Kathryn Rutherford Fine Artist at Heirloom Art Studio

THE END OF AN ERA IN PHOTOGRAPHY

2011-10-30T09:39:00.003-04:00

"There was a pall, a certain sadness because
you know an era was coming to an end."
Randy Moore

"If it comes to an end, I'll be the first to cry."
Ann Curry

Thursday, December 31st, 2010, history was made in the small prairie city of Parsons, Kansas. At the end of the day, when the doors closed at the family business of Dwayne's Photo an era in photography officially came to an end. The last operating machine left in the world for processing colour slide film was shut down and scheduled to be sold for scrap.

"It's more than a film, it's a pop culture icon," said Todd Gustavson, a curator from the George Eastman House, a photography museum in Rochester, New York housed in the former residence of the Kodak Company's founder. "If you were in the postwar baby boom it was THE color film, no doubt about it."

Requiring accuracy to both shoot and develop, Kodachrome gave skilled users a richness of colour and a unique treatment of light that many described as uncomparable as they make the shift to digital cameras.

"Makes you think all the world's a sunny day," Paul Simon sang in his 1973 hit "Kodachrome" which pleaded, "Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away. But, take it away they did.

Created in 1935, Kodachrome was an instant hit as the first film to effectively render accurate colour. Even when it stopped being the primary film for chronicling daily life----as a result of the move from slides to prints---it continued to be the film of choice for hobbyists, medical professionals and particularly photographers submitting images to National Geographic.

Steve McCurry, one such photographer who's work has appeared for decades in National Geographic Magazine, including his well-known cover portrait, shot in Kodachrome, of the Afghan girl with the piercing eyes, that highlights what he describes as the "sublime quality" of the film. When Kodak stopped producing the film last year the company gave McCurry the last roll, which he hand-delivered to Dwayne's Photo to be processed.

"I wasn't going to take any chances," he explained.

With the film previously discontinued, Kodak then stopped producing the chemicals needed to develop it, only providing Dwayne's Photo with enough to continue processing until the end of 2010. Right on schedule, on the last week of the year, the lab opened up the last remaining canister of blue dye.

As news media around the world heralded December 31st, 2010 as the end of an era, rolls of the discontinued film that had been hoarded in freezers and tucked away in drawers, sometimes for decades, flooded into Dwayne's Photo from six continents.

In the last weeks of the year dozens of visitors and thousands of packages raced to the lab and, for a moment in time, transformed his small city into the center of nostalgic history.

Railroad worker, Jim DeNike, loaded nearly fifty thousand developed slides from one thousand five hundred and eighty rolls of film into his older model maroon Pontiac explaining that every picture was of railroad trains (another vanishing piece of history) and that he had borrowed from his father's retirement fund to pay for developing the images. Total cost for processing....$15,798.00.

When Dwayne Steinle transformed his mainstream photography studio to specialty niche imaging he was warned more than once by a Kodak representative that his area was too sparsely populated for such a studio to succeed. Now celebrating a seventy-five year span in business Dwayne's Photo proved one for the history books by specialties like black and white and print to print developing, culminating with the processing of Kodachrome.

One of the toughest decisions for the lab was how to deal with the dozens of requests from amateurs and professionals alike to be the one who provided the last roll of film to be processed.

In the end, it was determined that the roll belonging to the owner, Dwayne Steinle, would be the last.

It took three tries to locate a camera that operated, but shot of the Steinle house, family and scenes of downtown Parsons were all recorded. For posterity, the last frame was planned for Thursday, December 31st, 2010 to be a photo of all the employees of Dwayne's Photo wearing specially printed shirts which proudly boasted the following message:

The best slide and movie film
in history is now retired
KODACHROME: 1935-2010

My personal Kodachrome collection spans three generations of family photographic history, world travels, and educational materials and programs prepared for teaching. Over sixty years of transparent colour and priceless information forever recorded on, not the pixilated reflection of a computer screen or in a stack of flimsy prints recently pushed out of the home computer, but viewed in the warm glow of a projector pulling vivid images one after another from a carousel of

slides.

"If it comes to an end, I'll be the first to cry," wrote Ann Curry. Hand me a tissue, please, I have to blot my tears as I say my own goodbye to another piece of photographic history.

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON

2011-01-06T18:13:00.002-05:00

"We have lost our way on our path.

It is time to do things in a way that respects our spirit, our ancestors,
and where we come from."

Lisa Brown

"Oh, To Be Sailing" An Original Oil Painting by Kathryn Rutherford

Anna Barbara Schmid/Ives, Walter Maison Ives, Edward Francis Ives

The following article appeared in newspaper print Friday, December 24, 2010
and is reprinted here for all my Blog Followers to enjoy.

Spirits abound at the Heirloom Art Studio, on Wears Valley Road, but they aren’t your ordinary Christmas Spirits and, most definitely, are not the frightening kind of apparitions you find fading in and out of late night horror movies.

The transparent Spirits Kathryn Rutherford paints at the Studio are the ancestors of families she expertly depicts to tell extraordinary stories of ordinary lives.

Heirloom Art Studio, established in Canada, in 1980, was relocated to Wears Valley in 1999. In the building at the top of the driveway, directly across the street from Valley View Road, the Studio houses the five company operations of Kathryn and Greg Rutherford and their daughter, Tania, the newest partner. Everything from specialty and New Age gifts to graphic and web design, custom screen printing, personalized merchandise, fine art and photographic restoration ships from this unassuming building.

In 2004, Kathryn Rutherford, an award-winning, internationally known fine artist, instructor and restoration artisan with a thirty-five year career, sent her fine art talents and techniques in new directions when she painted a series of original oil paintings commemorating the historic Headrick Chapel and Cemetery located at the western end of the Valley.

As part of a fund-raising activity to restore the Chapel, these works were painted to include ancestors of Valley families associated with the property. While many persons are seen standing throughout the exterior grounds of one painting, it is the interior painting which is most intriguing and sets Kathryn’s artwork apart from most portrait artists.

“The Guardians of Headrick Chapel” depicts the see-through visions of Chapel families and former attendees and this particular painting has been awarded several distinguished awards.

Tomi Melson, Executive Director of Piedmont Craftsmen Guild, Winston-Salem, N.C., was the single juror for one of the exhibitions where the painting hung. In her Juror's Statement she said, "I was so captivated by Kathryn Rutherford's painting, by her ability to create a provocative narrative with her technical skill, that I have awarded her an Award of Distinction.”

Spirit Paintings caught the attention of the public and clients began ordering them custom commissioned to depict their own family ancestors and family stories.

“Of the hundreds of portraits I’ve painted throughout my career,” says Rutherford “it would be odd to paint a living customer in the same work along side their ancestors who long ago passed away. I could create several separate portraits, but how original is it when the painting tells a family story, depicts places of interest to that family, and includes multi-generations all in one original work of fine art. I simply choose to depict the passed-on family and friends as Spirits who return to be an important part of the composition.”

“I’m having the most wonderful time with this way of providing genealogical history to my customers and telling special family stories in the process,” explains Rutherford. “Each painting is new and exciting. Each one presents a one of a kind challenge to create and the results are individual. The finished paintings often bring tears of joy to those depicted in the work, or those ordering reproduction prints, because often family members do not have high quality photographs of those in the paintings. Many times relatives have never seen their ancestors until I paint them and present a finished work of art.”

An example of just such a case are two large works Kathryn painted originally just for herself. Positioned in the kitchen of an historic farmhouse museum in Canada, where she grew up on Lake Erie, the painting portrays the artist drinking tea out of her Great-Grandmother’s tea cup and gazing out of the window at the activity taking place on the lake. Appearing out of the shadows are Rutherford’s Great-Grandparents.

As one of the last Tall Ship Captains on the Great Lakes, one of Captain Frank Ives’ ships appears in the clouds on the horizon.

"The Cooking Lesson" an Original Oil Painting by Kathryn Rutherford

The companion painting in this series shows a broader view of the kitchen where Kathryn’s cousin, Kristen Ives, appears in costumed dress. As Assistant Curator of the museum, her role is to instruct school groups and the general public in the way of life on an 1800’s working farm.

Georgina Siddall Ives (1850-1931)

Assisting with kitchen preparations, over her shoulder, is Kristen’s own Great-Grandmother, Georgina Siddall Ives.

“Until I presented her with a reproduction of this painting,” says Kathryn “Kristen had never seen an image of her Great-Grandmother. As one of the key genealogy historians in my family, it was fabulous to not only supply her with her own history, but present it to her in such a heartfelt way telling the story of her own work and life.”

The children in this painting are the artist, herself, at age three and eight and the remaining elders are the artist’s Great-Grandmother (sister in-law to Georgina) and Great Great-Grandmother. Three generations of family branches depicted in one work of storytelling art.

Both of these paintings were recently juried into the 15^th Sevier County Biennial Juried Art Exhibition which will open on January 7^th, 2011 at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, in Gatlinburg. The Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony, which is open to the public, takes place 6:00-8:00pm on January 7^th and the exhibition remains on display until February 26, 2011.

