma Coleman in her 1907 guidebook calling it “the ‘pink house’ (which was red long ago)”. At the turn of the 20th century, the house was known as the Childs House, named for owners Samuel Childs IV: 1843-1906, and his wife, Mary Ann Vincent Childs: 1854-1938. Memorial Hall Museum Curator & Assistant Director Ray Radigan commented on this photo: “As for dating the photo, the telephone pole and a barely visible trolley track indicate that the photo was taken no earlier than 1901 when the electric trolley was installed in Deerfield.” From: PhotoSeed Archive. Bottom: The home in the present day. Located at 92 Old Main Street in Deerfield, its been owned by the trustees of Deerfield Academy since 1977. Photographed October, 2025 by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

“Grandpa!”, c. 1912, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, unmounted platinum print, 20.8 x 15.9 | 21.5 x 16.4 cm. Taking a moment while leaning on his rake or walking stick, Deerfield resident Benjamin Zebina Stebbins (1827-1912) speaks with his quizzical granddaughter. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Changing Views on the Street: Top: A present-day view of Deerfield’s First Church at far left and the Manse at right, photographed in October, 2025. Old Main Street runs between the two. This Georgian mansion, also known as the Willard House, is used today as the residence for the Head of School of Deerfield Academy. David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive. Bottom: “Willard House (Manse at Deerfield Academy)”, 1892 or before, Mary Electa Allen, American, 1858-1941, unmounted platinum print, 11.3 x 19.0 cm. Mary Allen photographed the Manse in 1892 or before, as a variant without the First Church (built 1824) appeared in the illustrated article Old Deerfield, written by her for the September, 1892 issue of The New England Magazine. Built in 1768 but incorporating an earlier structure from around 1694, the Georgian mansion (for mansion house) was purchased in 1811 by the Rev. Samuel Willard, the first Unitarian Minister in Western Massachusetts. From: PhotoSeed Archive.

A Deerfield Door, Revisited: Left: “Williams Door”, ca. 1895-1905, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, unmounted platinum print, 20.2 x 12.7 cm. Built 1760, this home is named after Rev. John Williams, (1664-1729) who wrote “The Redeemed Captive”, an account of captivity by the Mohawk in Canada after a forced march after the Deerfield Raid of 1704 during Queen Anne’s War. The door was built from old-growth, eastern white pine by joiner Samuel Partridge. From: PhotoSeed Archive. Right: “Williams Door in 2025”, a replacement door has been in place on the front of the Rev. John Williams House since 2001, fashioned from the Partridge original. The home is owned by Deerfield Academy, a private boarding school founded in 1797 whose school seal features the door. Photographed June, 2025 by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive

“Rev. John Williams House (1760)”, ca. 1900-10, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, gelatin silver rppc, (KRUXO?) 1910-20), 7.0 x 13.2 | 8.7 x 13.8 cm (verso: ALLEN, DEERFIELD, MASS, RIGHTS RESERVED) Built 1760, this home is named after Rev. John Williams, (1664-1729) who wrote “The Redeemed Captive”, an account of captivity by the Mohawk in Canada after a forced march after the Deerfield Raid of 1704 during Queen Anne’s War. The following from Historic Buildings of Massachusetts : “His new house replaced the one destroyed in the raid. The current Williams House was actually built in 1760 on the site of the 1707 house by Rev. John Williams’ son, Elijah Williams, who was a shopkeeper and tavern-owner. When the house was in danger of being torn down in 1877, Deerfield historian George Sheldon wrote a series of articles (collected in the book The Rev. John Williams House, published in 1918) that raised awareness of the home’s importance and helped save it from destruction. Today the house is used by Deerfield Academy as the Elijah Williams Dormitory.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

