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#1 of 11 Posted 2/11/05 6:40 PM

From Pam Brautigam/STAFF Posts 370 Last 5/2/06
To All [Msg # 194060.1 ]

This wonderful lady remains nameless. She is either a friend or family member of the Kelly, Philips or Simms families. They started out in VA, headed towards AL, MS and finally in Milam County, Texas. I would like to get an idea of a time frame for this stately lady. Any ideas?

Pam

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	Name: ant_tinty_medium_web_view.jpg	Size: 52 K

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#2 of 11 Posted 2/11/05 10:37 PM

From Betty Clay/SYSOP Posts 4963 Last Jun-19
To Pam Brautigam/STAFF [Msg # 194060.2 194060.1 ]

Tintypes were made from around 1850 to around 1920, so you can't date it just by being a tintype. I think your best bet would be to match the hairstyle and clothing. Do you have a book on dating photographs? Family Chronicle Magazine has published two or three volumes on it.

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#3 of 11 Posted 2/14/05 11:27 AM

From Pam Brautigam/STAFF Posts 370 Last 5/2/06
To Betty Clay/SYSOP [Msg # 194060.3 194060.2 ]

>>Do you have a book on dating photographs? <<

I don't think that is one I have added to the 'library' here at home. I will check it out, it may solve many questions for me.

Thanks, Pam

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#4 of 11 Posted 2/15/05 1:34 AM

From Mary Holland Posts 936 Last Nov-24
To Pam Brautigam/STAFF [Msg # 194060.4 194060.1 ]

Pam

>>I would like to get an idea of a time frame for this stately lady. Any ideas?<<

According to my books, tintypes were made from 1856 to the early 1900's and I have a couple made in 1902. I've looked through all my books and the only way I can place her at all is by the rather strange hair style and her bonnet. I'd say 1898 - 1902 going from one photo of a sort of similar hair style and another of a bonnet. In the bonnet which happens to be a photo of one of my ancestors, she doesn't tie the ribbons into a bow - they just hang down. Mind you, she is much older so who knows when that style came from in her case.

There is a good book with lots of photos of clothing and hair/hat styles that I own. It's "Victoria and Edwardian Fashion, A photographic Survey" 235 illustrations! Written by Alison Gernsheim. You might find it in a library somwhere. Publisher is Dover of New York and London.

Mary

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#5 of 11 Posted 2/16/05 12:18 AM

From Lindsey Posts 1770 Last 1/18/09
To Mary Holland [Msg # 194060.5 194060.4 ]

No, I think it's much earlier than 1898-1902. Take a good look at the dropped line of the shoulder and the relatively full sleeve, and then compare the picture at the top of this page from 1861. Also look at this set of pictures from 1863, especially the woman on the left in the last pair of pictures on the page. The pictures are too small to be able to tell much detail, but her hair looks similar to the hairstyle in Pam's photograph, and the hat is reminiscent, too. Then there's this page from 1869, with more elaborate hairstyles, and with more ears showing, as in Pam's photograph. And this page from 1870, especially the second row, the woman on the right: I think her bodice looks a lot like the one in Pam's photo.

I think my own highly inexpert guess would be circa 1870.

--Lindsey

Later: I did see a hairstyle on that hairstyles link I mentioned to Pam dated 1880 that looked like this one, too, but the dresses of the 1880s have very tight sleeves that are fitted high under the armpit, not like what this bodice looks like at all.

Edited 2/16/05 by Lindsey

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#6 of 11 Posted 2/16/05 1:05 AM

From Lindsey Posts 1770 Last 1/18/09
To Pam Brautigam/STAFF [Msg # 194060.6 194060.3 ]

There are also a pages of interesting-looking links here, here and here. Oh! Yes, click that last link and look at the hairstyles from the "early bustle period, 1870-1876". Scroll down to 1875, and look at the "day style" described as "A good example of the waving often used in the period." I think that looks very much like this lady's hairstyle.

I seem to remember somewhere along the line hearing of a book about identifying old photographs entitled Dressing for the Photographer, but I haven't been able to turn up a link to it.

--Lindsey

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#7 of 11 Posted 2/17/05 11:56 PM

From Pam Brautigam/STAFF Posts 370 Last 5/2/06
To Lindsey [Msg # 194060.7 194060.6 ]

Shirley Teresa Wajda - History Writing, With Light - Reviews in

... judgments. Godey's Lady's Book in 1876 offered advice of a seemingly Orwellian nature for "Dressing for the Photographer": Orange ...
muse.jhu.edu/journals/reviews_ in_american_history/v026/26.3wajda.html -

I wonder if this could be the one you are thinking of.

The links are amazing, I think taking a good look at a fe more of my mysteries in photos will warrant another long long look. Thank you all for the excellent research!

Pam

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#8 of 11 Posted 2/19/05 1:11 AM

From Lindsey Posts 1770 Last 1/18/09
To Pam Brautigam/STAFF [Msg # 194060.8 194060.7 ]

I think I turned that up with Google when I was searching for the book. <g> I am 95% certain that "Dressing for the Photographer" was the name of the book itself, but it seems odd to me that I couldn't turn it up anywhere, even on Amazon.com, where they will often offer used copies of out-of-print books. But maybe I have remembered the title partly wrong.

I had fun with those pages, and I'm hoping to have a chance to spend more time with them. I find myself looking at old photos in a whole different way now, eyeing the clothes to get a feel for the fashions.

I found out eBay can be a good place for looking, though it's a little hard to filter for precisely that. But one of their "collections" categories is "photographs," and I found some very interesting late-19th-century portraits while I was looking through old photographs of Richmond and New York. Some of the pictures are dated, and you can get some idea of what people in different walks of life were wearing. And you can look without buying! Well--sometimes. I admit to being easily tempted. <g>

--Lindsey

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#9 of 11 Posted 2/21/05 10:44 AM

From Pam Brautigam/STAFF Posts 370 Last 5/2/06
To Lindsey [Msg # 194060.9 194060.8 ]

>>I find myself looking at old photos in a whole different way now <<

I do as well. Recently I think I mentioned a set of about 40 negatives I had discovered from 1931. While looking at them we found a way of stacking fire wood we had never seen before. Brackets in the shape of V's were made on the ground, and tons of wood stacked on top of them. My mother was very intrigued to see them that way as it was on the farm she was raised on.

Pam

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