"Revisiting The Homestead-The Kermit Caughran Family" an Original Oil Painting by Kathryn Rutherford

Also of importance to local history, are Rutherford’s most recent paintings which record the last resident of Cades Cove, Kermit Caughran, his wife and many of their children and grandchildren. These paintings, depicting the well known bee keeper, strike a note with local residents and tourists alike because many remember the kindly gentleman of the Cove, who passed away in 1997, and the bee boxes that lined his front yard close to the exit of the Cove.

“With the permission of the Caughran family,” states Rutherford “I painted the first of these paintings to fulfill the wishes of the winner of a fundraiser. I gave away a portrait to raise money for medical bills for a family friend, five year old Wears Valley resident, Emily Young, who had brain cancer and eventually passed away earlier this year. The winner of my fundraiser asked to have me paint a Spirit Painting with local history. This tells you just how cherished and desirable my Spirit Paintings are to those depicted in the works as well as viewers who enjoy the heartfelt stories portrayed.”

“My only disappointment,” continues Rutherford “is that the Caughran Family and I have yet to meet so I can show them the finished paintings and discuss fund raising plans to help the Cades Cove Preservation Society through the future sale of prints. We haven’t been able to schedule our time to meet as yet, but it will happen soon.”

Heirloom Art Studio (865-428-4900) is open 11-5 Monday through Saturday and can be found online at: www.heirloomartstudio.com

In the “Spirit of the Season”, now is the time to think about family, ancestors and the stories that would make unique fine art. Stop by the Heirloom Art Studio to discover it’s offerings on the hill and discuss a one of a kind Spirit Painting of your family. Kathryn can’t wait to begin work on her next masterpiece.

I Remember Mama

2010-05-09T14:59:00.007-04:00

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others

but whose place no one else can take."

Cardinal Mermillod 1824-1892

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

    Today is Mother's Day. In honour of all Mothers around the world, I thought the best subject of today's post would be about the importance of capturing images of the women in your life.
    Most of the postings on this site are about photographic restorations and the history and insights into photography. Today's subject is going to deviate just a little bit. It will not only involve photography, but original artwork as well. It is still, all about Mama.
    In 2009, a new restaurant was to open in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, called "Mama's Farmhouse". The all-you-can-eat menu would consist of recipes from the personal collection of the female matriarch of the owner's family. Country Fried Steak, Roasted Pork, Sweet Potato Casserole, Banana Pudding, Peach Cobbler.... and so much more, all made from scratch from Mama's original recipes and served in abundance. YUM, YUM!
    The entire decor of the restaurant was to be a photographic history of Mama and her descendants.   Mama's own portrait was to become the trademarked symbol of the restaurant, but there was a problem. There were no appropriate photographs of Mama that could be used as the trademark or as the focal point of the restaurant's decor.
    Only two photographs existed of Mama. One was from the early 1900's where Mama stood in the living room of the family home surrounded by her husband and children and a framed and shrouded portrait of a deceased member of the family. (This was one way to take a family portrait and include members that had already passed on.) Mama had a head in the professional looking portrait, but her main body and shoulders were obscured by other family members. Mama was in her late 20's at the most in this picture.
    I was able to take this photograph and airbrush out the other members of the family to create a younger version of Mama, but, this certainly would not do for the restaurant's trademark portrait.
    The only other photograph ever taken of Mama was recorded at the end of her life just before her death in 1963. The problem with this photograph was that it was a tiny, blurry image of Mama standing outdoors in bright sunlight with two other unknown woman......wearing a hat. For the restaurant's trademark portrait Mama needed to be looking aged, yet lovely, and as most of the family remembered her, but definitely not blurry and out of focus and, most certainly, NOT wearing a hat.

    With the recommendation of other artists and framers, the owners arrived at my Heirloom Art Studio in hopes that I would be able to assist with the retouching, enlargement and restoration of the family portraits for the restaurant decor. They also hoped that, with my reputation as a fine art portrait artist, I would be able to create a portrait of Mama suitable for the trademark and name of the restaurant. This was going to be a challenge, but one that I could certainly enjoy as my specialty.
     The family set about locating one photograph after another which I would subsequently enhance, colour correct, restore, enlarge and deliver for framing. Creating the needed portrait for Trademark Registration, would take an entirely different route.
    After enlarging the 1900's portrait of Mama to a 20x24 image and airbrushing out the other family members, I delivered a key portrait of Mama (seen in the top photograph above) framed in an antique reproduction walnut oval frame with convex curved glass. Mama appeared in all her early beauty and was hung on the wall of the restaurant. Now began the fun part.
    Did you know that all of human anatomy is mathematical? Every part of the head and body can be measured to exact size and standards. What is more fascinating is that the body, in particular the head, ages mathematically as well. The eyes recess into the eye sockets according to measurements, the ears drop, the chin line becomes less than smooth and all shifts according to a ratio of measurements of proportion to age.
    You see this mathematical shift miraculously happen on forensic television shows through the advances of digital technology, but my studio isn't as supplied with that high end digital software. We would simply have to rely on the original art and proportion knowledge on which the software is based and upon which I am greatly familiar.
    Let us get to work.
    I first scanned the negative of the newly created portrait of Mama in her twenties into my computer. Using digital brushes from high end drawing software, I began to hand draw on top of the first portrait (no buttons were pushed to accomplish this task) to age Mama into her seventies as the customer had requested. The only point of reference which I had to make the changes were my years of knowledge and expertise, mathematical calculations and the very blurry photograph from 1960.
    Slowly and surely Mama's skin sagged, muscles relaxed, her hair thinned and lost it's colour. Her chin line became less defined yet the sparkle in her eyes and that tiny little smirk of hers remained. When my digital drawing was completed Mama was at last, and incredulously, delivered to the customer appropriately aged into her seventies and in appearing in full colour.
    The customer was delighted and said the portrait was an exact depiction of what the current descendants remembered of her. I was, once again, overjoyed by my accomplishment and breathed a sigh of relief that this major portion of the restaurant project was complete.

    Or....perhaps I was a bit too hasty in my contentment.
    Within a week, the customer phoned stating that perhaps Mama was a bit too old (and unfattering?) to be a permanent Registered Trademark. The portrait was certainly considered accurate, but would it be possible to reduce her age to her fifties and create a portrait more lovely in nature? Why certainly, was my reply and I set to work just as before to age Mama once again, only to stop this time short of the math that would take her too far into her "golden years".
    Mama, in her seventies, was attired in the customary sweater she always wore and which was seen in the blurry photograph the family provided. If Mama were to appear in her fifties, I would have to get creative and find appropriate clothing for the new portrait.
    According to my calculations, Mama would have been fifty in the 1920's. Eeek!   This would have been the Roaring 20's, the days of the "Flapper" dresses and clothing slightly riske for a trademarked portrait. Fashion sported sleeveless dresses in the scoop necked t-shirt style and, although this was high fashion and certainly appropriate for the time, I didn't think it would make a good head and shoulders trademark for our distinguished Mama. To the history books and fashion plates!!
    After pouring through several publications in my vast library and drawing upon my many years as a stage and costume designer, I finally located the perfect dress for Mama on a 1925 magazine cover. Mama would appear in a soft coral pink chiffon dress with lace bodice appropriate to the twenties yet sophisticated for her age and representation of the restaurant.

I delivered the portrait and the client was, yet again, pleased and overjoyed with my work. Mama had been brought back and would now be well represented throughout the Farmhouse Restaurant in several stages of her life. A large convex glass oval portrait was displayed in the lobby above an ornate fireplace and mantle. Next to the mantle would hang a large, original family tree and history of Mama and her descendants which I also hand painted and framed for the customer.
Mama's Farmhouse Restaurant opened in the spring of 2009 with a VIP Reception to which I was pleased to be invited as a guest of honour and pose for pictures in front of Mama's Portrait with Mama's descendants and owners Bruce Johnson and Melinda (left) and Kelly and Jonathan Wimmer (right).

Mama was a Great Great Grandmother instead of just someone's Mother. Through the knowledge of Mathematics and the talents and skills of my artwork, I was able to bring her back and deliver her to a family, but it is important to remember that nothing can replace an original photograph of a loved one. I might be able to substitute a Mother's photograph but nothing can take a Mother's place.

    Today, on this Mother's Day Sunday, get out the camera, take lots of photographs and know that each and every day henceforth you can say......I remember Mama.
    My daughter, Tania Renae, is, at this very moment, on a plane returning home from a visit to a friend in British Columbia. She has already phoned with her best wishes for my good day and says her appearance tonight, loaded with hugs, will be my special Mother's Day gift after her absence. I couldn't ask for anything more.
    To my mother, Betty Ives, in Ontario, Canada, and to all Mother's, and Mother's to Be everywhere, I wish you all an equally joyous Happy Mother's Day. Here's hoping your day is filled with sunshine, laughter and lots of family with camera's.

