I have a photograph that's causing me to speculate. Actually, it's the information added to a photograph that's causing my cogitation. The photo is an oval portrait of a lovely young woman circa 1900. It was mounted on heavy, embossed cardstock which has been closely trimmed. Now check out the back side. Areas of the metallic green paper backing have been rubbed away, down to the raw cardboard beneath, and lots of dates and place names inscribed, some handwritten, some stamped. The dates range from November 1899 to January 1907, and include at least one entry for every year between: 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903 A.D., 1904, 1905 and 1906. Places include Cleveland, Chicago, New York, Columbus, Middlefield, and Akron OH,, Big Indian, NY, Stamford, CT and Mt. Clemens, Michigan. It's almost like a passport.
Has anyone ever seen anything similar? Was there a game, sort of a mail art project? Just wondering.
And isn't her lace collar great!
Posts
We can only speculate, but I think it is places she has traveled and she always took her photo. Like a passport—it was a way to mark where she had been
ReplyDeleteVery strange! She really leaves herself open to speculation. Why was this lovely woman passed around so much? Perhaps the photo was used as some sort of salesman's sample with each signing off for their usage. The dating all looks very official, as you say, sort of passport-ish. I hope someone comes up with an answer.
ReplyDeleteThe dates look like library stamps but that doesn't explain the locations.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your suggestions. Just the fact of the entries continuing over 9 years makes me think it was some sort of fun, documentary-type project.
ReplyDeleteI've thought on it and have decided "tis a puzzlement"
ReplyDeleteEither all of the above, or she mailed her photo to relatives/friends and they passed it on around, like a postcard, to all they knew, and so forth and so on. All look like postal stamps to me, and possibly all P.O. stamps weren't uniform in those days ... some of the smaller post offices probably didn't even have official stamps. Just a thought ... I'm a collector of antique photos and I've never yet seen the likes of it.
ReplyDelete