Uncovering Details: Left: “A Holbein Woman”, 1890, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, mounted gelatin silver print: 20.1 x 16.3 cm | 35.2 x 27.8 cm. With overmat of primary mount removed, this signature portrait of the artists mother, Mary Stebbins Allen, 1819-1903, reveals graphite framing marginalia: some inverted along lower margin by an unknown hand: “FS Allen and ME Allen; opposite margin: 1- 16 1/4 x 18 Gray Mat Board Frame”. The work was exhibited in an unknown salon during the mid to late 1890’s. Upper Right: Example of an Allen sisters black ink stamp on verso of vintage platinum print: .9 x 4.0 cm. Notice inclusion of partial fingerprint at upper right. Lower Right: Verso: “The Hall and Staircase at “The Manse”, 1900-1910, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, unmounted platinum print: 17.7 x 12.6 cm. Ownership history, various publication marginalia and stamps, including by the Allen sisters, nearly fills up the verso of this photograph. All: PhotoSeed Archive

Marketing Venture: Left: “Girl Holding Apple”, c. 1978-81 print from c. 1900-10 negative, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, gelatin silver print, 21.9 x 16.5 | 25.1 x 20.2 cm. (work may be known as “For Teacher” in AS catalogue) Between 1978-81, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association marketed the Allen sisters work through Gates & Tripp, a Boston gallery located in Faneuil Hall marketplace. Archivally printed and priced at $20.00 per print, photographs were contact printed from their original glass plate negatives or internegatives made by Sal Lopes of the Olmo Studio, Newport, Rhode Island & presented within 12 x 15” white rag mats. A three-year contract between PVMA and the gallery was signed in May, 1978 with the stipulation 7% of the sale price of each print was paid back as a royalty. Library records from PVMA library show that from November 16 – December 31, 1978, the gallery sold 67 prints from plate size (8 x10”), an additional 13 larger prints sold matted to 16×20”, and six platinum prints (from an edition limited to 100 prints) sold at $60.00. PVMA loaned 124 negatives as part of the contract, with $141.75 paid as royalties the first year. Interestingly, the 1978 G&T promotional brochure “A New England Vision 1880-1930”, featuring platinum prints by the Allens and Martha Hale Harvey misspelled Mary Allens name as  “Mary Electra Allen”, something that continues today. From: PhotoSeed Archive. Right: ca. 1978 “Gates & Tripp Historical Photography” promotional brochure opened to Allen sisters spread. “Girl Holding Apple”, stock #AS 21, reproduced at upper right corner. Photo of spread taken October, 2025 by David Spencer for PhotoSeed Archive, courtesy PVMA Library.

“Dorothy”, 1909, Frances & Mary Allen, American, 1854-1941 & 1858-1941, unmounted platinum print, 20.6 x 15.5 | 21.2 x 16.2 cm. Most likely taken in late 1909 based on the child’s age, Deerfield resident Dorothy Andrews (Dorothy Bennett Andrews Parmeter: 1908-2005.) is photographed looking away from the camera while instructed by the Allen sisters to cradle her head. Delicate profile views like this of a neighborhood child places the Allens in rarefied company: select practitioners of early 20th century artistic pictorial photography. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Jeanette Bernard: Working Woman with Hay Rake”, Jeanette Bernard, American, 1855-1942. Gelatin silver, Ferrotyped press print, c. 1935-40 or before: believed to be from original glass plate negative c. 1910-20, 20.3 x 16.1 | 27.9 x 20.3 cm thin, manilla-colored cardstock. This fascinating portrait of the artist Jeanette Bernard, holding a long wooden hay rake, mimics a similar version of the subject’s pose with rake done on the painted panel at left. The location is beneath a pergola at her Queens, N.Y. home. From: PhotoSeed Archive

An early advertisement for the Vogt Conservatory of Music in the pages of the American Art Journal, November 8, 1879. A family business begun in early 1879, Jeanette (Vogt) Bernard was a professor of music at the conservatory, teaching elementary singing and piano. Digital image: The New York Public Library