Click here

to view more about the Opening Reception
of Mama's Farmhouse Restaurant
and see more of the artwork of Kathryn Rutherford

Grandfather Stayed Too Long At The Fair

2010-05-02T13:22:00.004-04:00

"Oh, Dear, what could the matter be?
Dear, Dear, what could the matter be?
Oh, Dear, what could the matter be?
Johnny's too long at the Fair."

Traditional nursery rhyme
traced back to 1780's England

    Many of the customers who arrive at my Heirloom Art Studio for fine art or restoration services are deeply involved in genealogical research. They are often desperately seeking duplicates or restorations of photographic images of past generations which they, themselves, own or which they have begged, borrowed (and, believe it or not, sometimes.......stolen) from other family members.
    Anyone involved in historic or genealogy research can attest that information, as well as photographs, often turn up at the oddest times and are sometimes found in the strangest places. You just never know when that one break in your research will happen. This posting is about just one of those unique (if not fortuitous) occasions for one of my clients.
    The phone call to the Studio began like any other with one of the eventual questions about my services: Could I duplicate a Tintype? My immediate answer was, "Absolutely", but I was cautiously suspicious about the item because the general public is often not knowledgeable about photographic history and tends to label any photographic image appearing on metal as a Tintype.
    When the customer stated her metal photograph was nailed to a three-quarter inch thick wooden block, my suspicions were becoming increasingly confirmed that she did not have a Tintype in her possession. I asked if the photograph had a black or copper base. Her answer confirmed my thoughts.
    "The metal looks like copper," the lady replied "but, it's the strangest thing....when you turn the photograph sideways the image looks like a negative."   Aha! This is definitely NOT a Tintype and I proceeded to explain that most likely (sight unseen) she was holding a Photogravure plate adhered to a block of wood for the purpose of printing an image most likely on a press. As to any restoration or reproduction, I instructed the woman to bring the piece into the Studio for evaluation and further discussion.
    Throughout early history, books and manuscripts were mostly religious texts. These were painstakingly reproduced by hand. A picture comes to mind of selfless Monks sitting on hard benches in cold, monastic rooms, hovering over handmade papers for days on end, elegantly adding decorative touches to ornate letters in order to reproduce scripture and text.
    The main method used to reproduce photographic images and textual thoughts in mass production remained, for much of history, woodblock printing. Skilled artists would carve reverse images in the surface of wood which would then be hand inked using a roller and hand pressed onto paper. This was a detailed, but still labour intensive way to create multiple images and the only way to produce a portrait image.
    Around 1040, the first known movable type system for reproducing text was created out of porcelain pieces, in China, by Bi Sheng. Sheng used clay letter characters, which broke easily, but by 1298 AD, Wang Zhen had carved a more durable type from wood and developed a complex system of revolving tables and number-association with written Chinese characters that made typesetting and printing much more efficient.
    Beginning in approximately 1436, Johannes Gutenberg and partner, Andreas Heilmann, owner of a paper mill, began work on the first version of the printing press. Around 1450, in Europe, Gutenberg introduced what is universally regarded as an independent invention of movable type.
    Movable type is the system of printing and typography using movable pieces of metal type, made by casting from matrices struck by letter punches. Movable type allowed for much more flexible processes than hand copying or block printing. Gutenberg was the first to create his type pieces from an alloy of lead, tin and antimony – the same components still used today.
    Compared to woodblock printing, movable type page setting was quicker and more durable. The metal type pieces were sturdier and the lettering more uniform, leading to standardized typography and fonts. The high quality and relatively low price of the Gutenberg Bible (1455) established the superiority of movable type and printing presses rapidly spread across Europe and later all around the world. Today, practically all movable type printing (if it is still used in this digital age) ultimately derives from Gutenberg's movable type printing press, which is often regarded as the most important invention of the second millennium.
    Photogravure, however, is an intaglio printing or photo-mechanical process. A copper plate is coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive. The image is then etched, resulting in a high quality plate which, when printed, can reproduce all the detail and continuous tones of a photograph.
    The etched image is made up of small depressions in the surface of the printing plate. The cells are filled with ink via a roller and the excess ink is scraped off the surface of the plate with a blade. A rubber-covered roller presses paper onto the surface of the plate and into contact with the ink within the etched cells.
    The earliest forms of Photogravure were developed in the 1830s by the original pioneers of photography itself, Henry Fox Talbot in England and Nicéphore Niépce in France. They were seeking a means to make prints that would not fade, by creating photographic images on plates that could then be etched. The etched plates could then be printed using a traditional printing press. These early images were among the first photographs, pre-dating daguerreotypes and the later wet-collodion photographic processes like glass Ambrotypes. Fox Talbot worked on extending the process in the 1850s and patented it in 1852 under the name "photographic engraving" and 1858 as "photoglyphic engraving".
    Photogravure, in its mature form, was developed in 1878 by a Czech painter, Karel Klíč, who built on Talbot's research. This process, the one still in use today, is called the Talbot-Klič process.
    It is relatively easy to identify a Photogravure print. Printed images have warm blacks which often appear soft but, register an amazing range of subtle gray shades. The unique tonal range comes from Photogravure's variable depth of etch, that is, the shadows are etched many times deeper than the highlights. Unlike half-tone processes which merely vary the size of dots to distinguish light areas from dark, the actual quantity and depth of ink wells are varied in a Photogravure plate and are often blended into a smooth tone by the printing process.
    Look at the print with a good magnifying glass, and you will see a characteristic honeycomb appearance. This is caused by the grid used in the printing process to etch the plate. The dark areas will often seem pitted.
    Because of its high quality and richness, Photogravure was used for both original fine art prints and for photo-reproduction of works from other media such as painting reproduction. Due to the high cost of the metal used in the process, expensive and exquisite books of art produced using this method are often referred to as Copper Plate editions.
    Photogravure is distinguished from Rotogravure in that Photogravure uses a flat copper plate etched rather deeply and printed by hand, while in Rotogravure, as the name implies, a rotary cylinder is only lightly etched and it is a factory printing process for newspapers, magazines, and packaging.
    Here is an odd fact: In France the correct term for Photogravure is Héliogravure, while the French term Photogravure refers to ANY photo-based etching technique.
    Gravure printing is/was usually used for long, high-quality print runs such as books, magazines, mail-order catalogues, packaging, and printing onto fabric and wallpaper. It was also used for printing postage stamps.
    But, what of the image in question belonging to our Studio customer? The woman from the phone call arrived at the Studio and produced her photographic plate. The image was, indeed, a Photogravure plate of copper attached to a block of wood by short, large headed nails. You can see the exact block in the photograph above. The black ink stains on the wood confirmed that it was created for printing purposes.
    I provided the woman with a brief outline of the purpose and method of creating her possession, then asked if she knew the man in the portrait or how she had acquired the antiquated piece.
    "Well, that's a funny story," the woman responded. "I am tracing my family history. I have been searching for a photograph of my Grandfather but couldn't find one anywhere and no one in the family seems to have one. He was a very prominent man in Knoxville, Tennessee, where I live."
    "One day," she continued "I decided to check out a flea market at the local fair grounds. I was rummaging through a box of stuff in a particular person's booth and picked up this unusual item. I had no idea what it was but, it looked like a weird photograph. When I turned it over, there was my Grandfather's name!!!"
    Sure enough, the woman turned over the piece for me to view and there, neatly inscribed in fancy pencil script, was the full name and address of her Grandfather. What an incredible find!
    The woman simply had to purchase the block and was fortunate enough to obtain it for a mere five dollars. Had she informed the seller of what importance the piece was to her family history or if either had known what the item really was, I am certain the final purchase price would have been exceedingly more. Ignorance is sometimes bliss and I usually caution my listeners to ere on the side of the unknown when transacting any such purchase.
    As for my contributing services, I provided the lady with two types of reproduction. Using traditional printing tools and methods, I inked the plate and printed a one-of-a-kind fine art Intaglio print on acid free, fine art paper suitable for framing. I then went into the darkroom and photographed the plate, produced a negative which I reversed, restored and printed in multiple enlargements for all the family members.
    The final task was to approximately date the photograph and send the woman on her way to the Knoxville News-Sentinel Newspaper.   The objective there would be to see what could be obtained in the morgue (the proper name for newspaper archives) in respect to any story publicized about this Grandfather who had gone missing so long ago.
    Several days later the woman phoned to give me an excited report. The newspaper had located the published story about her Grandfather complete with a photograph printed from the Photogravure plate now in the family's possession.   It seems that Grandfather had been presented with some award for which he displayed, in the photograph, a pin which was only vaguely discernible on the lapel of his suit.   The newspaper supplied the woman with a copy of the article and photograph from their files and Grandfather's image and accolades were once again back home and proudly added to the family history.
    An interesting note is that, nowadays, the Photogravure and other antiquated printing processes are undergoing something of a revival.   As computer and laser technology have driven down the cost of producing the metal printing plates, these machines have opened up many interesting, innovative uses for the process of Photogravure, or photo etching as it sometimes called these days. As digital reproduction becomes more readily available to the public, fine artists and craftsmen are turning back to the specialty processes where their artwork and images are becoming highly praised, valued and sold as more exclusive fine art and decorative creations. Hmmm....what goes around, comes around, eh.
    As for the moral of today's story...the next time you are digging through someone else's pile of junk you just never now what, or who, you are going to discover. It might not be Johnny who stayed too long at the fair, but who would figure your own Grandfather might follow in his footsteps only to come home more than eighty years after he disappeared. Better late than never, I believe.

