Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Web Wandering Wednesday


This week, I didn't have to wander the web, the web came to me in two wonderful comments and valuable additions from readers of my Photo Of The Week - 14 April about the San Francisco photographer John R. Hodson, known as a portrait painter and photographer.

Danielle, a member of Hodson's family, wrote:

. . . I often research to see what's on the internet about him. Loved your article found it very interesting.
Hodson however had 2 daughters and a son. That census is incorrect. His son worked with him and made a name for himself as well. I'm so glad as to have come across your site.


Thank you Danielle! I can now correct the census error in my database and go the next step and research his son who was also a photographer.

I also received this note from Marianne Clancy.

I am so excited to find this site. I am an historic photo researcher and seller on ebay with a masters in fine art/photo emphasis and this is just what I am looking for. I hope its ok to quote you on the info on Hodson.. thanks to him and google I found your site. If you do a search on his name on ebay you will find my wonderful photo which may add some insight about where else he had a studio.

Having moved to Sedona, AZ after living in Santa Cruz, CA I was thrilled to know he lived in SC at one time too. I do tons of research and will be a regular viewer. I love photos and love research so bookmark my store as I am always looking for interesting photos and have a copy of the photographer's of the west book by Muntz, invaluable source!

Marianne had a wonderful photo by Hodson that indicated he also worked in Oakland, California. I will add this information to my database on Hodson. Marianne's store on eBay is Clancy's Classics.

Thank you Danielle and Marianne, the internet is a wonderful place. I hope information like this can continue to be added to the database I am compiling on photographers in an effort to help date those old family photographs and orphans in our collection.

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Twice Told Tuesday

This week will see several articles on photographs and the law in Shades Of The Departed. In this "Twice Told Tuesday" we learn what you may and may not photograph in a court of law in England in 1926.


Photographs In Courts of Law
The Amateur Photographer & Photography
April 28, 1926


As from June 1st, when the Criminal Justice Act of last year comes into force, it will be a punishable offence to take or attempt to take a photograph in a Court of Justice of the judge (including recorder, magistrate, justice or coroner) or of any of the jurors, witnesses, or parties in any proceeding before the Court.

The punishment provided by the Act is a fine not exceeding £50. Publication of a photograph taken in contravention of the new provision is similarly punishable. The law applies equally to all Courts, civil as well as criminal, including coroners' courts.

The prohibition is very wide and covers not only the actual court room, but also the whole building in which the court room is situated, and the precincts of the building. The persons protected may not be photographed while they are entering or leaving either the court room or the building or its precincts, nor while waiting about in the immediate neighbourhood of the court or building.

Photographing the court room or building themselves as such is no prohibited, but it will be advisable to do this only when the Court is not sitting.

While the Act only applies in terms to photographing the persons specified above, it will be extremely inadvisable to attempt to use a camera in any circumstances or for any purpose in a Court of Justice while the Court is sitting.

Sources:

W. Thoday, L.L.B.. "Photographs in Courts of Law." The Amateur Photographer & Photography, April 1926, 23.

Dan Hopper - J.J. Payne Photographer. Photograph. ca. Not Researched. Digital image. Privately held by the footnoteMaven, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Preston, Washington. 2007

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Monday, April 28, 2008

Photo Of The Week - 28 April

PAPA CAN YOU HEAR ME


This week's Photo Of The Week is a "real photo postcard" with a very poignant message.

In 1907 Kodak created a service called “real photo postcards,” enabling people to make a postcard from any picture they took. Postage at this time was a penny. This postcard is postally used and indicates that 1907 is the latest possible date for the image. A one cent stamp has been used.

The photo on this postcard is round and measures 2 1/2" in diameter. Circular images 2 1/2" in diameter were produced by Original and #1 Kodak cameras starting in 1888.

The following is the message written on this card:


   this is a picture of me

   papa if you recive this postal card please answer I have wrote you
   to or three letters and riceved no answer

   please write soon
   your Daughter Edna



Back of Card:


   From:
   from your
   loving Daughter
   Edna Aldrich
   Deborgia
   Mont

   To:
   Mr. O.M. Aldrich
   Denver
   Colo


In 1907 Edna Aldrich was a thirteen year old girl living with her mother Mary and stepfather Fred Mason in Missoula, Montana. Also living with Edna is her brother Clyde who is listed as a farmer and his second wife Pearl.

Edna's father, whom she is writing, is O.M. Aldrich. O.M. Aldrich is living in a lodging house run by Goodson Beech on Market Street in Denver, Colorado, in 1907. O.M. is Oscar M. Aldrich and he is an engineer.

Edna had been living with her mother and brother in Frenchtown, Montana, since she was seven years old. The 1900 census lists Mary as married, but the O.M. Aldrich Edna has written to as "papa" is not living with them. Mary lives with her married son Clyde, his wife Bertha, and Mary's daughter Edna. Mary lists no employment and Clyde works as a day laborer. Many day laborers are listed in Frenchtown and they worked in three primary areas, the sawmill, placer mining and farming.

Edna has mailed her postcard to her father on what appears to be August 1907 from DeBorgia, Montana. DeBorgia sits on the banks of the Regis River and originated as a station on the Northern Pacific twenty miles from Lookout Pass, which divides Montana and Idaho. The name is derived from the St. Regis de Borgia River. DeBorgia is very close to Frenchtown, Montana where Edna is listed as living. The postcard arrives in Denver on 1 November, 1907 at 3:00 p.m. and is released for General Delivery on November 11, 1907.


Oscar apparently does not call for his mail and the postcard is returned to Montana on December 11, 1907. I purchased the card in an antique store in Wallace, Idaho. Wallace is a scenic town very close to DeBorgia, Montana.

It is sad that in today's world I am able to find Edna's "papa" for her in Denver, Colorado. I am just 101 years too late. We can only hope that Edna and her "papa" found each other before it was too late, or before Edna thought she had been forgotten.

Sources:

Books:
Mace, O. Henry. Collector's Guide To Early Photographs.Iola, Wisconsin: Krause, 1999.
Mautz, Carl. Biographies of Western Photographers. Nevada City, California: Carl Mautz Publishing, 1997.
Palmquist, Peter. Pioneer Photographers Of The Far West A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2000.
McCulloch, Lou W. Card Photographs, A Guide To Their History and Value. Exton, Pennsylvania: Schiffer 1981.