Nimble fingers for work and play: L: “Jeanette Bernard Playing the Piano”, R: “Jeanette Bernard Plucking a Goose”(cropped). Both: Jeanette Bernard, American, 1855-1942. Gelatin silver, Ferrotyped press prints, c. 1935-40 or before: believed to be from original glass plate negatives c. 1910-20, 19.7 x 14.5 cm & 16.3 x 11.4 cm. The artist, trained at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin, plays a “grand” style piano, most likely in her Queens, N.Y. home. At right, she takes part in the domestic dinner chores of plucking feathers from a goose or similar fowl while her terrier dog sits at her feet. Notice the tin bowl holding the removed feathers placed on the nearby table. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“A Surprise Tryst in the Woods” (cropped) Jeanette Bernard, American, 1855-1942. Gelatin silver, Ferrotyped press print, c. 1935-40 or before: believed to be from original glass plate negative c. 1905-10, 9.6 x 16.9 cm. An older gentleman, brandishing his walking stick from behind a large tree, confronts a woman and her beau caught in a tryst while she pins a floral boutonniere on his jacket. The couple might be Frank Keyser (b. 1873) and his future wife, Minnie Fennel, (b. 1880) the adopted daughter of the artist. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Jeanette Bernard’s 1907 comical view, “Oh, Dear, My Thanksgiving Dinner!” was published along with other prize-winning photographs in (Frank) Leslie’s Weekly on November 28, 1907. This cropped view of the magazine page shows the photo- featuring daughter Minnie Fennel- sprawled on the ground outside their Long Island home. (bottom row, middle) The photograph appeared as part of a monthly contest: Special Thanksgiving-Day Photo Contest- Ohio Wins: Pictures that reveal in various ways the spirit of our great Autumn Holiday. Digital image: The University of Texas

Recto & Verso: L: “Oh, Dear, My Thanksgiving Dinner!” (slight crop) Jeanette Bernard, American, 1855-1942. 1907, gelatin silver, ferrotyped press print, c. 1935-40 or before: believed to be from original glass plate negative c. 1907, 15.6 x 20.0 cm. R: The backside, like all the Bernard prints in this archive, feature a miscellany of Culver Service stamps and stickers like this example, which also gives a publishing history annotated in ink: “Published originally in Leslie’s Ill(ustrated) Newspaper Nov. 1907” From: PhotoSeed Archive

“The Lovers: Minnie Fennel & Frank Keyser” (slight crop), Jeanette Bernard, American, 1855-1942. Gelatin silver, Ferrotyped press print, c. 1935-40 or before: believed to be from original glass plate negative c. 1905-10, 14.1 x 18.7 cm. Laying in the grass and gazing into each others eyes: a study of young love by the artist. The subjects are believed to be Frank Keyser (b. 1873) and Minnie Fennel, (b. 1880) his young bride, or soon to be betrothed. Fennel was the adopted daughter of the artist. Can you spot the butterflies arranged in the leaves behind the couple? From: PhotoSeed Archive

