Herr J. Sternstein, Glaswegian

So, how did Herr Sternstein end up in Glasgow?  This is what I was able to find out.  Jachiel Sternstein was from Hamburg, Germany.  He and his son Sigmund emigrated to Scotland some time around 1870.  I couldn't find an exact date.  In 1873, Jachiel opened his photographic studio.  Eventually, his son joined him in the family business and it became J & S Sternstien.  They did, as noted on the back of the card, specialize in group portraits.  By the 1940's, presumably, absent Jachiel and Sigmund, J & S Sternstein had contracts for school portraits all across central Scotland.  I found references to their school portrait business into the 1970's.   

So, my English mother had a tendency to look on the Scots and the Irish as somewhat lesser members of the United Kingdom.  (Not the Welsh.  Her mother was Welsh.)  She always described the Scots as cold, sour people, and looking at this photo, well let's just say that even the children look unhappy.  Although, there is that one little boy, second from the right in the front row, who seems to be making some sort of remark to his classmate.  I think he was the kid who always got other kids in trouble. 

Views of the World, Princess Street, Edinburgh, Scotland

What a dilemma.  The card is clearly labeled Princess Street but when I went on line looking for info, all I could find was Princes Street, masculine, not feminine.  Anyway, I'm going with the internet on this one.  That odd looking building in the right center of the card is the Scott Monument, as in writer Sir Walter Scott, is on Princes Street.  My guess, these cards were made from photos purchased from an agency, and the typesetter read the caption wrong.

Click on Views of the World in labels at the bottom of the post to see other cards from the series.

Scotland 1926

It's not a postcard.  I know it looks like one, but it isn't.  This is one of those photographic mysteries that a photo collector runs into from time to time.  It looks like a commercially produced image for sale to the tourist trade.  But then again, if this was a pro shot, wouldn't the photographer have removed the clothing thrown on the ground beside the child?  And wouldn't he have moved the parked car out of the frame?  Then again, even in 1926 Scotland, which is what's written on the back of the photo, how often would a person run into a scene like this?  Perhaps mom took a picture of husband and son on the way to the Highland games.