Census:
1910 U.S. census, Missoula County, Montana, population schedule, Missoula, p. 265, dwelling 339, family 366, Fred Mason (Head); digital images. Heritage Quest (http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/ : retrieved 28 April 2008); citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 834.

1900 U.S. census, Missoula County, Montana, population schedule, Frenchtown, p. 53, dwelling 77, family 77, Mary Aldrich (Head); digital images. Heritage Quest (http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/ : retrieved 28 April 2008); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 913.

Photograph:
Edna Aldrich. Photograph. ca. 1907. Digital image. Privately held by the footnoteMaven, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Preston, Washington. 2007

1 Comments

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! And The Guest Author Is . . .

FRIDAY FROM THE COLLECTORS - MAY 2

May 2nd brings us a discussion of copyright with the multi-talented Craig Manson. Craig is a member of the California Bar, a Law & Public Policy Professor, and the brains behind the Historical Appellate Review Project (HARP). Craig will discuss the issue of copyright specific to old family photographs and those orphan photographs we can't walk out of an antique store without or leave on eBay. Craig has become the geneaBloggers' "legal guru," the go to guy for our collective legal questions.

Last year saw the inauguration of HARP, run by Craig from his law office in Sacramento, California. Using state-of-the-art genealogical and legal research procedures, HARP will investigate a family's alleged black sheep and let that family know if their ancestor's name might be cleared! What could be a more worthwhile undertaking?

Well, that just might be the exceptionally well written family history blog, geneablogie.net, that Craig authors. He is passionate about American history and his ancestors and it shows.
Craig wrote:

I've observed that history is personal. Furthermore, history is too important to be left to historians. And finally, history is made by each of us every day in the things we do and indeed, the things we fail to do. We are shaped by history, but we are not bound by it.

It is that straight forward, tell it like it is, Craig Manson we have come to admire and rely on! It is that Craig Manson I am proud to have as the Guest Author for Friday From The Collectors on May 2. I'm really looking forward to Craig's insights on the issue of copyright for the family historian and the photographic collector.

Note: Craig researched and wrote the exceptional multi-part series titled "Did Ancestry Violate The Copyright Law" that helped us all better understand an area of the law often incomprehensible to the lay person, copyright.

(Craig's interview with Dear Myrtle on HARP can be found here.)


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Friday, April 25, 2008

April 25 - Friday From The Collectors


TWO DEAR FRIENDS

By L. H. Crawley
The Virtual Dime Museum

When I was eighteen and looking for a new middle name - a family surname - I nearly chose Taylor, after the other Laura in the family. I eventually chose Hicks, to honor my grandmother, because I did not know enough about Laura Taylor to make the gesture meaningful. All I knew was that she was a cousin who had moved to Louisiana, and that she used to come up to New York on the bus to visit the Hickses, in the 1920s. But the immediacy of a photograph brings a long-gone relative alive in a way that few other records can. And that is why I have brought these two little pictures together, to link the old Southern lady on a bus 90-odd years ago, to her cousin Alida (Reed) Hicks in Ozone Park, Queens.

So here are the two little girls, circa 1864, just after the end of the Civil War. The toddler girl hanging on to the column (so as not to fall off the chair) is my great grandmother, Alida Agnes (Reed) Hicks (1861-1926). The baby girl in the splendid little armchair is Laura Evelyn (Taylor) Jones (1863-1928). The photographs were taken in West Chester, the seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania (25 miles west of Philadelphia), where both girls were born. Alida is about 3 or 4 years old, and Laura about a year old (give or take a few months). The photographer was Laura's uncle, Thomas W. Taylor, of West Chester. Laura was the daughter of William A. Taylor and Maria Louisa Williams; Maria was Sarah Elizabeth (Williams) Reed's older sister, which made Laura and Alida first cousins.




Alida Agnes (Reed) Hicks (1861-1926)


Laura Evelyn (Taylor) Jones (1863-1928)

Both photos are cartes de visite: Laura's measures 4" by 2 1/4" exactly, Alida's is 4" by 2 1/8". However, the Alida photo is a copy and may have been cropped very slightly. The carte de visite was first patented in France by photographer André Adolphe-Eugene Disdéri in 1854. The idea of the smaller portrait - typically measuring 2 1/4" by 3 1/2" was at first used as a visiting card in picture form. The carte de visite was mounted on a light piece of cardboard measuring 2 1/2" by 4". It was first brought to America by F. De Bourge Richards, who visited Disdéri in Paris in 1855. By the 1860s, cartes de visites were very popular throughout the United States. [Rinhart et al, pp 3-8]

The back of Laura's photo reads: "T.W. Taylor, Portrait Artist at His First Premium Gallery, No. 10 West Gay Street, West Chester, Pa./ Fifteen First Premiums from Chester Co. Fair, The only artist that ever received First Premiums. Photographs taken in cloudy as well as clear weather." It is marked No. 28838 at the bottom; at the top, Alida has written "cousin Laura Taylor (Jones) Monroe, La."

I assume that Laura's carte de visite was taken when she was between perhaps 8 and 18 months old. She was born August 6, 1863, so this would suggest a date between March 1864 and February 1865. Alida was born on October 16, 1861; she appears to be three or four years old, dating her carte de visite to 1864 or 1865. Thomas W. Taylor was in the Union Army between August 12, 1862 and May 16, 1863. He probably had been working before the war, in order to have won all those "First Premium" awards at the Chester County Fair by the 1864-5 period. Thomas is not in West Chester in the 1860 census (indeed I have not been able to find him conclusively in 1860 at all). He probably began to work as a photographer about 1861 (he is not listed in Craig's Daguerreian Registry which covers the period 1839-1860). The Chester County Historical Society has compiled a list of photographers active in the county in the 19th century; Thomas W. Taylor is listed in this as being active from 1864-1904 (the year of his death).

The lives of the two little girls were to take them in opposite directions, soon after the photographs were made. Alida left West Chester about 1867, moving with her family to Jersey City, New Jersey. By 1873 the Reeds were in Brooklyn, where they would remain. Alida married Brooklyn native Charles Garrett Hicks in 1881, and had six children between 1882 and 1891.

Laura Taylor, her parents, brother and sister, moved to Camden, New Jersey sometime between 1870 and 1880. Laura was a teacher at the Liberty School in Camden by about 1888 and taught there until her marriage.

