Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
A woman in a dark high-collared dress sits with two young children in an ornate armchair. The young boy wears a dark suit and a broad collar – the infant, a white gown. Taken at Thor Fotograph in Bergen, Norway. From the Marie Morris collection. Courtesy photo.
The backside of the cabinet card became a canvas for the photographer to brand and market itself. The Norwegian phrase at the bottom of the photographer's mark translates to "After this picture you can get another." Courtesy photo.
Studio photography was a bit of a novelty to the folks of the late 19th century. An unknown man wears a single-breasted jacket and waistcoat, embellished with a patterned cravat and collar. Taken at the ever popular Anton Rhodes studio in Chicago. Courtesy photo.
Last week readers of Archival Anecdotes learned a little about the cabinet cards of the late 19th century, but we just barely scratched the surface. These 6.25-by-9.5 inch debuted in 1868; the smaller carte de visite had been invented in France in 1854. Considering this was just 18 years after the invention of the postage stamp, it was only natural that people would send photographs to their friends and families across the country and overseas.
Photographers knew that their printed final product would circulate and took advantage of that fact as a marketing tool. As a result, most carte de visites and cabinet cards bear a photographer's mark, which can yield a great deal of information about when and where the photograph was taken. We can also gain a sense of an individual's social geography.
Marie Morris was born in Indiana to Fredricka and Johann Nuetzle in 1879, and as a child moved to Eddy County. She left her photo collection to the Eddy County Museum in 1968, providing us with a vivid glimpse into the past. The collection includes 48 photographs from at least 20 different photography studios in Europe, and in the Midwest.
The most common locations of the European photographs were Bergen, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Christiana, Norway. Here's a bit of history trivia: Christiana changed its spelling in 1877 to Kristiana, and then later reverted to the medieval name of Oslo in 1925.
The American-produced photographs most frequently came from Chicago (18) and on occasion Minneapolis/St. Paul (3). The rest include scattered locations in Ohio, Wisconsin and North Dakota.
One particular studio that stood out in Marie's collection proved to be popular among photographic subjects – six of Marie's photos were taken by Anton Rhodes' studio, located on West Ohio Street in Chicago between 1873 and 1900.
With this newfound information, you can pull out those old cabinet cards that you might have tucked away with other heirlooms. By further researching the photography marks left on these treasures, you can get a sense of where some of your predecessors came from (or at least where they went to get their portrait taken.)
One photographer that I've been researching is Miss Solberg, who not only operated a photography studio in Sheyenne but also took photos in the field during harvest. If you know about Miss Solberg and would like to share some information, you can send an email to [email protected] or send us a letter at P.O. Box 135, New Rockford, N.D. 58356.