L: “Minnie Fennel as Fortune Teller”, R: “Frank Keyser with Pochade Artists Box and Tripod”, both: Jeanette Bernard, American, 1855-1942. Gelatin silver, ferrotyped press prints, c. 1935-40 or before: believed to be from original glass plate negatives c. 1910-20 & 1900-10: 14.2 x 17.7 cm & 22.4 x 18.1 cm. Minnie Fennel, (b. 1880) the adopted daughter of the artist, plays the role of fortune teller while holding playing cards, with the screen at right featuring artwork, possibly by husband Frank Keyser with photographs inset at top by Jeanette Bernard. R: Keyser poses next to a pochade box at his feet used by plein air (outdoors-in the open air) artists. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Corn Shock: Minnie Keyser & Daughter Emma” (slight crop), Jeanette Bernard, American, 1855-1942. Gelatin silver, ferrotyped press print, c. 1935-40 or before: believed to be from original glass plate negative c. 1910-15, 19.9 x 14.2 cm. In a harvested Fall cornfield, the artist’s adopted daughter, Minnie Fennel, (b. 1880) peeks from behind a large shock of corn at a young child, believed to be her daughter Emma Keyser. (b. 1910) Writing on the verso of the photograph states: Mrs Bernard’s daughter again Corn – but “good corn”. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Jeanette Bernard Taking Photograph of Child” Jeanette Bernard, American, 1855-1942. Gelatin silver, ferrotyped press print, c. 1935-40 or before: believed to be from original glass plate negative c. 1910-20, 17.1 x 24.6 cm. The artist takes a photograph of a young girl (perhaps the artist’s granddaughter Emma Keyser) dressed in an outfit recalling the folktale character Little Red Riding Hood.  She uses a camera that may be from the Eastman Kodak Company’s Folding Pocket Brownie series- perhaps the model 3-A, made 1909-1915, or an earlier model 3, made 1905-15. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“A Girl & her Dog at Riverside”, 1887, gelatin silver print, Susan Higginson Bowditch Long, American: 1857-1935: 9.7 x 12.2 cm. The subject of this charming shoreline view may be the artist’s first born child: Helen Bowditch Long Patterson, 1881-1956, who stands patiently with her spaniel atop a barnacle-encrusted boulder. From a series of candid photographs believed to have been taken by the artist compiled in a late 19th Century album bearing the armorial bookplate of her spouse Harry Vinton Long, 1857-1949. Long attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1876-77 and she later worked closely in 1909 with the Olmstead Brothers- successors to famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead Sr.- in designing the extensive gardens for her family’s summer estate on Little White Head Island at Cohasset, MA. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Isles of Shoals, August 1887: Susan Higginson Bowditch Long & Camera” 1887, gelatin silver print, unknown American photographer: 8.9 x 11.4 | 11.5 x 13.7 cm. The photographer Susan Long holds a dark cloth while preparing to take photographs with her tripod-mounted plate camera on one of the islands of the Isles of Shoals, a group of small islands and tidal ledges located approximately 6 miles off the east coast of the United States between the border of Maine and New Hampshire. A line of sailboats are seen on the horizon behind her. From a series of candid photographs believed to have been taken by the artist (this by an unknown artist-probably a family member) compiled in a late 19th Century album bearing the armorial bookplate of Long’s spouse Harry Vinton Long, 1857-1949. Long attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1876-77 and she later worked closely in 1909 with the Olmstead Brothers- successors to famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead Sr.