Laura married Dr. Walter Lee Jones in 1891. He was a dentist, born in 1863 in Brandon, Mississippi to dentist Benjamin Jones and his wife Colen Elizabeth (McCaskill) Jones. I have no idea how they met; perhaps Walter was visiting friends in Camden, as he is not listed in any of the late 1880s or early 1890s Camden directories. Laura and Walter Jones were living in Monroe, Louisiana by the 1900 census and it was in Monroe that Laura would spend the rest of her life. Walter Lee and Laura Jones had two children, but sadly they did not survive early childhood.

Charles and Alida Hicks lost a child very young, too. Their second daughter Elizabeth Reed Hicks - named for Alida's mother - died when she was only 11 months old, in October 1886. But Alida's five other children lived into adulthood - Harry Hamilton (b 1882), Alida Mabel (b 1884), Charles Garrett Jr (b 1887), my grandmother Grace Agnes (b 1889) and Lacey Reed (b 1891).

From Laura's 1923 passport application I know that she was as tiny as Alida was - just a shade over 5 feet tall, with dark hair and brown eyes. In the passport photo she looks very much like Alida Hicks and my grandmother. I also learned that Laura was vain about her age. Every official record after the 1880 census gives her birth date as August 1868. Another cousin, Bertha (Taylor) Miller - Thomas W.'s daughter -provided an affidavit on Laura's passport application swearing that Laura was born in August 6, 1872, two years after the census which listed her as being 6 years old!

I wish that I knew more about the two cousins who remained such dear friends all their lives. It was a long bus journey to New York for Laura Jones. But that journey was short compared to the trip in time the two little girls had taken since Uncle Thomas photographed them in the First Premium Studio in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Sources

Books

Rinhart, Floyd and Marion. American Daguerreian Art (New York: Clarkson N. Potter/Crown, 1967).

Rinhart, Floyd, Marion Rinhart, and Robert W. Wagner. The American Tintype. (Columbus, Ohio: Ohio State University Press, 1999).

Census

1870 U.S. census, Chester County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, West Brandywine, p. 15, dwelling 112, family 116, William A. Taylor [head], NARA Roll M593_1325.

1870 census, Chester County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, West Chester, p. 41, dwelling 581, family 592, Thomas W. Taylor [head], NARA Roll M593_1925.

1870 census, Hudson County, New Jersey, population schedule, Jersey City Ward 3, p. 91, dwelling 411, family 748, Thomas Reed [head], NARA Roll M593_866.

1880 census, Camden County, New Jersey, population schedule, Camden, p. 322, dwelling 370, family 382, William A Taylor [head], NARA Roll T9_774, FHL Film # 1254774.

1880 census, Chester County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, West Chester, p. 128, dwellling 130, family 132, Thomas W. Taylor [head], NARA Roll T9_1113, FHL Film # 1255113.

1880 census, Kings County, New York, population schedule, Brooklyn ED 109, p. 96, dwelling 271, family 459, Thomas Reed [head], NARA Roll T9_847, FHL Film # 1254847.

1900 census, Chester County, Pennsylvania, population schedule, West Chester, p. 1A, dwelling 13, family 15, Thomas W. Taylor [head], NARA Roll T623 1394.

1900 census, Ouachita County, Louisiana, population schedule, Monroe Ward 2, p. 14A, dwelling 280, family 280, Walter Lee Jones [head], NARA Roll T623 576.

1900 census, Queens County, New York, population schedule, Queens Ward 4, p. 13B, dwelling 244, family 279, Charles Hicks [head], NARA Roll T623 1149.

1910 census, Ouachita County, Louisiana, population schedule, Monroe Ward 2, p. 27A, dwelling 452, family 677, Walter Lee Jones [head], NARA Roll T624_525.

1910 census, Queens County, New York, population schedule, Queens Ward 4, p. 5B, dwelling 86, family 97, Charles G. Hicks [head], NARA Roll T624_1064.

1920 census, Ouachita County, Louisiana, population schedule, Monroe Ward 2, p. 17B, dwelling 392, family 425, Laura Jones [head], NARA Roll T625_625.

1920 census, Queens County, New York, population schedule, Woodhaven Twp., p. 29A, dwelling 604, family 715, Charles Hicks [head], NARA Roll T625_1235.

1890 census, Chester County, Pennsylvania, veterans schedule, West Chester, p. 3, Thomas W. Taylor, Roll 81, ED 55. Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1890, M123.

Internet

Ancestry.com. U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2007. Passport Applications, January 2, 1906-March 31, 1925; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1490, 2740 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C. Laura E. Jones passport application, June 16, 1923.

Ancestry.com. Louisiana Statewide Death Index, 1900-1949 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2002. Original data: State of Louisiana, Secretary of State, Division of Archives, Records Management, and History. Vital Records Indices. Baton Rouge, LA, USA.

Ancestry.com. Camden, New Jersey Directories, 1887-91 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Original data: Camden City Directory, 1887-1888. Camden, NJ: C. E. Howe Co., 1888; Camden City Directory, 1888-1889. Camden, NJ: C. E. Howe Co., 1889; Camden City Directory, 1890-1891. Camden, NJ: C. E. Howe Co., 1891.

Craig, John. Craig's Daguerreian Registry

Chester County Historical Society, List of Chester County Photographers, link to a pdf document here.

Photographs

Laura Evelyn Taylor, by Thomas W. Taylor. Photograph (Carte de Visite) ca 1864-5. Digital image. Privately held by L.H. Crawley [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Ontario, Canada. 2008

Alida Agnes Reed, by Thomas W. Taylor. Photograph (copy of original, prob. Carte de Visite) ca 1864-5. Digital image. Privately held by L.H. Crawley [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Ontario, Canada. 2008


Article and Photographs
Copyright © L.W. Crawley



1 Comments

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

SHADES GOES .COM

Shades Of The Departed has taken advantage of Blogger's custom domain feature. We are now "ShadesOfTheDeparted.Com." Blogger says the new address should be operational for everyone in about three days. Unitl then we can still be reached through shadesofthedeparted.blogspot.com and Blogger will redirect.

You know how they always tell you not to change your hair-do before a big event? Well, I'm traveling to Montana tomorrow morning and I probably should have waited until I got back to become a .Com.

Shades has been acting wonky all day and I have had to retrieve posts that were eaten in the move. I apologize for any inconvenience and hope these are just temporary glitches.