The Tattered Photograph

2010-04-25T15:24:00.004-04:00

Walter Maison Ives

June 29, 1899 - September 5, 1963

Greetings everyone!
For this posting I thought I might leave you with a more unique thought.

     I have an astounding quirk of personality in that I can often be found proclaiming that I would never consider doing something more than once any more than I would devote the rest of my life to a particular artistic style or technique to which I have recently been introduced. This proclamation often leaves me humbled before my friends, family and peers when I find myself continuing with anything I've learned years after so profoundly verbalizing my first opinion of disdain.
     One of these statements takes me back to the late 1970's when I was first introduced to the fields of photographic and fine art restoration. I was studying photographic retouching at Winona, the Professional Photographers of America School of Photography, now located in Atlanta, Georgia. Under the direction of the world renown artisan and photographer, Helen Yancy, I was being instructed to use my artistic abilities and an airbrush to photographically, and flawlessly, alter, enhance and restore photographs.
     I had never before used an airbrush as an artistic instrument and found myself struggling to control the variable capabilities of the unfamiliar tool. As the week's instruction went on and my battle to conquer this new instruction continued I heard myself saying, "If you think I would do this for a living you are out of your mind".

     Long pause............

     Here it is in the twenty-first century and I have spent every day of the past thirty-one years (among other specialties) restoring, altering and duplicating photographs. As I built an internationally known business of fine art and restoration services, taught at home and internationally and built my reputation up to become one of the top eight artisans in the portrait, photographic and restoration fields, I have chewed and eaten every word of my so long ago uttered statement not once, but many times over.
     I once said I couldn't see myself doing photographic restoration or alteration work for a living yet, looking back, I cannot think of anything more rewarding both financially and, more important, emotionally.
     Even though there is a digital airbrush in there for those who choose to use it, the computer now takes the place of many of the old photographic art and darkroom techniques. It gives a person the capabilities to do some of the retouching and restoration work themselves that was previously only supplied by specialists in the field. Many photographers remove their subject's loose hairs, blemishes, add interesting backgrounds, text and special effects to the photographs they capture and I no longer have to face stacks and stacks of the kind of work I once supplied to photographers and clients in seventeen countries around the world. I can now concentrate on the work required of a craftsman (or woman) and restore original photographs and paintings, duplicate historic and aged photographs with old world darkroom techniques and create artistic works where portraits, backgrounds, alterations or restorations could only be achieved because of my personal talents and skills.
     Regardless of the medium, equipment or tool, I am returning to my customers a one of a kind work of art that is near and dear to their heart that could be created by no other. My work is artistically unique and, as such, will be cherished for many generations yet to come because it Brings Back Memories Of Another Time.
     So much of my work is emotional. Tears of remembrances and hugs of joy often accompany the time I spend in consultation with my clients. This is the happiness and contentment I get from my work and, today, I would like to express some of that emotion surrounding my work by posting the following verse. This poem was written by a fellow member of the Professional Photographers of America and printed earlier in the January 1986 Professional Photographs Magazine. These words express the range of emotion that is derived by the work that myself, and those in my industry, derive from working with treasured images of our customer's past. One couldn't ask for anything more than to be rewarded by their work and truly fulfilled by it when the day is done.

THE TATTERED PHOTOGRAPH
by Marty Ricard M. Photog Cr., CPP
1993

She sat before me, wrinkled, gray
   A tear upon her cheek.
Her head was bowed, her eyes cast down,
   She could barely speak.

Her Husband of a half a century
Had taken glory's path.
Now all she had were memories
   And one tattered photograph.

She looked up with beggar's eyes
   And asked so tenderly,
Can you repair this photograph?
   It means the world to me.

For fifty years I felt his touch.
   Now deaths torn us apart.
This photograph is all I have
   To ease the aching of my heart.

I fixed the cracks across the face
   And brightened up his eye.
And when she saw the photograph
   She could only cry.

How much? She sobbed, it matters not.
   I'll pay any fee.
I said, I only want a smile,
   That's good enough for me.

She squeezed my hand and paid her bill
   And in a solemn tone,
She said, My husband's picture
   Is the dearest thing I own.

The months slipped by so swiftly.
   I saw her now and then.
And every time she took my hand
   She paid her bill again.

Then, one day she passed away
   And I went to say good bye.
But, when I saw her lying there
   I couldn't help but cry.

A gentle smile adorned her lips
   But, on her lifeless breast,
They had placed that precious photograph
   ...It was her last request.

Stocks and bonds and diamond rings
   She left to fade away.
She only took the dearest thing
   On this, her final day.

Yes, she took that portrait with
   her into eternity.
And with that special photograph
   Went a tiny part of me.

And each of us must ne'er forget
   Who share this precious craft
That wondrous thread of golden love
   We weave into each photograph.

The Strangers In The Box

2010-04-18T14:34:00.005-04:00

"Strangers In The Box"

I have mentioned in the past how fortunate I am to come from a family that saved what seemed to be meaningless items of the time, but items that turned out to be of the most treasured value in recording my family's heritage.

One of the most cherished of all the possessions passed down to me was my Great Grandfather's Ditty Box.

Great Grandfather, Edward Francis Ives, began his younger years as a ship's carpenter. I think of him almost every day in my Heirloom Art Studio as I have many of his hand tools which I use daily in my work. I particularly love his small hand drill. This scaled, precision instrument I use every time I frame artwork and am required to make tiny, accurate drill holes in the back of picture frames to hold screws for hanging mechanisms.

Frank (or E.F. as he often signed his name) worked his way up through the ranks until he became a licensed sailing Captain on the Great Lakes, particularly on the Canadian side of Lake Erie.

A Ditty Box acts as a sailor's strongbox for personal possessions. Above you will see Great Grandfather's box and notice the hand painted trees and corner decorations in black paint. No one recalls who painted the decoration but, as I have many small drawings of ships on the water drawn by Frank himself, I prefer to believe the decoration was personally painted by my ancestor. As an artist, myself, it makes me feel closer to this man whom I feel so drawn to, yet, never knew.

The Ditty Box was given to me when I was eight years old and held many records of my family's past. Inside were hand-written letters dating back to 1820, original photographs in pristine condition, deeds, land agreements, court documents, sales receipts, newspaper clippings and much, much more. So much history placed carefully inside a simple wooden container less than twelve inches wide.

The collection dated back to the days of my Great Great Grandparents, Francis Edward and Angeline Ives (seen side by side in the upper right photograph in the image above). Francis Ives kept everything written on paper he deemed important to remember and thus passed the collection down through subsequent generations who added more and more to the contents as the years passed.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have this collection in that it tracks my family's history in personal and descriptive details most genealogists could only hope to find. Without even going to official records or archives, my family is recorded back six generations and the people and places to which they traveled or lived are described in such detail as to make them more than just a group of unknown people with names and dates. These family members have come alive in both photograph and written word. I feel so honoured and privileged to own such a collection that makes my past and my family real persons.

Alas......not all family's are as fortunate. A quick glance at the newsstand offerings or television show schedules reveals that others desperately seek answers to their past. Because of the demand for answers and information, the internet is filled with sites and locations for genealogical research and cities, libraries and associations are being asked to get their records digitized and/or online for ease of research.

When people neglect to write and record their history the past is forgotten and information is lost. One thinks the most mundane information isn't important enough to write down or that, surely, future generations will remember everything that was told to them but, this simply isn't true.

While exhibiting my restoration services at an Italian Heritage Conference, in Canada, in 2009, my good friend, Henrietta, was speaking to a group of attendees trying to impress upon them the importance of submitting their family histories to her Italian research project. The group was resistant to the suggestion that it was important to record each and every family's memories and histories. Several claimed, "I know who I am and my children don't care about the information."

With that statement, Henri calmly and emphatically stated, "You're absolutely right. You're children don't care. You're not recording your history for your children, you are preserving it for your Grandchildren and future generations. It is them who will care and who will need to know who they are and where they came from." Wow! Truer words were never spoken.

It seems that everything skips a generation. During the Depression (the first one!) families had to scrimp and save, make their own clothes, construct their own quilts, put up fruit preserves, smoke meats and more. I'm not old enough to have lived through the Depression, but growing up, year after year I, myself, was expected to help can vegetables, cook relishes, pack pickles and stuff the freezer full of cut corn and other necessities to get my parents and siblings through another single winter to the next growing season.

