McConnell, Photographer, Letterkenny

 

Well, that's what is stamped on the back.  Almost certainly Thomas McConnell, a commercial photographer who had a studio on Market Square in 1901.  And that's it.  A few family details, but beyond that, nothing.  Letterkenny is town in County Donegal, Ireland.  Republic of, not Northern.  It's called the Cathedral Town, home of St. Eunan's Cathedral, all on the River Swilly.  What can I say, photographs travel.  I bought this CDV in the Los Angeles area, just like the previous post. 

William Abernethy, Belfast

 

Since my last post was from 2026, I thought I'd go back to the 19th century, just for a bit of contrast.  The Abernethy credited as the photographer on the carte de visite, is almost certainly William Abernethy, born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1864, died 1930.  He opened his first studio in 1886 at the age of 22.   He was very successful and eventually employed a large staff and opened a number of branch studios in the area.  In an advertisement from 1895 he claimed that his studios photographed 18,000 portraits in the previous year.  And lest we forget, that's some wild head of hair.  

Otto From Wurzberg

 

Otto Patzig, photographer from Wurzburg, Germany.  Well, I couldn't find much about Otto.  One very brief mention that he was a photographer and painter from the city.  Apparently a minor one, since I couldn't find any images of his paintings and the only photos I could find were other CDVs for sale on eBay, which is where I got this one.  I liked the hat.  Maybe a student, maybe a minor government functionary, but not military. 

Wurzburg, on the other hand, lots of info on the city.  Some of the low lights.  Between 1626 and 1631 there were witch trials with somewhere between 600 and 900 executions.  All burned alive.  On August 2, 1819, the Hep-Hep riots started in the city and eventually spread, first through Bavarian and then the rest of Germany.  The Hep-Hep riots were anti Jewish, so a precursor of things to come in Germany.  During World War 2 a sub unit of the Flossenburg concentration camp was located in the city.  And finally, on the night of March 16, 1945, a bombing run carried out by British Lancaster bombers destroyed 90% of Wurzburg.  Not an end, by the way.  A rebuild and restoration.

Swedish Portraits 6

 

Another carte de visite from Sweden.  I can't imagine that all these photos aren't from the same family.  Click on Swedish CDVs to see more.  Only one more from this collection is left, so after a few more posts I'll return and finish things up. 

Swedish Portraits 5

 

Another Swedish portrait  from the studios of Arvid Kierling.  Click on Swedish CDVs in labels to see more. 

Swedish Portraits 4

 

I'm beginning to think I should have called this the Arvid Kjerling collection.   Anyway, click on Swedish CDVs in labels to see more.  The only child's photo in the lot. 

Swedish Portraits 3

 

I can't imagine that all of these photos from Swedish Photographer Arvid Kjerling aren't related in some way.  Some are clearly from the same family, others could be friends.  Click on Swedish CDVs in labels to bring up others.  Eventually, there willl be seven of them. 

Swedish Portraits 2

 

Well, the lady on the left is the same woman form the last post, so if nothing else we know that this photo goes with the previous.  I was able to find out a bit about the photographer Arvid Kjerling.  He was born in 1864 as Karl Teodor Arvid Kjerling.  He opened his first photo studio in 1891 in Trollhatton, and moved his business to Karlstad in 1892.  He was successful enough to have opened up additional locations before his death in 1917.  So, not a long lived person.  Click on Swedish CDVs in labels to see more. 

Swedish Portraits 1

 

I just picked up some CDVs that were taken in Sweden.  I'm trying to buy a few more, so even though there almost all certainly from the same family, I'm going to spread them out, one photo at a time.  They'll all be identified  as Swedish CDVs in labels at the bottom of the post, so they can eventually all be brought up to be viewed together.  Since these were purchased in the United States, I think we can say that they were either mailed to a Swedish immigrant family living in the U.S., or were brought here by the actual immigrants themselves.  