1 Comments

Modern Tintypes

Web Wandering Wednesday

National Geographic photographer Robb Kendrick started shooting pictures when he was 15 years old and developed that interest into a lifelong career. He has traveled to 65 countries and all seven continents. Although Kendrick uses the latest high-tech camera gear, he’s got an old-fashioned side. Kendrick cherishes shooting tintypes, a wet-plate process photographers used in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It gives his images a vintage feel and helps keep this technique alive.

Kendrick has authored, Revealing Character, a book of modern portraits of some of the men (and one woman) who work as cowboys on Texas ranches today, captured with the cumbersome historic tintype process.

While wandering the web stop at Kendrick's website and spend some time. Available on the site is a film produced by National Geographic that takes you through Kendrick's process of making a tintype. It gives you a glimpse into the past and how difficult it must have been to make those first photographic images.

Kendrick's site is well worth the time for any lover of old photographs who yearns for those days of yesteryear. I think it will bring a renewed appreciation of the past and a sigh of relief for the present.

1 Comments

Monday, April 21, 2008

Twice Told Tuesday - Fashion Dos and Don'ts Redux

In a continuation of last Tuesday's Twice Told Tales we again look at Fashion Dos and Don'ts. This time we leave clothing behind and discuss having your photograph taken if you wear glasses, how to wear your hair, and the ubiquitous profile portrait.

The Amateur Photographer & Photography
Wednesday, July 13th, 1921
London

"If you wear glasses do not remove them for the sitting. If you do, the result will be strained and unnatural looking eyes." I am sorry for the photographer who is confronted with a sitter vehemently insisting on wearing red velvet with lace trimming and a pair of glasses. Any reasonable photographer would prefer striped grey material and an unglazed face, although these are taboo.

"Don't arrange the hair elaborately." This is all right. The best plan is to remove the hair run it through the mangle, iron it flat, and glue it down on the skull. Nothing is more pleasing and effective than simplicity.

"Don't argue about the position." Right again. One of the worst people in the world to drive to argument is the man who is going to photograph you. He holds all the trump cards. If he tells you to stand on your head and look pleasant with your feet, the only safe course is to reverse yourself and do your best. It is no time for inaugugurating a debate. He knows perfectly well that your feet, bad as they are, are preferable to your face, and he is trying to give you the best chance he can see,

He may not actually photograph you in that position, but may have insisted on it merely as a subtle device for accomplishing the destruction of those wretched glasses you so obstinately declined to remove. Or he may hope that the red velvet outfit will turn inside out and give him a chance with the lining.

"Don't have a profile picture unless you know you possess an extremely good one, and not many people can boast of that." My correspondent informs me that he is one of the happy few who can boast of having a good profile picture. It is one of his great grandmother, and was cut with scissors from a piece of black paper. I am afraid he misunderstands the lady who concocted the "don'ts." he is assuming that she means what she says, which is absurd.

What she wants to say is that unless you possess a good side elevation you should not be photographed in profile. Here again, the advice is useless. the more appalling the design of one's profile the more anxious is one to be taken that way. It is those with the worst profile who place the most reliance on it. They know from observation what their frint view is like, and they assume that the side view can not very well be worse. This is a fake assumption, but they are beyond conviction to the contrary.

Much has been said about everybody having one side of the face superior to the other; but the difficulty is to find it. In my own case, I have looked at one side of my face and felt absolutely certain that the other side must be better; but when I turn round it is worse, and when I revert to the original view it is worse still. The more I turn round the worse things get.

The general intention may have been that we should all be fitted with one side of a face less bad than the other; but if so, it was not put into effect. It seems to me that, what with the trouble over pattern, colour, and texture of our clothes, the difficulties with hair and glasses, and the inevitable handicap of our face, the true Solomonic course is to refrain from being photographed at all.

Source:

Magazine

Walrus. "Piffle."
The Amateur Photographer & Photography, July 1921, 40.

Photographs

Bessie Haines by Gurney & Son, New York. Photograph. ca.Not Researched. Digital image. Privately held by the footnoteMaven, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Preston, Washington. 2007

Unknown Young Girl by Scholl, Chicago. Photograph. ca. Not Researched. Digital image. Privately held by the footnoteMaven, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Preston, Washington. 2008

1 Comments

Photo Of The Week - 21 April


Last year in an interview with Dear Myrtle called, "Get Organized Store Information Directly In Your Photographs;" I discussed a new photographic project that I was undertaking. That project is a photographic database of Washington State Photographers.

The University of Washington has compiled a Pacific Northwest Photographers Database (PNPD). This database is a listing of photographers who operated in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska during the period from about the 1870s to 1935. It provides information regarding the photographers name and the city, state and year that the photographer had an established business. In some cases, it includes the studio address. Most of the information in the database was extracted from city directories and vertical files held by the University of Washington Special Collections.

This is the PNPD database listing for the Photo Of The Week - 21 April:

PHOTOGRAPHER
Steelhead, Albert

CITY/STATE
Chewelah, Wa.

DATE
1905-06
1909-10
1915-16
1913-14

STUDIO ADDRESS

SOURCE

NOTES
I want to expand on the PNPD to include biographical information and a copy of the photographer's imprint used for each year of operation.
Here is the type of database I am working on:

PHOTOGRAPHER OR STUDIO
Steelhead, Albert

CITY/STATE
Woodbury County, IA.

DATE
1900-????

CITY/STATE
Chewelah, Wa.

DATE
1905-06
1909-10
1915-16
1913-14

STUDIO ADDRESS
Unknown

BIOGRAPICAL INFORMATION
Born in Sweden, December 1858. Immigrated to the United States in 1882. Married 1880, Adora Steelhead. Adora (unknown) Steelhead (b. Apr. 1867, Missouri); widow 1920 census Pasadna, CA; occupation lacemaker. Two children: Son - Francis A. (b. June 1892, Illinois). Son - Ralph V. (b. Jul 1895, Iowa) occupation, clergyman Pasadena, CA 1920.

Living Smithland, Iowa, 1900, with his wife Adora and two sons, Francis A. and Ralph V. He is a photographer who owns his own business.

Living Chewelah, Washington 1910, without his wife and children. PNPD lists him as a photographer who owns his own business 1905 - 1914.

Adora Steelhead living Los Angeles, California 1920, as a widow.

PHOTOGRAPHER'S IMPRINT



SOURCE
1900 U.S. census, Woodbury County, Iowa, population schedule, Smithland, p. 122, dwelling 71, family 71, Albert Steelhead (Head); digital images. Heritage Quest (http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/ : retrieved 1 December 2007); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 466.