I can't recall how many times have I heard people state that their lives were filled with such demands they would never place the same expectations on their children or that their children took no interest in their parent's pursuits be it demands or pleasures. I never made this claim myself but, I suppose I am guilty of it's train of thought. Although I did teach my daughter how to sew, she can no more make jam than she could knit a sweater or use my table saw. It just didn't seem important to pass on these skills to her and she showed little interest in what I knew how to do in some areas.

My mother, Betty Ives, is a world renown quilting instructor and has spent most of her career teaching young (and older) woman how to quilt. These are woman who's Grandmothers quilted but, who's mothers were never given the information because it was not a necessity and they could just as easily purchase a blanket at a department store as they could invest in fabrics and hours of time to make something to keep them warm. The quilting technique and skill was lost only to be desired by that third generation.

You're not doing it for your children, you are doing it for your Grandchildren!

With that thought in mind, and another reminder to write down information and save it for those who come after you, let me leave you with the following poem. It is something I have had in my collection of writings for some time and, unfortunately, cannot claim to know it's author or origin. It is, however, a most remarkable and heartfelt piece of literature which I wish to share with you all.

The Strangers In The Box

Come, look with me inside this drawer,

In this box I've often seen,

At the pictures, black and white

Faces proud, still, serene.

I wish I knew the people,

These strangers in the box,

Their names and all their memories

Are lost among my socks.

I wonder what their lives were like,

How did they spend their days?

What about their special times?

I'll never know their ways.

If only someone had taken time

To tell who, what, where, or when,

These faces of my heritage

Would come to life again.

Could this become the fate

Of the pictures we take today?

The faces and the memories

Some to pass away?

Make time to save your stories,

Seize the opportunity when it knocks,

Or someday you and yours could be......

The strangers in the box.

Things Go Better With COKE

2010-04-11T14:47:00.002-04:00

"Things Go Better With Coke"
1963 Coca-Cola Product Advertising Slogan

    The first Coca-Cola recipe was formulated in the mid-eighteen hundreds at the Eagle Drug and Chemical Company, a drugstore in Columbus, Georgia by John Pemberton, originally as a coca wine called Pemberton's French Wine Cocoa.
    In 1886, when the City of Atlanta and surrounding Fulton County passed prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a non-alcoholic version of the French Wine Cola.
    The first sales were at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886. It was initially sold for five cents a glass at soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at that time due to the belief that carbonated water was good for the health. About nine servings of the soft drink were sold each day and sales for that first year added up to a total of about fifty-dollars. The ironic thing about sales was that it had cost John Pemberton over seventy dollars in expenses to produce the product. The first year of Coca-Cola sales were, for the times, at a huge loss.
    Until 1905, Coke concentrate, or Coke syrup, was marketed and sold as a patented over-the-counter medical tonic containing extracts of cocaine as well as the caffeine-rich kola nut. The product was touted as a remedy for nausea or mildly upset stomach. Pemberton claimed it cured many diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and.....oh, wow.....impotence. The product could just take care of it all!
    The original 1886 advertising slogan was a simple "Drink Coca-Cola". Subsequent years produced many of the most well remembered slogans and ad campaigns as any product ever produced.
    Isn't this interesting? Certainly, but, what does an international passion with a soft drink have to do with any possible subject that could be posted here? An even better question: why is there an image of the Fayette, Alabama Courthouse shown in conjunction with the all too famous beverage?
    The answer to all these questions goes back to a customer's phone call to the Heirloom Art Studio wayyyyy back in 1999.
    In the fall of that year I received a phone call from an Alabama gentleman that had been on the hunt for a photographic restoration artist and conservator that had the skills he needed to help with a very historic project.
    It seemed the man had recently purchased an early nineteen hundreds home and made the most fabulous discovery inside it that would require my expertise and special handling.
    While searching the attic of his new home, the gentleman had discovered what he thought were broken and scratched shards of glass between the support beams of the attic's roof. Collecting the fogged and dusty pieces of glass from their long time resting place he discovered, upon closer inspection, that there seemed to be blackened images of people, places and buildings upon one side of the glass.
    Spreading the damaged glass out under lit conditions, the pieces revealed a collection of 8"x10" glass negatives in various states of scratched or broken condition. Of particularly historic importance were two of the negatives which led him to seek out my services as one of the remaining persons still printing glass negatives in the darkroom.
    To the man's eye, these particular negatives appeared to be the 1911 dedication of the Fayette, Alabama Courthouse. The year 2000 approach of the next Millennium was expected to bring a re-dedication of the City's Historic Courthouse. If proven to be, in fact, authentic images of the original dedication, the gentleman wished to have the negatives printed and restored for presentation to the City of Fayette upon their upcoming celebration of the building and the City.
    After giving explicit instructions as to how to pack and ship the negatives to my Studio, I hit the research trail to see what I could discover about the original construction of the Courthouse.
    It seemed that this was the second Courthouse to be built in Fayette, a City named after the Marquis de LaFayette, who helped George Washington fight in the American Revolution. The first Courthouse, as well as most of the City, succumbed to a devastating fire in March 1911. The following newspaper accounts were found in The Montgomery Advertiser as well as a Birmingham, Alabama Newspaper.

    FAYETTE IS ALMOST WIPED OUT BY FIRE.
    LOSSES ARE ESTIMATED AT FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS.
    MANY BUILDING BURNED-Among Those Destroyed Were The New Court House and Jail, New Hotel, Bank Building, Cotton Warehouse and the Masonic Temple.

    Birmingham, Ala., Mar. 24.-Considerable interest was taken in the fire that raged for several hours this morning at Fayette, eighty miles west of here on the Southern Railway, in the heart of the natural gas fields, because of close interests held by Birmingham people in that section and the trade that comes this way.
    The fire started in the drug store of Peters and Young and it spread rapidly from building to building. Three hundred fifty bales of cotton, belonging to one firm alone, were destroyed, besides much other cotton.
    The estimate made this afternoon of the loss by the fire is given at more than $500,000, with less than $150,000 insurance.
    The buildings destroyed included the $40,000 court house and jail, the new hotel, the bank building, Peters and Young’s drug store, Jones Brothers, general merchandise; Fayette Banner office, Masonic Temple, (two stories); Miss Emma Shepherd, millinery store; W. Anderson, jewelry repair store; Smith, Dodson and Company, general merchandise; Walker Bros. & Co., general merchandise; J.R. Robinson, grocery; E. Rose & Co., general merchandise; Knuckles & Walker, general merchandise; Berry Brothers, grocery, City Restaurant; G.T. Hassie & Co., general merchandise; W.M. Cannon, general merchandise; Robertson & Dodd, general merchandise, S.J. Cannon, drug store; Propst Bros., hardware and furniture; Propst Bros., (2-story brick), general merchandise; Farmer’s Warehouse; S.J. Sanders, livery stable; Jeffries Livery stables; eight residences and other buildings.
    Fayette, because of the discoveries of natural gas within a mile and half of the town, has been on a big boom and much building was under way while the population has been on a steady increase. The town is said to have a population of nearly 2,600.
    A report reached Birmingham this morning that the fire started from someone having a lighted match near a leaking gas pipe.
    The people of Fayette exerted every effort to check the blaze, but in vain. The fire raged on the main thoroughfare of the town down Temple Avenue.
    Fayette was established during the Civil War.

    The negatives in question arrived at the Studio and research and dating absolutely confirmed that they were taken on the very day the Fayette, Alabama Courthouse was rebuilt. Although the recorder of the event has still to be determined, the fabulous images showed the dedication day ceremonies as they transpired throughout the day.
    Oh, how I wish that you could all see these photographs up close and in person. The town folk, clothing, children playing, horse and buggy in one image but automobile in the next...........and so forth. The closeup activity is history in itself, although I have yet to figure out why one well dressed woman carries a suitcase up the front walk. Is she heading out of town after the ceremony or is she bringing a wicker basket with the picnic lunch? There is no way to tell.
    While processing and perusing through closeups of the crowd, however, two distinct facts did became abundantly clear.
    First, one cannot help but notice that although everyone in the crowd has turned out in their Sunday best and appears equally attired, the crowd is most definitely segregated. We are, after all, recording an event taking place in the American South, in 1911.
    Where the white residents mingle throughout the front and center of the lawn, the black attendees stand in groups to the right and left of the Courthouse. One close up detail can be seen below. There is even one person sitting in the second from the left, lower window that could possibly also be black.

As a Canadian Citizen, born and raised near where many Civil War Slaves considered the end of their Underground Railway, I can only stare at these negatives and handle their recorded history with both shock and awe. My historically different upbringing has me holding these original pieces of the past with honour and great respect for American History as well as an understanding yet heartbreak for the trials and tribulations of the struggles of its Southern People.
The second, most unique, discovery in these images is that, regardless of the solemnity of the event...................................THINGS REALLY DO GO BETTER WITH COKE!!!!