- in designing the extensive gardens for her family’s summer estate on Little White Head Island at Cohasset, MA. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Children Play at Spot Pond, July 10, 1887”, gelatin silver print, Susan Higginson Bowditch Long, American: 1857-1935: 9.4 x 12.1 cm. Striking a grin and looking back towards the camera at center of this hand-holding trio may be the artist’s first born child: Helen Bowditch Long Patterson, 1881-1956. Actually a lake, Spot Pond is located “in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. The pond is within the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. It is almost entirely located within the boundaries of Stoneham, Massachusetts. Spot Pond was named in 1632 by colonial governor John Winthrop.” From a series of candid photographs believed to have been taken by the artist compiled in a late 19th Century album bearing the armorial bookplate of her spouse Harry Vinton Long, 1857-1949. Long attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1876-77 and she later worked closely in 1909 with the Olmstead Brothers- successors to famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead Sr.- in designing the extensive gardens for her family’s summer estate on Little White Head Island at Cohasset, MA. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Diving Rock, Warrens Point, Little Compton, Rhode Island”, 1906, album-mounted platinum print, Alfred Wayland Cutting, American, 1860-1935, 23.0 x 19.0 | 27.8 x 34.5 cm. A diver at center prepares to launch himself off this rock outcropping at Warrens Point, with the beach in the background. Guide ropes attached to the rock face aid those who want to ascend more easily from the water. Location derived from an rppc held by the Little Compton Historical Society. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Dories at Low Tide: Ipswich River”, ca. 1895-1905, unposted cyanotype postcard, George G. Dexter, American, 1862-1927, 7.9 x 13.8 cm. A contemporary of famed Ipswich artist Arthur Wesley Dow, who also employed the cyanotype process taken during the 1890’s, Dexter was undoubtedly influenced by him, and both took photographs of boats like these along the Ipswich River. In the 1896 edition of the Directory of the The Town of Ipswich, he took out an advertisement proclaiming himself “Dexter The Photographer”: “The facts that we always guarantee perfect satisfaction, are willing to devote enough time to each sitting; to secure the best results; have one of the most throughly (sic) equipped studios in the state and are always Up-to-Date with new styles, account for our continued increase of work.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Canoe Sailing on Lake George”, ca. 1889, bromide print, W. P. Atwood, American, 1853-1954, 12.2 x 16.9 | 20.5 x 26.0 cm | overmat: 27.9 x 35.5 cm. William Preston Atwood was president of the Lowell (MA) Camera Club around the time this marine view of Lake George was taken, with Anthony’s Photographic Bulletin commenting in April, 1889 that “W. P. Atwood, of Lowell Camera Club, had four gems of scenery at Nantucket and Lake George, with particularly fine effects in the clouds. “Marblehead Rocks” and “Summer Afternoon, Lake George” were, in our opinion, the best of a fine exhibit.” The location of the photograph is also significant in the history of the sport of canoeing in the United States. The American Canoe Association states “In 1880, the canoeists who vacationed in the Lake George – Lake Champlain area of New York State recognized the rising tide of interest in canoeing and issued a call for a Convention of Canoeists.  The result was the formation of the American Canoe Association on August 3, 1880  on the shores of Lake George, New York by 24 charter members.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