1910 U.S. census, Stevens County, Washington, population schedule, Chewelah PCT, p. 227, dwelling 18 , family 17, Albert Steelhead (Head); digital images. Heritage Quest (http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/ : retrieved 1 December 2007); citing NARA microfilm publication T1672, roll 227.

1920 U.S. census, Los Angeles County, California, population schedule, Los Angeles, p. 125, dwelling 501 , family 521, Adora Steelhead (Head); digital images. Heritage Quest (http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/ : retrieved 1 December 2007); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 106.

1920 U.S. census, Los Angeles County, California, population schedule, Altadena, Pasadena, p. 29, dwelling 119 , family 124, Ralph V. Steelhead (Head); digital images. Heritage Quest (http://persi.heritagequestonline.com/ : retrieved 1 December 2007); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 117.

Mautz, Carl. Biographies of Western Photographers. Nevada City, California: Carl Mautz Publishing, 1997.

"Pacific Northwest Photographers Database." Database. University of Washington Special Collections. http://db.lib.washington.edu/pnwphotographers/ : 2007.

Imprint. A. Steelhead, Artist. Photograph (Cabinet Card). ca. 1905-1914. Digital Image. Privately held by the fo0tnoteMaven [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Preston, Washington.2007

NOTES

Albert Steelhead died sometime between the 1910 and 1920 census.
How does this database help a family historian or collector to date a photograph?

In trying to date a photograph one of the most helpful pieces of the puzzle is the studio or the photographer and the dates of operation in the particular geographic area you are researching.

Once you have ascertained the time period the photographer was operating a studio, you have limited the time period in which your photograph could have been produced. By collecting images of the photographer's imprint and matching it to the year it was used, you can match the photographer's imprint on your photograph to the matching imprint and narrow your research to a specific year or smaller span of years.

Where can information on photographers be found?

There are many books containing biographies of photographers and listings. Here are a few pertinent to my research:

Kelbaugh, Ross. J. Directory of Civil War Photographers, vol. 3, Western States and Territories, 2d ed. Baltimore : Historic Graphics, 1992.

Mautz, Carl. Biographies of Western Photographers. Nevada City, California: Carl Mautz Publishing, 1997.

Palmquist, Peter E. and Thomas R. Kailbourn. Pioneer Photographers Of The Far West, A Biographical Dictionary, 1840 - 1865. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2000.

Palmquist, Peter E. and Thomas R. Kailbourn. Pioneer Photographers From The Mississippi To The Continental Divide, A Biographical Dictionary, 1839 - 1865. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2005.

The standard resources for compiling information on photographers can be found in city directories, state gazetteers, the photographer's imprint, newspaper advertisements, newspaper articles, county and state histories, biographies, census records, online databases (University and State Historical Societies) and Internal Revenue tax lists.

This week in Many Things Thursday I will discuss the types of photographers imprints.

Note: An excellent series on City Directories was written by Jasia of Creative Gene and can be found here.

3 Comments

Saturday, April 19, 2008

April 25 - And The Guest Blogger Is . . .

Hey, Buddy, have you got a dime?

Well if you do, spend it at The Virtual Dime Museum, home of the very clever and talented L. H. Crawley.

What's a Dime Museum you ask? P.T. Barnum founded the first Dime Museum in 1841 at the corner of Broadway and Ann Street in New York City, offering both strange and educational attractions.

In the hands of L.H. Crawley, The Virtual Dime Museum is a feast for the eyes and mind, and is the first thing I read in the morning. The museum is updated daily with articles on genealogy, old newspapers and books, old photographs, hysterical vintage advertisements, and all kinds of ephemera. Read her The Gold Street Murders series and you'll be certain this woman has a book in her, just waiting to get out and be a best seller.

Every article is exceptionally well researched and written, and if there's anything I love it's a good tag line, and Crawley has a million of them. Trousseau Or Dare, The Iceman Tanneth, What's Amana With You?, and so many more. My only regret? I didn't find her sooner!

Now the best part! Crawley has agreed to be the April 25 Guest Blogger on the Friday From The Collectors series here on Shades.

What can we expect from the Dime Museum?
A - N - T - I - C - I - P - A - T - I - O - N !

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Friday, April 18, 2008

Friday From The Collectors - A Monumental Task

18 April - Guest Blogger
Terry Thornton


My Approach to the Monumental Task of Photographing
and Inventorying a Country Cemetery:
Some Grave Considerations
Becky Wiseman, writing in this space last Friday, established that photographs are windows to a moment in time --- and in the absence of a photograph, what better glimpse of the past is there than a grave marker? Next to census records and written family documents, the data recorded on tombstones are considered primary source materials by most researchers. Both family history and community history are recorded in words chiseled in the stones of the local graveyard --- and because that record is waiting to be read, recorded, transcribed, and preserved, I work with collecting gravestone information and gravestone photographs in the Hill Country.

The last complete inventory of New Hope Cemetery, Parham, Monroe County, Mississippi, one of the oldest cemeteries in the Hill Country, was probably the 1939 effort of the late Dr. W. A Evans of Aberdeen. His work was published the year I was born --- almost seventy years ago. His out-of-print writing is held very closely and not in general circulation. The lack of an inventory of the burials for the last seventy years is a glaring hole in the primary research data for Monroe County--- so I've attempting to inventory, transcribe, and publish a transcription of all the markers at New Hope Cemetery.

I do not transcribe cemeteries for profit --- I believe strongly that genealogy, especially the part of genealogy based upon reading the graves of the dead, should be removed from the "for profit" sector. In short, a transcription of New Hope Cemetery is long overdue; it is a research tool I will use frequently. And over the next several days and weeks I plan to write such an inventory of New Hope Cemetery and publish the transcription online at New Hope Cemetery blog.

I have always been interested in photography, in recording tombstone images, and learning about unique stories, traditions and customs concerning cemeteries.

My earliest work with a camera involving the dead was a very personal disaster --- as a thirteen-year-old, I was asked to photograph a dead child in its coffin so that its father who was in the Army in Korea would have a picture of his dead baby. My camera malfunctioned --- and I've been haunted by the sadness of that event since. I have recounted this most vivid recollection at in Hill Country.

When I am in a cemetery, I always look for the unusual --- the unique or the strange --- and several of my Hill Country articles reflect my interest in cemeteries. Recently I wrote Beauty's Grave about a marker I discovered in a rural cemetery in Itawamba County, Mississippi. Earlier I've written about some of the unique pottery gravemarkers from the hills of Itawamba County at Hand-turned works of art. And I'm always looking for more images of hands carved on tombstones.

