Americans, particularly middle and upper middle class Americans, put the camera to work recording their pride of place. The cameraman set up the view camera to include the house and yard, the family (extended family and servants, too) stood arrayed on the porch and in the yard, often with horses, carriages and anything else that they wanted to display. This was a self-conscious exercise that is conveyed by a rather flat-footed stance, tensely waiting for the shutter and the camera operator's assurance that they could relax, the deed was done.
We may be amused but the survival of these photos in their thousands is evidence that it was a serious thing.
That they survive usually doesn't mean they have had much care – they have darkened and discolored with age and their presence in homes that have been heated and lit with coal, oil, gas lamps and years of exposure to cooking stoves and tobacco smoke have taken their toll. Below shows, left to right, the image after it has been scanned, the image restored, and the image as it looked before restoration.
Scan Restored Original State