   Positioned prominently on the lawn of the Courthouse, at the corner of the main roadway and the walk to the Courthouse entrance is the Coke Booth. The banner hung around the stall says: Drink a Bottle of Coca-Cola.
    My husband and I have worked many an hour at charity events operating the Coke booths that the Coca-Cola Company now provides and delivers on wheels with their self-contained, hitched trailers, but, I swear, after so many hours in the darkroom, I honestly thought I was seeing things. I expect to see the ever present bold red Coke signage in contemporary photographs, but while working with such an importantly historic set of negatives I never dreamed of finding this little piece of accompanying humour and historic record captured along side the first historical intent.
    Coca-Cola was first sold in bottles on March 12, 1894.   I checked the company's records for recorded advertising slogans and did not find the one captured in our 1911 negatives. Perhaps the company will now have to amend their history to claim that Alabama vendors had their own advertising slogans.
    It is a wonderfully warm and sunny Sunday and I am about to head outdoors to work in the gardens and spruce up the grounds for spring. But first, I believe it is time for a break and a cold drink. Perhaps you will also feel the same and join me.
            Things go better with Coke. Drink a Bottle of Coca-Cola.
    By the way, the Fayette, Alabama Courthouse negatives were successfully printed, evidence of the broken pieces and the thousands of scratches were removed and enlargements of both of the images were delivered to the Courthouse in time for the year 2000 re-dedication and Millennium Celebrations of the City of Fayette. I have no way of confirming that a Coke booth was present at this second prestigious occasion.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read All About It!

2010-03-28T16:01:00.001-04:00

“One written word is worth a thousand pieces of gold”
Japanese Proverb

This week I made a new friend in the acquaintance of one, Bill Tracy, a recent follower of my blogs. Bill made some wonderful comments and admiration of my writings and referred me to his blog site thinking I might show equal interest in one of his thoughts. His insightful blog entitled "Web Log As Family History" (Seen in its entirety at this link) ponders whether the day and age of internet blogging and web logs may lead to the eventual loss of thousands of words not in other ways recorded.
Bill asks the question: will thoughts and diaries written on the internet be archived for future generations to research and recall or will, with no other written and recorded accounts created, the words of today's people be lost and subsequently forgotten through future time?

    Bill's words got me seriously thinking about the importance of traditional writing, recording names, dates, events, thoughts and family history in methods other than digital or internet postings.
    Of absolute importance to the recording of history, DO identify and label all your photographs. So many generations never labeled or identified their photographs and the identity of the faces and places are now a mystery........and a forgotten shame.
    Absolutely NEVER, however, write on the front or back of photographs in pen! A pencil isn't highly recommended either but, it is better than ink.
    I cannot tell you how many times I have dealt with water and flood damage in a customer's home where stacks of photographs were presented to me stuck to each other. Photographs in this condition can be salvaged, but upon separation, when written upon, usually reveal that the ink on the back of a top photograph transferred to the surface gelatin of another causing permanent damage to the surface of the photograph underneath.
    The archival way to identify photographs is to use a pencil to do any and all recording and second to simply number each photograph and record all details and data about the photograph in an accompanying book or filing system. It is important to write to your heart's content about the people, places and events in each photograph but, do this on a separate location, NOT on the front or back of the photograph.
    Several methods of numbering photographs can be done. You can store each photograph individually in an archival (acid-free) envelop with an assigned number, place the photograph in an archival transparent sleeve which can be identified with an archival attached number sticker or purchase archival albums that contain pages that have strips for writing above, beside or below the photographic sleeve.
    When it comes to identification and retaining information writing is a must.   Just identify and log the photograph and do the recording on accompanying paper, not on the photographs themselves.
    In terms of written record keeping, here is a piece of true history. In times long passed, one of the most formalized of all the occasions of etiquette was the "morning call", which, despite its name, took place between three and six in the afternoon. (Visits before midday were reserved for close acquaintances only.)
    You would never invite another to your home, however often you may have met them elsewhere, until you had first called upon them in a formal manner at their house and they, in return, then wished to visit you. This was a kind of safeguard against expecting any acquaintances to show up which were thought to be undesirable.
    The person making the call would be led to the drawing room while the footman ascertains verbally whether the Master or Mistress of the house was "at home" to receive company. In fashionable circles, it more and more became the custom to dodge the burden of unwanted visitors by being officially "not at home" whenever visits of formality were made.
    Upon finding the homeowners at home, everything about the visit was regulated from the number of buttons expected to be on one's gloves, acceptable and non-acceptable topics of conversation to the menu for food and drink.
    Social conduct then decreed that, following the visit, the appearance of the guest was appropriately recorded in writing by leaving a calling card. An unaccompanied married lady left one calling card of her own and two of her husband's---one of these intended for the man of the house and one for the lady. When leaving cards on behalf of her husband, the wife left those on the silver tray or basket on the hall table, never on the drawing-room table where she left hers.
    Calling cards have long since evolved into the company business card with less restrictions of social behavior. My point in bringing this item to mind, however, is to point out that one's presence was, at this time in history, recorded. Although calling cards were pre-printed in masses, the names of guests were forever left at the door to be saved as a remembrance of people's presence.
    In another entry I spoke about the myriad of items my ancestors saved. One of the many items I inherited was an album of calling cards. These records ranged from simple cards of names in hand-written script to ornate paper and aluminum embossed cutouts that were lifted to reveal the pre-printed name of the caller. I show a number of examples of such items from my personal collection below.

    Imagine holding the name card of your own ancestors. Holding a very object that not only identified the family that came before you but, was actually handed out by them in hopes that others would remember and record their presence and visit.
    If it were not for the written word on paper or card, these people and their names may have been lost forever. I can say that these calling cards revealed many a missing ancestor in the puzzle of my family as did they reveal many middle names and initials since it was important in the past to formally use one's full name when making a call.   What treasures!
    In the absence of discovering a collection of calling cards, imagine looking for signatures. Assuming your ancestors could write, at the very least, search for anything they signed. A simple thing, but as you attempt to locate a photograph of each member of your family imagine how much additional insight and information you could learn by matching their signatures with their images. Just imagine seeing a signature of every family member who influenced, or was responsible for, your life.
    Here are some of my family members.

Finally, let us discuss the importance of the written word in full paragraph and prose.
Again, I have spoken about all the letters my family wrote back and forth to each other and, all of which, my Great Great Grandfather kept. My collection of letters date back to 1820 and I might draw your attention to one of the more poignant from Margret Ives Deeds to one of her brothers, but asks to have the letter passed on to brother, Francis Edward Ives, my Great Great Grandfather. Margret writes about the death of her husband, David, and the letter reads as follows:

    Mapleton, Kansas    August 24, 1877
    Dear Brother and Sister
    I take my pen in hand to let you know that I am still in the land of the living although it seems
    to be my lot to see hardships and trouble in this world.
    David killed himself on the fourth of August. I watched him all summer. I left him about one
    hour and had the gun hid but he found it and he went about two hundred yards from the house
    and he shot himself through the heart.   He shot himself about noon. I did not find him till on
    the 5th about sundown.
    I have a farm, two spam of horses and four head of cattle, 16 sheep, 20 head of hogs.
    I would like to know if you have seen Thomas or what you can do.
    I would like to have you send this letter on to Francis.
    I want you to write to me all about how things are.
    I do not feel like letter writing any more at this time.
    Yours respectively.
    We have it very dry here this summer.
    Margret Deeds