One of the most pleasing and unusual images I captured at New Hope Cemetery last week was the carved image of the dog "Wolf" on his master's grave shown below. Stones tell stories beyond who is buried beneath a marker. It is obvious that "Wolf" was a special pet to be forever chiseled on the dark stone marker.


But the major reason I work in cemeteries is to learn of the history of a community and of its people. I consider a tombstone and the information chiseled in stone a word picture into the past. And it is that "picture of the past" I am trying to collect as I photograph gravestones and transcribe the words and information written upon them.

Although I've transcribed in photographs and words a few small abandoned cemeteries with fewer than a dozen markers, I've inventoried only one large cemetery currently in use --- Lann Cemetery near Splunge, Monroe County, Mississippi. A transcription of that work is available at the Lann Cemetery Blog, a site I have under construction. And that list, done in 2002, is in need of updating as several new burials have occurred at Lann Cemetery. In fact, my gravemarker (click to see) now stands at Lann Cemetery waiting and should be included in a new transcription. [Don't ask. The monument salesman described the sale of the stone to me as a "pre-need" whatever that means!]

For the remainder of this article, I will discuss how I go about transcribing a large Hill Country cemetery. Please know there is no one "correct" method of reading the history of a cemetery --- each researcher/photographer has to develop a set of techniques best suited for his needs. I hope this discussion of my method will be of some value the next time you visit a cemetery or take gravestone photographs.

On a personal note, let me say that my approach differs from most because of physical limitations --- I use a cane for walking and the artificial hip joint I have precludes much bending over. Thus my technique for working up a cemetery in photographs and words considers my physical limitations.

Once I decide I need a complete transcription of a specific cemetery, I do an Internet search to determine if one exists --- and if so, where? How recent or how complete? There are partial transcriptions available online for New Hope Cemetery --- but no where can I find a complete and up-to-date inventory of all those buried there.

Because I grew up less than one mile from the edge of New Hope Cemetery, I was already well acquainted with its general layout. But I did a topozone.com search for a map of New Hope Cemetery. I then traced on paper the cemetery directly from the screen --- and used this crude drawing to walk around the cemetery.

The map at topozone.com showed New Hope Cemetery as being in two sections lying a few yards apart on opposite sides of the current Hatley-Detroit Road. The eastern most section of the cemetery is known locally as the "Old Part of New Hope Cemetery." The section on the west side of the road is known as the "New Part of New Hope Cemetery."

The Old Part of New Hope is a burial ground for both white and black individuals from the surrounding community. Some of the oldest burials in the Hill Country are recorded in this part of the cemetery. For the purposes of this inventory, the Old Part of New Hope, white and black burials, will be designated as Section A. See the map below.

The New Part of New Hope has grown so rapidly over the last several decades, that it was divided for this transcription into Sections B, C. D, and E. The driveways within the new part assist in this division. The map acquired from topozone.com was thus modified and expanded to show both this growth and the section divides.
The graves within each section will be inventoried, numbered for location purposes, transcribed, and photographed. Section B was completed last week and is the basis of this "how I did it" report.

I started with Section B for purely selfish reasons --- Section B is where my parents and grandparents are buried along with several aunts and uncles and cousins. Further, Section B is where many of my father's friends and associates are buried --- and walking there is like revisiting old friends from forty and fifty years ago. And Section B is where so many of my personal friends are buried --- from classmates in high school to mentors who taught me such fine points as how to swim, how to dive,how to swim underwater, how to fish, how to pick cotton, how to cross-pollinate bearded iris.

Section B was inventoried following these steps.

FIELD WORK

1. After considering the layout of the cemetery noting the location of driveways and the public road, I decided to start in the lower left side of Section B. I began each entry by assigning a number to each stone in the first row as I came to it. I used graph paper and indicated a number at the approximate location of stone number one. On the paper I indicated the surname and given name of the person buried there. And I noted on the graph paper, and this is important to my approach, the type of marker: Does the marker have only one name on it? Is it a marker with two or more names? Is it just a family plot marker with nothing but a surname? Is it a military marker?

2. I then photographed the marker. And then I moved to the next marker and repeated the process. When I finished across the front of the section, I went to the next row and worked my way back across the section --- and continued the process working back and forth across Section B until I'd assigned a number and photographed each marker in the section.

NOTE: Any stone on which it was difficult to "read" or to photograph, the names and dates were transcribed completely in writing while I was in front of it. Additional photographs were taken, some with close-up settings, for validation of the transcription.

3. EQUIPMENT USED: I carry two cameras for field work in cemeteries. My camera of choice is a small, light-weight CanonPowerShot A520 with a 1.0 GB memory card (but I have an additional memory card for backup). The Canon powers from two AA size batteries --- and requires frequent changing of batteries. I used eight batteries in short order and I wasn't using flash lighting.

My backup camera is a Sony Digital Mavica powered by a rechargeable lithium battery. Although I favor this camera and still have an external floppy disc drive so that I can use it with my newer computer, it is now just back-up in case my primary camera malfunctions when doing field work.

The best and newest tool I'm using is a mono-pod or a one-legged camera stand which also doubles as my walking cane. This device is lightweight, adjustable, has a universal camera mount hidden under the knob, has a wrist-strap for ease in holding, and serves as a steady platform from which to take photographs. Heretofore I used a camera neck strap to "tote" the camera, one hand to hold my cane and the other hand to hold my clipboard and paper. With this device I have cane and camera combined in the best of all combinations. This one-legged camera stand is sold locally in Wal-Mart's photographic department for about $20.

Using this stand, I did not have a single photograph to blur because of movement. I strongly recommend that you get this device to steady your digital camera; it is ever so much easier to use than a tradition tripod stand. It makes a neat walking stick too.



D
ESK WORK

1. Armed with handwritten notes and hundreds of digital photographs, I returned to my office and started the process of transcribing my field research. I wished to produce an inventory/transcription/record of the history on the gravestones at New Hope in order to accomplish the following four tasks.

A.
Grave location: Any list should indicate the approximate location of the graves within the cemetery. New Hope Cemetery is divided into two separate locations; the larger and newer section is divided into four distinct parts. A good list of burials would help the reader go directly to the proper section of the cemetery and find a specific grave without walking over several acres.