Carte de Visite/Ohio

Well, I haven't put up a carte de visite for awhile so I thought I'd put these two up. Other than that they are both from Ohio, they aren't related in anyway. The profile has a studio mark on the back, "Geo R. Elliott, S.W. Corner High and Town Streets. Columbus, Ohio" And written, "Julianne Elizabeth Anthony (Mother)" Elliott was born in 1837 and had a studio in Columbus from 1870-86. A photographer for hire, his specialty was stereoscopic views. In 1886 he became the employee of James Madison Elliott, presumably a relative, who in addition to being a photographer was also a painter and crayon artist. Neither man was a great talent, but they made a living at it. On the mother/daughter portrait (I'm guessing), written on the back, "Jennie E. & Bell M. Norris, Stryker, Ohio" Stryker is in the northwest corner of the state, near the Michigan border. Click on either cdv or carte de visite in the labels section to see a lot more. The carte de visite was an early attempt at a standardized photographic format. They were small albumen prints mounted on a card, approximately 2.5x4.25 inches. While some people did in fact use them as visiting cards, they were usually given as keepsakes to friends and family. In the 1860s and 70s, the term cartomania was used to describe the craze for collecting as many cartes de visite as possible. Kind of like friending as many people as possible on Facebook.

The German American Collection, Cabinet Cards and CDVs

Here's the story on this collection. I bought it from an online dealer from Florida. He had picked up a large group of photos, albums, and ephemera from an estate, sold of a number of images, separately, and then took what was left and put together some lots for sale. I tried to buy a number of these groupings, and this was the only one I was able to get. There are some really nice photos, some dull ones, and some that are just plain bad. Because I think context is important, I'll eventually put all of them on line, but because so much of it is missing from the collection, I'll be putting them up intermittently, rather than all at once. Because I have some photos taken in Germany I've decided to label them all The German American Collection. Not a lot of labeling on these ones. The old man has a studio mark, "L. Rogers, PHOTOGRAPHER, TARRYTOWN, N.Y." Written, "Pops mothers father-Lewis" The young boy, "Seeley, 292 Main Street, Po'keepsie, N.Y." and written, "Katie Mortimer" And no, that's not a mistake, he's identified as Katie.

A Carte de Visite Album 4

Done! I manged to get every image from this album scanned into the computer without damaging a thing. Only one of the images has an exposed back that also has information on it. Printed on the back of the third single image of a woman, "Bogardus, Photographer, 363 Broadway Cor. Franklin St." There's more, very likely a Scranton address, but I'd have to take the cdv out of the page and I don't want to risk any damage. There are three non photographic bits of ephemera in the album. In the nineteenth century women routinely died in childbirth and the child mortality rate was around 30%. People had a tendency to be very sentimental about women and small children, and it shows in the pictures that the owner of this album chose to put in her album, and while I don't know for sure, I think that touch points to a woman owner. Perhaps she had lost a child. To see this album in order, navigate back to part one and go through the posts in order.

A Carte de Visite Album 3

Rather than taking a break and posting something from another source, just for a bit of variety, I think I'm going to go straight through and put this album up in four contiguous posts. As usual, if more than one photo is on a page, I'll put up the whole page to show position and then the individual image. I've also put up one of the damaged pages. Note that the back of one of the cards is visible, which gives an idea of how much of the background is lost when the carte de visite is inserted into the page. The first image of the bearded man, on the back of the card, "Schurch's PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO, Cor. Penn Avenue and Spruce Street, SCRANTON, PENNA." The man with the mustache, bow tie and the noticeable stains on the print, "E. P. Kellogg, Photographer, 279 MAIN STREET, HARTFORD, CONN."

CDV, Ella Hill

No photographer's studio mark on the back of this nineteenth century carte de visite, just the name "Ella Hill" written in pencil. To see other CDV's and read a brief overview of the history of the carte de visite, click on CDV or carte de visite in the labels section.

Another CDV From C. C. Shadle

Most of the carte de visites I own were purchased when I first started collecting photographs and most are from my home state of Pennsylvania. C.C. Shadle was born in 1817 and learned photography at the age of 45, around 1862. After working as an engineer for three years, he opened a photography studio in Apollo, Pennsylvania, (My home town.) around about 1865, the year that the Civil War ended. He then set up a studio in Tarentum, PA, and then moved to Kittanning, (The town where I was born.) in 1869. For more detailed information on the life of C. C. Shadle go to www.freepages.geneology.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~treasures/pa/.../ccshadle.pdf Written on the back, "Nancy's Grand Pa." Stamped on the back, "C. C. SHADLE, Photographer, TARENTUM, Penna."