    This letter tells of a tragedy, no doubt, (including that very important, and necessary, farming report about the weather) but wouldn't it be worse if this hand written piece of history were never written down, never saved and never passed down to generations to come afterward?   Without this single piece of actual writing on paper no one alive today would have known how David Deeds ended his time on this Earth.
    I tracked down descendants of Margret and David Deeds in the mid-western United States and can attest to the fact that, until the letters found in my Great Grandfather's Ship Captain's ditty box were handed to me and transcribed, not one other family member knew anything about David except his birth date. No one had left a record about him or his method of passing. Only the written word handed down to me has kept this information alive.
    Truly more tragic than this letter is another, written three years earlier, where Margret writes home to tell her family that her despondent 17 year old son also shoots himself through the heart this time.   Imagine a Mother's overwhelming sadness but, I, alone, had the information in my possession and, again, only the actual hand written but, aged papers, keeps my family alive.
    I am looking for the missing grave locations of five brothers and sisters who passed away at young ages in the mid 1800's. No one thought to write down where the precious children were laid to rest----not even the government. Nothing was written down, I cannot locate their graves and nothing remains of their existence. What a shame.
    Alas, now we have web logs, internet blogs, chat rooms, bulletin boards and email all of which produce quick and immediately viewing, but do these musings have any permanence? I have read some of the most profound thoughts on the internet, but fear that some day these thoughts and words will vanish from view. Will they be archived in some vast repository able to be searched by title and author in generations to come? In answer to Bill Tracy's query, I am seriously doubting it.
    I was seventeen, in the mid 1970's when I went off to university in another country. Long distance phone calling was reserved for a once a month major expense. Letters written and sent throught the Post Office were the only things that kept my family and friends informed of my activities and my presence. Little did I know at the time, my parents kept every item I wrote to them as a record of my adventures and advancement toward my future in arts and education.
    As I became faced with the out of country university departure of my own daughter, Tania, in the year 2000, the internet had become one with our lives. Although daily contact and Instant Messaging had taken the trauma out of Mother/Daughter separation my Mother knew, I felt a loss of permanence in that so much of my child's learning and adventures would never be remembered beyond its initial reading. I began to print out each and every computer contact and conversation between us and preserve it forever in a book.
    Many years after she graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Digital Animation I was attempting to bring Tania's attention to a particular matter and parallel her current experiences with an event in her days at University. Her bemused look was only followed by the single comment, "I don't remember that".   I stood without speaking, retrieved the now overstuffed binder of dated pages from it's place of honour in the top shelf of my book case and handed the book to her saying, "Perhaps you'd better read this."    She was overjoyed to recall what, until that time, had been the best years of her life.
    A mother remembers many things forgotten by others over time. Some things about her life and the lives of her husband, children and extended family are just worth remembering and worth writing down. This latest written addition was just an accounting of a young girl's journey into the world, a memoir of her self-discovery and growth, but names, dates and details are worth remembering by all.
    History only becomes history (right or wrong) because it is written down, recorded and filed for safekeeping and passed on to the next generation. History, of all kinds, is worth remembering.
    Do I think everything talked about on the internet will be retrievable information by future generations? Not really.
    One written word is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Write it on paper and pass it on for all to read. It will become a treasure with priceless value.

To emphasize my point about the written word I would like to point out the bottom of a legal document from July 24, 1857. The transaction involves my Great Great Grandfather, Francis Ives and his Brother In-Law, the above discussed David Deeds. Notice that by the statement "David Deeds his mark" followed by the appropriately placed X, indicates that David Deeds cannot write and is incapable of placing his signature upon the legal document. An attestation that he makes his mark (that of an X) is all that our David is capable of doing.
Only by the hand writings of his wife do later generations of David's family know about his fateful demise, yet the man, himself, could not place even his own name onto paper and could leave us no written words.

Treasure in a Box

2010-03-21T20:03:00.002-04:00

“A box without hinges, key, or lid,

yet golden treasure inside is hid.”

J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings

    The first photograph, a Dagguerreotype, was introduced in 1839, (Read "Living History" for a great Daguerreotype story) but, in the two decades that followed, photographic experimenters had energetically sought a less expensive and cumbersome way of capturing a photographic image. Almost simultaneously the Ambrotype and Tintype were born.
    The tintype process was first described by Adolphe-Alexandre Martin in France, in 1853, and patented in the United States on February 19, 1856 by Hamilton Smith, a professor at Kenyon College, in Ohio. First called Melainotype, and then Ferrotype (by a rival manufacturer of the iron plates used) the name Tintype eventually took prominence although all three names describe both the process and the resulting photograph equally.
    Where the Ambrotype process consists of pouring a light sensitive mixture of collodion (silver nitrate) over a small plate of glass, a Tintype is made by coating an iron plate (hence ferro) with the light sensitive collodion silver mixture. The backs of the tintype were lacquered to protect the exposed metal from rust and oxidation.
    A Tintype can easily be distinguished from other metallic photographs because the iron support of the Tintype will attract a magnet. This test is helpful if you are presented with a photograph under glass within a case. The copper in a Daguerreotype does not attract a magnet, an Ambrotype has a glass support and only the Tintype will attract the magnet.
     The Tintype's image is technically negative but, because of the black background, it appears as a positive. Since the Tintype itself was placed inside the camera and delivered as the final print, most Tintype images appear reversed (left to right) from reality. Some cameras were fitted with mirrors or a 45-degree prism to reverse, and thus correct, the image, while other photographers would photograph the reversed tintype to produce a properly oriented image. Many photographers, however, simply delivered the reversed photograph to the customer to save time and expense.
    Failure to recognize this possible reversal has led to many false assumptions. Many of my customers have been heard to say, "Look, Grandmother isn't wearing a wedding ring. This photograph must have been taken before she was married." On the contrary, with the photograph reversed, Grandmother certainly was wed with the important ring placed clearly on the left hand, but appearing reversed in this image.
    I have often had my attention drawn to articles written about the western outlaw, Billy the Kid, whose famous photograph of him holding the barrel of a rifle, by means of reversal, has many assuming that he is left-handed. Perhaps not.
    Unlike the singly created images of Ambrotypes, Tintypes were usually produced in multiples at a single sitting. A multiple lens camera, with up to twelve or sixteen lenses, was used to produce multiple images on a single plate for efficiency and easy distribution to family and friends. The metal used to support the Tintype image was actually iron and, according to one story, they came to be popularly known as Tintypes because of the tin shears used to separate the individual photographs.
    Tintypes came in full-plate, half-plate, quarter-plate, and one-sixth plate sizes. The most common size was approximately two and one-quarter by three and one-half inches.
    A photographer could prepare, expose, develop, and varnish a tintype plate of several photographs in a few minutes, quickly having them ready for delivery to a customer only a short while after taking the subject's picture. As a result, the Tintype was inexpensive, opening photography to an even wider audience and had one of the longest periods of popularity of any early type of photograph. They were very popular with Civil War soldiers because it was less likely to break than the fragile glass Ambrotype or delicate silver-coated copper Daguerreotype. They could also be slipped into an envelope and sent through the mail.
    In 1863, tiny portraits seven-eights by one inch (about the size of a small postage stamp) debuted with the invention of the Wing Multiplying Camera. They were popularized under the trade name "Little Gems" and Gem Galleries flourished until about 1890, when the introduction of the family commercial camera made it no longer necessary to visit a studio that specialized in the tiny likenesses or card photographs. The Gem image brought the price for a photograph to an all time low.
    Most photographers were required to offer a versatile range of services, products and image types in order to stay in business. Gem portraits were stored in special albums that held one image per page. Larger albums were made that held several of the small images per page, perhaps holding as many as a hundred portraits in one album. Gems were cut to fit lockets, cufflinks, tiepins, rings and even garter clasps. As with those of us today wishing to stay in business, photographers had to become creative and offer unique and varied products to support their studios.
    Several types of Tintypes were popular throughout their life. The earliest ones are stamped "Neff's Melainotype Pat 19 Feb 56" along one edge. The black iron support is of a heavier weight than later Tintypes which are about 0.017 of an inch.
    Tintypes of the Civil War period (1861-1865) are primarily sized one-sixth and one-fourth plate. Often, Civil War era images are datable by the Potter's Patent paper folders in which they were placed. These folders, introduced during that period, were adorned with patriotic stars and emblems. After 1863, the paper holders were embossed with their designs rather than printed.
    A tax on all photographs sold in the United States from 1 September 1864 to 1 Aug 1866 required the application of a revenue stamp. Continuous photographers canceled the stamp by writing their initials and the day's date on the face of the stamp. The canceled tax stamps may be found adhered to the back of an image case or an uncased Tintype. I have yet to find one of these stamps, but, boy, am I still looking!!
    Brown or chocolate Tintype images had a brief period of popularity from 1870 to 1885. In 1870, the Phenix Plate Co. began making plates with a chocolate-tinted surface. It was said in a period journal that these specialty Tintypes, "created a sensation among the photographers throughout the country, and the pictures made on the chocolate-tinted surface soon became the rage".
    In the 1870s, the "rustic" theme also made its debut in studio photography offering painted backgrounds, fake stones, wood fences and rural props. Chairs and tables were made of whole or cut logs, floor rugs and table drapes were of animal hides and the log cabin look became popularized. It wasn't uncommon to see entire furniture or props made of steer horn. Lovely, eh!
    Tintypes saw limited success in Europe, but were commonplace in American homes for decades. From 1875 to 1930 photographers continued the Tintype business in what is known as the Carnival Period in the Twentieth Century. These itinerant Tintypists set up studio tents at public gatherings, such as fairs and carnivals. They came equipped with painted backdrops of Niagara Falls, the beach, boats and other novelty props for comic portraits. Other Tintype galleries operated on the popular boardwalks at beach resorts.
    Early Tintypes were placed in the leather or plastic (thermomolded) cases which had been used for Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes. Some Tintypes were delivered loose in just the gilt frames to reduce costs or, as the Tintype customer demanded lower prices, the cases were dropped altogether in favor of paper folders. Now, instead of a glass cover, the Tintype image was given a quick coat of Japan Black Lacquer (varnish) to protect the image and any applied tints of colour and slipped into a paper folder with a mat opening to view the photograph. These paper mats did not fare well over time and very few of them remain with their accompanied Tintype, either being discarded by their owner or disintegrating throughout the years.
    The Tintype held on for so long because it was the only type of instant photography available or the time. Itinerant Tintype photographers worked the back roads and county fairs and the process appealed to the street photographer who was able to set up business without much capital and very little time needed to produce the final product for the customer.
    The average price, from the inception of the Tintype process, in 1856, until its fadeout in the 1930's, was ten to twenty-five cents for an image about the size of a playing card. Smaller Tintypes sold for a penny or less, making photography universally available to the working class as photographers spread out over the countryside.
    Tintypes frequently were carelessly trimmed when separating the individual images from the whole plate. This is partly because the case or envelope would cover the edges of the image and care was not necessary. They usually had their corners clipped either to prevent sharp edges from tearing the paper folders, injuring the client or to indicate in which direction the plate would be loaded into the camera in the darkroom.
    Very often the tintype image was tinted, giving it a more lifelike quality than the monochrome image could offer. Tints were added to cheeks and lips and jewelry and buttons were often accented with gold leaf paint. People were still not ready to accept a photograph for what it was and wanted it to have colour and imitate a painting. Many miniature painters left their dying portrait trade to become photographic colorists as the photography industry grew.
    Compared with other photographic processes of the time, the Tintype tones seem, to some, flat and uninteresting. I don't agree with this claim as I find the detail and depth of field of properly exposed Tintypes absolutely superb and captivating.
    They were, however, often made by unskilled photographers and their quality was variable from image to image. Though it is true that Tintypes are now considered artistically painted examples of decorative arts placed in well-crafted decorative frames, Tintypes were widely considered cheap and artless by many photographers. Hmmmmm........
    So, all these details about Tintypes and so far, no story! I know what you are thinking, get on with the good stuff.
    Well, one of the things I most enjoy is scouring yard sales, thrift shops and antique marts for troves of treasures that are missed by others but become absolutely priceless additions to my collections. While everyone else is pondering the price of beds, tables and dishware, I am digging through dusty books, cluttered boxes and peering through the lower shelves of glass cases for that one item stashed away from prominent sight and possible sale.
    I mostly look for photographs and postcards that display rare locations, unusual subject matter, fantastic clothing, wonderful backgrounds and props or a single photographic process with which I can educate and teach. Such was the mission the day I stumbled upon a the offerings of a local second hand shop.
    The dealer obviously traded in photographic imagery but, much to my dismay, had little regard for the history and importance of the pieces to which he had laid claim. There, before me, strewn across a dirty table were stacks of velvet photograph albums stripped bare of their contents and tagged with outrageously overpriced sales tickets. Boxes and boxes of carelessly packed photographs were all around the shelves marked by size from twenty-five cents to one dollar each. Clearly, the dealer put more emphasis on the empty, worn albums than he did on the individuals who images shared that enclosure.
    An immediate look through the first of the images clearly indicated that the faces in all these photographs shared their lives in some aspect or another. The photographer's marks, studio names, towns and cities put all these people in the same places and photographed by the same photographers. It broke my heart to think that by stripping these albums of their contents, the dealer had separated connections and lives. I wanted to scoop up the entire collection, hold the images close to my heart and whisper, "It's ok, I'll keep you together forever".
    Alas, even at the modest prices posted I would be unable to afford to rescue this forgotten history in its entirety.
    Overwhelmed by the thought of choosing one image over another, I spied the tiniest treasure. Wedged between two wrappings of newspaper there lay a golden find. I spotted a Tintype in an embossed paper folder. I was rich!!!!   But, wait.....
    This was no ordinary Tintype. Not only was it inside the collector's dream of the pale pink and gold embossed paper folder but, it was a brown Tintype. Be still my heart!   I had never spied a brown tintype until that moment.
    Further still, the cheeks of this subject were toned in delicate pink and I certainly hoped the photographer had first positioned a soft cushion on that rustic log chair on which my prim and proper lady could sit. This image had all the earmarks of collectible history and she was definitely coming home with me.
    I was still reeling from the rarity of my find when I bent down and pulled a shabby box of photographs out from under a table half hidden by a ragged tablecloth. A few more images were drawn to my attention and I was just about to slide the box back into its hiding place when I caught my finger on something sharp at the bottom of the stack. Withdrawing the object I couldn't believe my eyes when, there, I beheld the duplicate image of my diminutive lady. Only the slightly bent corner on which I had caught my finger and the scarring on the right hand side of the second Tintype could tell the twin photographs apart.