B.
List of burials in relationship to other graves: Many times names from a series of individuals buried in close proximity to each other can assist in the writing of the history of a family or of a community. Certainly I wish my list of burials to show this grouping/arrangement.

C.
Alphabetized list of all names from the stones at New Hope Cemetery. This list will perhaps be the most used of any I produce --- and I will transcribe my work with the requirement for computer generated alphabetized lists in mind. I will use, for the most part, data separated by commas into "fields" so that later when all five sections of the cemetery have been inventoried, I can create a master list in alphabetized order of all people buried at New Hope Cemetery.

D. Photographic record of all of the tombstones
: All of the lists I am making will indicate the image number of the photograph upon which I'm basing my transcription. In the future I will also post an image of each marker at New Hope Cemetery Blog or elsewhere on the Internet.

Using the graph paper locater and number codes from my handwritten field notes, I generated an initial list on a word processing program. Here are the first five names on that initial list.

B0001, HILL, Barbara
B0002, HATHCOCK, Dell and Geneva
B0003, CHISM, Alvin and Retha
B0004 CHISM, George
B0005, LITTLE, Ronnie
2. Next I looked at the photographs and transcribed information to indicate the type of stone, the complete names of the individuals and relationships if known, the date of birth and the date of death, and the image number of the photograph. The first five entries from my field notes thus increased to the following eight entries:
B001s, HATHCOCK, Barbara Hill, 1882, 1954, Wife of R.G. Hathcock, img 3027
B002a, HATHCOCK, Dell T., December 22 1909, April 14 1999, married Geneva Hathcock July 2 1933, img 3028, See also Delmus T. Hathcock
B002b, HATHCOCK, Geneva, November 14 1915, September 12 1994, married Dell T. Hathcock July 2 1933, img 3028
B002m, HATHCOCK, Delmus T., December 22 1909, April 14 1999, US Army World War 2 Silver Star, img 3029
B003a, CHISM, Alvy Y., January 14 1903, April 27 1936, on marker with Retha P. Chism, img 3031
B003b, CHISM, Retha P., July 31 1902, August 6 1974, on marker with Alvy Y. Chism, img 3031
B004s, CHISM, George C., August 20 1934, April 29 1940, img 3032
B005s, LITTLE, Ronie, 1896, 1938, Wife of W.J. Little, img 3033
To the left of the surname is a code to indicate: the Section of the cemetery (B), the approximate location by number (the higher the number the further to the back of the section), and a series of lower cases letters to indicate the type of stone ("s" indicates a single name on a stone,"a, b, c, d, e" indicates multiple names on a large stone, "f" indicates a family surname marker only, usually used to mark a family plot, "m" indicates a military marker --- usually a small flat marker at the foot of the grave, "t" indicates a temporary marker --- usually a small metal marker indicating the name and dates of the burial placed at the grave by the funeral home).

Surnames and given names were transcribed directly from the photographs of the stones; birth and death dates were standardized with full spellings rather than abbreviations and the birth and death dates separated by a comma. If the stone indicated the date of marriage (and many do), that information was recorded. If more than one name was on a stone, that information was noted as "on marker with" --- in most cases it can be assumed that the two names on a single marker indicate husband and wife but that is not always the case. If the relationship is stated, it was noted as "on marker with mother" or "on marker with daughter" etc.

4. The list of the eight names above was then sorted alphabetically by computer using the information in Field 2 and Field 3. When all five sections of the cemetery are completely inventoried and proof-read, a single alphabetized list of all the burials at New Hope will be published. Here is how such a list will appear using just the eight names above from Section B.
B003a, CHISM, Alvy Y., January 14 1903, April 27 1936, on marker with Retha P. Chism, img 3031
B004s, CHISM, George C., August 20 1934, April 29 1940, img 3032
B003b, CHISM, Retha P., July 31 1902, August 6 1974, on marker with Alvy Y. Chism, img 3031

B001s, HATHCOCK, Barbara Hill, 1882, 1954, Wife of R.G. Hathcock, img 3027
B002a, HATHCOCK, Dell T., December 22 1909, April 14 1999, married Geneva Hathcock July 2 1933, img 3028, See also Delmus T. Hathcock
B002m, HATHCOCK, Delmus T., December 22 1909, April 14 1999, US Army World War 2 Silver Star, img 3029
B002b, HATHCOCK, Geneva, November 14 1915, September 12 1994, married Dell T. Hathcock July 2 1933, img 3028

B005s, LITTLE, Ronie, 1896, 1938, Wife of W.J. Little, img 3033
I've described why and how I am transcribing the burials at New Hope Cemetery, Parham, Monroe County, Mississippi. But I think I would be remiss if I didn't add a few random comments, cautions, and concerns.

RE-DOs: Be prepared to return to the cemetery for missed photo opportunities. Glitches happen, batteries go dead, interruptions make you miss a marker, or you lose your place. Of approximate 300 stones I photographed and transcribed in Section B, I have to return for a re-do on 14 stones. Two of those were military stones covered with grass and dirt and unreadable; I will take a trowel and broom and make usable pictures. Four were missed pictures when my batteries went dead; this small camera often indicates it has a picture when it doesn't; three markers need another look because of conflict in field notes and poor image quality; three family plot markers were missed completely according to my field notes; and one photo shows the marker and my left shoe. That I am having to re-photograph approximately 5 per cent of the stones is about par for the course for me. I live approximately 25 miles from this cemetery; it is, therefore, not difficult to return for follow-up work.

I was pleased with myself this time, however, in that I had only one photograph showing my big foot.

VALIDATE WORK: Some cemetery photographers use strings to mark off a section and work it up completely on site before moving on; others use pennies to indicate that a stone is completely done in the inventory; some place a checkmark in chalk on the stone when finished. I attempt to process the information from the cemetery without use of any such markers. As a final control, I will take a printed copy of the inventory for each section and do a walk-through verifying that the information is correct.

GET HELP: Always get as many helpers as you can; divide and conquer --- but realize that you can't control all aspects of the work; have forms preprinted; have specific instructions as to what to record and how to record it.

MY RULE NUMBER ONE: Never, never under any circumstances put substances on a marker. I don't advocate the use of chalks, cleaners, or shaving cream to make the wording clearer --- nor do I do paper rubbings except in the most extreme cases. In order to read a stone I've resorted to two rubbings over the past eight years.