“George at Lake George”, ca. 1900-10, cyanotype print, unknown American photographer, 14.5 x 19.1 cm. Appropriately named George, this gentleman sits with hat by side taking in the (likely early-morning) reflective, glassy surface view of Lake George in upstate New York.  In the background, a series of rustic wooden bridges are seen connecting several small islands jutting out into the lake. At the time visitors like George took in the Adirondack views in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Lake George was more a playground of the rich than for those with limited travel and vacation budgets. This changed drastically after World War II, and today the lake and surrounding Adirondack State Park supports a large summer tourist and residential community. The 32 mile-long narrow lake is dotted with 170 islands, with the majority owned by the state of New York. From: PhotoSeed Archive

Forget selling those seashells…“Children with Matching Straw Hats at Seashore”, ca. 1905-10, unposted cyanotype divided back postcard, unknown American photographer, 10.4 x 6.1 | 13.9 x 8.8 cm. For children especially, the timeless fascination of staring at the summer sea is enhanced by the matching fancy of identical straw sun hats. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Child Raking for Clams”, ca. 1910-20, mounted bromide print, Arthur Hammond, American: born England: 1880-1962, 23.5 x 18.5 cm on black-paper album page 25.0 x 32.6 cm. A young boy, believed to be the same subject in Hammond’s study “Child Gazing in Fish Bowl” uses a long-handled rake while searching for clams, with several gathered in a small tin near the subject’s feet. The photograph may have been taken along Boston’s North Shore, with other maritime album images identified as the old Deer Island lighthouse in Boston Harbor and the original building for the Jubilee Yacht Club in Beverly Mass. Born in London, the artist arrived in America at Ellis Island in New York Harbor on July 31, 1909, establishing his own studio in Natick, MA by 1912. In 1920, he authored the foundational book “Pictorial Composition in Photography” and became a leading voice for pictorialism in America through his position as associate editor of American Photography magazine that lasted 30 years from 1918-1949. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Deer Island Light, Boston Harbor”, ca. 1910-20, mounted bromide print, Arthur Hammond, American: born England: 1880-1962, 18.7 x 23.9 cm on black-paper album page 25.0 x 32.6 cm. Perhaps an early morning view, with the Sun shrouded by fog on the horizon, the Deer Island Lighthouse emerges from Boston Harbor, firmly planted on a reef extending 1500’ south of Deer Island. Originally a stone beacon when established in 1832, it was replaced by this “sparkplug” type lighthouse in 1890, which survived until being replaced by a fiberglass tower in 1982. Wikipedia states “the 1890 light cost about $50,000. It included a three-story dwelling, a veranda with boat davits, and a circular parapet. The water supply was a cistern in the base of the structure. A spiral staircase ran from the cellar to the top floor. It had a fixed white light, which was changed to flashing red every thirty seconds and then to the present alternating red and white flashes.” From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Waves Crashing on Rocky Coastline”, ca. 1910-20, mounted bromide print, Arthur Hammond, American: born England: 1880-1962, 18.2 x 23.9 cm on black-paper album page 25.0 x 32.6 cm. Large rock formations are buffeted by waves, perhaps in one of Boston’s north shore communities of Marblehead or Gloucester. Born in London, the artist arrived in America at Ellis Island in New York Harbor on July 31, 1909, establishing his own studio in Natick, MA 1912. In 1920, he authored the foundational volume “Pictorial Composition in Photography” and became a leading voice for pictorialism in America through his position as associate editor of American Photography magazine lasting 30 years from 1918-1949. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“Highland Light, Truro”, 1900, album-mountain gelatin silver print, Phillip Patterson Wells, American, 1868-1929, 8.2 x 8.3 | 16.3 x 20.9 cm. A horse-drawn carriage prepares to depart from the Truro Lighthouse in the summer of 1900. The current lighthouse “was erected in 1857, replacing two earlier towers that had been built in 1797 and 1831. It is the oldest and tallest lighthouse on Cape Cod.” From a summer album containing Truro images and others by Philip Patterson Wells, who vacationed with his family on Truro. Dr. Patterson was librarian and instructor at Yale Law School for several years, and chief law officer under Gifford Pinchot for the U. S. Forestry Service, 1907-1910, counsel National Conservation Association, 1910-1911, chief law officer U. S. Reclamation Service (Department of the Interior), 1911-1913. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“The Two Lights” 1890, hand-pulled photogravure plate, Charles R. White, American, 13.8 x 19.0 | 21.6 x 29.5 cm. Originally built in 1828 as two rubble stone towers 300 yards (270 m) apart, the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse is located at the southwestern entrance to Casco Bay in the US state of Maine. The lights were replaced in 1874 by “two conical towers made of cast-iron, each 67 feet (20 m) high and 129 feet (39 m) above sea level. Despite its twin beacons, Cape Elizabeth witnessed many shipwrecks.” Only the eastern tower at right still serves as a lighthouse, made famous by American artist Edward Hopper’s paintings “Lighthouse Hill” (1927) and “The Lighthouse at Two Lights”. (1929) Published in the gravure plate volume By the Sea by the Lakeside Press in 1890, The Two Lights was accompanied by the following poem: The waves dash high with tempestuous roar, | Surging in billows adown the Cape shore, | Rocking on reefs the bell buoys to tone, | Mingling in sea mists the fog horns’ trombone; | And where high on the rock-ribbed shore | The Two Light towers their red fires pour, | There at last from turmoil blest, | The waves in ocean’s calm find rest. From: PhotoSeed Archive

“The Oldest Light-house Keeper on the Coast”, ca. 1895-1900, 1904 posted cyanotype postcard, George G. Dexter, American, 1862-1927, 7.9 x 14.0 cm. Captain Benjamin Noyes Ellsworth, 1813-1902, appointed keeper of the Ipswich lighthouse by US President Abraham Lincoln in 1861, looks out to the sea in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The photograph was taken by Dexter most likely at the very end of the 19th or early 20th century. In the 1896 edition of the Directory of the The Town of Ipswich, the artist took out an advertisement proclaiming himself “Dexter The Photographer”: “The facts that we always guarantee perfect satisfaction, are willing to devote enough time to each sitting; to secure the best results; have one of the most throughly (sic) equipped studios in the state and are always Up-to-Date with new styles, account for our continued increase of work.” From: PhotoSeed Archive