General Merchandise

This postcard-sized print presents some interesting questions: clearly it is not the usual sort of community general store, but a mercantile business for multiple purposes. The building is proof of substantial investment with design details that go beyond the utilitarian and maximize useable interior space – it makes a bit of a statement. The store appears uncluttered; there are advertisements in the spacious windows that may indicate clothing, notions and home wares (lamps, dishes, etc.) rather than common grocery goods and agricultural products which ordinarily are indicated by a proliferation of signs tacked helter-skelter on the exterior, yet there is a loading dock and covered sheds that have crates and boxes. The small posters in the upper panes of the display window may be Beatrice Potter’s Jemima Puddleduck, so perhaps they sold books and stationery items also.

The carriages and riding horse (the woman is mounted astride in spite of her voluminous skirt) may raise the question of whether there is a livery stable attached to the business. The people in the photo face the camera or are aware that they are posing; a long bench has been placed directly across the doorway – surely not its usual place. If the proprietors use it as a residence, they don’t appear to occupy the apparently empty second story front rooms; outside access to the upper floors is not evident to us. It is odd that there is no sign on the structure because weather stains on the paint indicate that it is not newly built. How this large late 19th century commercial/living space is used is a mystery, though there is the possibility that it has recently changed hands and may be in a state of transition under new ownership. Conjectures, all of them!

If You Don't Mind Sand In Your Shoes

There are thousands on Rockaway Beach in Queens on this weekend in the early 1900s, so with a few comments you are on your own. If it is a warm day – there are a few bathers – then what comes to mind is something about mad dogs, Englishmen (or Americans) and the noonday sun! We have trouble wrapping our minds around the possibility of enjoying the beach, or any outdoor venue, in such attire. A baby in the foreground is having a cookie, his tin bucket forgotten for the moment; a little boy castle-builder with sand in his eye (?); a few women stretched out on the sand; one boy watches the cameraman with hands in pockets; one group of five also appear to be looking at the camera – everyone else seems oblivious.

This is one of four glass negatives from this playground/resort/amusement park which was a cheap fare away from home on the streetcar line.

Rural Village of Dunstable, Massachusetts

Here are two 8-inch glass negatives that were marked Dunstable, Massachusetts, a rural village settled in 1656 and incorporated in 1673. Google Earth shows that though it is still rural by today's standards, everything you see in these scenes appears to have been stripped away in the name of progress. It is difficult to determine when they were taken, perhaps as early as 1880 or as late as 1910 (some research into maps of the period might shed more light if they identify structures, land ownership, etc.). 

When you have more than one image taken at the same time, there are serendipitous discoveries: the photographer took the close view above while standing in the carriage – the top edge of the wheel is just showing on the lower edge of the negative (which I have cropped out), then he left the carriage in the lane and climbed the slope of the field to get the more panoramic view below (the crop shows carriage and horses).

We can determine that it is a late autumn day by the remaining leaves on the trees, but the low angle of light is greater proof. The tiny cottage in the center foreground, perched on the bank of the pond, has suffered the collapse of much of its foundation and it appears to teeter precariously. The wider view shows church, wind-driven water tank, and a building with a cupola that may be a town hall, and lots of houses and barns. There are metal advertising signs nailed to the sheds along the road advertising boots and shoes, Singer sewing machines, and a clothing store in Lowell: We Outdistance All Competitors, Boston and Lowell One Price Clothing Company.

Beach Vacation – The Other Side 1900

What a contrast to the recently posted Beach Vacation 1880s! Twenty years makes a difference, but this is more about how the other half spends their leisure time – a working class crowd having a very good time, smiles all around, not that concerned about how they look, openly demonstrative of their friendship, even some sweethearts holding hands, and one young woman has her boyfriend's bowler on her head. As is par for the course, a few people have moved when the shutter clicked, some have their eyes closed.

The camera may be in the hands of someone from this group of revelers; it is from a glass negative that was very much overexposed and none too well preserved, but this very different scene shows the increasing ease with which most people face the camera and the changing purposes of photography. They are happy to have their picture taken (a term we still use today)!

The Oceanside is a store (a sign for cigars and tobacco is beneath the window), and it may be a small hotel or inn with rooms to rent.

Party Time, Anyone?

I don’t think this is what we think of as a hayride – an evening outing for mostly young people and a few chaperons; the intergenerational nature of the riders, their dress, the two hispanic musicians, and the time of day, all suggest an early departure for a local party or celebration. It makes sense to wagonpool, it’s more congenial and the hay wagon is an excellent choice, besides, it saves on fuel (someone please give those poor beasts an extra measure of oats, they look like they could use it!)

Imagine living before cameras, when remembering an event, a person, a particular time in life, was dependent only on your mind which is not conditioned to preserving intricate details (unless perhaps you are a writer or artist whose brain circuitry is hooked up a bit differently).

I think this large print (in extremely dirty condition, the rule rather than the exception) is likely Texas or Southwestern. The dress is late 1880s or 1890s, though fashion may linger a while in rural society. The musicians’ instruments are fiddle and squeezebox, so get ready for some dancing!