MY RULE NUMBER TWO: Don't remove decorations from a marker. During the all-day session at New Hope last week, I removed one tomb decoration (from the marker of my parents) prior to photographing the tombstone; I then replaced it. Many of the markers have decorations clamped into place and attached to wires and stakes in the ground. I would never recommend the removal of such in order to take a photograph. On those stones where decorations are covering the words, I transcribed the names on site and photographed what I could.

Remember that folks get awfully upset when flowers/decorations are moved/removed from their relatives' graves. Most of those decorations are lost because of winds blowing them about. Animals move some --- deer, raccoons, dogs, etc., but most lost decorations are blown away. While I was at New Hope, floral decorations were blowing about like tumbleweeds. If I am known to remove flowers to take a picture, guess who is going to be blamed for the lost flowers?

SUGGESTION: Be prepared for the unexpected. Take plenty of backup materials for your camera and your writing.

SUGGESTION: Be prepared for the expected. Take plenty of liquid refreshments, hat, insect repellant, sunscreen, and clothing. The sun, wind, and activity can dehydrate in short order. Most rural cemeteries are so isolated that you may need to take water and food. Also be aware that most rural cemeteries don't have bathroom facilities. The terrain is uneven; wear sturdy comfortable shoes.

REMEMBER: It will always take longer to inventory a cemetery than you think. My experience is that it takes twice as long as I plan. My plans for field work in the New Hope Cemetery suggest I can do that part of the job in five days if I have assistance from others. The transcription of those field notes and photographs will take probably another twenty days. And the final editing and proofing will take another five days. So for a cemetery as large as New Hope, I estimate about a month to complete the task.

HINT: If you have a choice, don't photograph a cemetery on a bright sunny day. On an overcast day, the light is much better for photographing tombstones so that the markings are readable. If you go, however, on a bright sunny day, take along a large umbrella to shade the marker from harsh sunlight. It is easier for me, however, to pick my days or to work very early morning or very late afternoon.

WARNING: Watch where you step. Critters live in cemeteries; the occasional lizard, snake, skunk, rabbit, raccoon, deer, etc. can startle you if you encounter it unaware. Black widow spiders also seem to thrive within grave decorations.

DON'T TRESPASS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY: Secure permission in advance before entering a cemetery on private property. When possible, have a local person serve as a guide.

The completed alphabetized list and locator code for Section B just finished has been posted at New Hope Cemetery blog. The images will be posted later. The remainder of the transcription is a work in progress and will appear as finished.

And I close with these words, modified from a folk song handed down by slaves, called

Sometimes I Feel Like An Eagle In The Air

You may bury me in the East,
You may bury me in the West,
But I'll hear the trumpet sound
In that morning.
I know the moonlight,
I know the starlight;
I lay this body down.
I walk in the moonlight,
I walk in the starlight;
I lay this body down.
I know the graveyard,
I know the graveyard,
When I lay this body down.
I walk in the graveyard,
I walk through the graveyard
To lay this body down.
I lay in the grave and stretch out my arms;
I lay this body down.
I go to the judgment in the evening of the day
When I lay this body down.
And my soul and your soul will meet in the day
When I lay this body down.



SOURCES:

"Sometimes I Feel Like an Eagle In the Air," American Folk Song. Lyrics modified from James Weldon Johnson, editor, The Book of American Negro Poetry, Preface. 1922. http://www.bartleby.com/269/1000.html : 2008.

Wiseman, Becky. "Friday From the Collectors --- A Moment in Time." FootnoteMaven,
Shades of the Departed, April 11, 2008. http://shadesofthedeparted.blogspot.com/2008/04/friday-from-collectors-moment-in-time.html : 2008.

"Wolf, A Dog Image on a Tombstone," Gravemarker B296s, James Doyle Thompson, New Hope Cemetery, Parham, Monroe County, Mississippi. Photograph by Terry Thornton. April 8, 2008.



Article and Photographs
Copyright © Terry Thornton

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Thursday, April 17, 2008

Many Things Thursday - A Carnival of Images

If a picture is worth a thousand words, why can't words be worth a thousand pictures?

That's the premise behind Smile For The Camera ~ A Carnival of Images. Smile is a monthly showcase of articles that will feature the very best of your family photographs or those orphan photographs contained in your collection. The goal of this carnival is to provide a regular showcase of the best of those cherished photographs and articles based on word prompts.

This carnival consists of a listing, with editorial comments, of a range of recently-published articles about the people, places, and things important to your family history or of interest in your photographic collection. Smile For The Camera is published on the 15th day of each month.

1ST EDITION
Smile For The Camera ~ A Carnival of Images

The 1st Edition of Smile For The Camera takes its word prompts from May's Mothers' Day. Choose a photograph of an ancestor, relative or an orphan photograph that embodies Love of Mother or a Mother's Love.


Your submission may include as many or as few words as you feel are necessary to describe your treasured photograph. Those words may be in the form of an expressive comment, a quote, a journal entry, a poem (your own or a favorite), or a heartfelt article. The choice is yours!

The "I Smile For The Camera" bumper sticker is yours for posting on your blog. Right click and copy.


SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Submissions for specific editions must arrive by 12:00pm PDT on the 10th of each month. Each carnival will be given word prompts to help you select the image(s) you wish to showcase.

Your submission may include as many or as few words as you feel are necessary to describe your treasured photograph. Those words may be in the form of an expressive comment, a quote, a journal entry, a poem (your own or a favorite), or a heartfelt article. The choice is yours!

HOW TO SUBMIT:

There are two options:

1. Send an email to the host, footnoteMaven. Include the title and permalink URL of the post you are submitting, and the name of your blog. Put 'Smile For The Camera' clearly in the title of your email!

2. Use the handy submission form provided by Blog Carnival, or select the "I Smile" Bumper Sticker in the upper right hand corner.

See you at the Carnival!

TheEnd

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Web Wandering Wednesday

Come Web Wandering With Me!

I received an email this week from a friend of mine, RJ McHatton of Inventive Productions, about his new video biography projects. He wanted to let me know he was doing a video biography of one of my all-time favorite football players, Jim Zorn of the Seattle Seahawks.

RJ's also done a beautiful promotion video for the Woodman Lodge which is opening just down the road from my house. This video gives you an idea of how important the use of our old family photographs and family videos could be to the creation of a video family history or biography. Photographs can make your video a very special and unique tribute.

Take a moment to watch the YouTube presentation and enjoy my neck of the woods both past and present. It is excellent!



Start putting together those old family photographs for
a video of your own!

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