    What looked like a large pale scratch was actually caused by chemicals in the development process or a poor coating of the silver emulsion when the photographic plate was made. The two photographs were identical right down to the divided background paper and the edge of the table leg captured at the far left. The images had been cut and separated exactly through the middle of the repeated table detail.
    There were no more boxes of images through which to search and I was disheartened to admit that finding any more identical images would be impossible. The rarity of finding these two together in one place would have to be treasure enough for the day.
    So....photographers widely considered Tintypes cheap and artless, eh. Oh, I can't begin to believe that for one single moment. Regardless of what photographers felt of them at the time they are priceless recordings of wonderful images. Tintypes are truly significant in that they made photography available to working classes and not just to the more well-to-do. Up until the time of their invention, the taking of a portrait had been more of a special event but, from the introduction of tintypes onward, we see more photographs, of more people, in more relaxed, spontaneous poses.
    Simply by nature of an image being placed on metal, these photographs survived throughout the decades better than any others often suffering little, if any, damage throughout the years. They have survived more often and can certainly be magnificently duplicated and restored if necessary. (Go to my website to see an award-winning process I developed to restore blackened tintypes.)
    I went home from my shopping excursion sad that I was unable to rescue all the stacks of photographs I'd encountered that day and keep their lives together, but my discovery of a box without hinges or lid truly revealed a golden treasure I had found inside. There could have been as many as ten or fourteen more identical photographs produced the day my lady sat for her picture, but from here on, thanks to my discovery of the box, these two copies of her image will forever remain together. They are a treasure and will never be separated again.

    Since we have been discussing Tintypes, I couldn't resist the opportunity to post the one and only existing photographic Tintype of my family.
    Behold, here are my Mother's Grandparents, Sarah Jane Sinclair and William Edward Stevenson who were married the 25th of December, 1895. These absolutely proper (and rather wealthy as their lives progressed) family members were first generation Canadian born and lived in and around the small towns and villages of Fingal and St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada on the Northern shore of Lake Erie.
    Notice how poorly the Tintype has been cut, an obvious indication of a photographer with less than perfection on his mind. The exposure is somewhat weak (as photography skills go) and the wrinkles in the background paper show obvious use in setup and dismantle.
    You probably cannot see by the resolution of this tiny internet image that William obviously could not stand still and moved. There are actually two of his right ears and a faint showing of two images of his head on his right side. Exposures were so slow at this time that any movement recorded as blurring or as multiple recorded images. (I love to see horses trotting across an old photograph as they look like a stampede of ghostly animals.)
    With all its imperfections, though, I simply love this photograph. Knowing what I do about these people and the process that created the image I can only smile and giggle. You see, all of the later family photographs from this branch are professionally taken by the highest standards of professional photography. In them, both Sarah Jane and William and each of their five children are dressed in their best, poses are upright and proud and each of the original photographs were framed and stored to archival standards so that they passed down undamaged through generations to my hands.
    Not one of the later photographs dared to have a single imperfection yet this one has many. I believe I know why.
    Remembering that Tintypes were most often reversals, notice that William wears a flower boutonniere on his right lapel. This, according to proper rules of etiquette, is on the wrong side of the jacket. This photograph is reversed.
    Sarah Jane is wearing an 1890's "Walking Suit" with waist length jacket, wide lapels and "Rag o Mutton" sleeves---large ballooned shoulders and tight arms. Her high, ruffled neck blouse with the ruffles and button down front goes with the outfit as if it were designed from a fashion plate of the that very day.
    William wears a plaid jacket (you probably can't see) and a wide silk tie with small shirt collar. He is current in the 1890's fashion as well.
    The place in which this family lived is along the lake shore and, to this day, there still remains a summer resort town with quaint shops along a boardwalk, tourist attractions and.........photographers.
    Knowing that William and Sarah were married on Christmas Day 1895, it isn't much of a stretch of the imagination to believe that this very photograph was either taken as their wedding photograph or taken, perhaps, the following summer down by the lake shore.
    As time passed, and William's income and standing in the community grew, I can only imagine how he might insist that all future photographs of himself and his family be absolutely perfect and of the best quality. As for a young man and woman just starting out in 1895, a quick and inexpensive Tintype by the lake is as good as it gets.

Don't worry Granddad William, it just doesn't get any better than this for me.

HOWDY, Neighbor!

2010-03-14T18:43:00.023-04:00

As man draws nearer to the stars,
why should he not also draw nearer to his neighbor?
Lyndon B. Johnson
36th President of the United States

    Although I currently reside in the United States, I was born and raised in Canada. Explorers and homesteaders were making their mark on the history of that part of the globe as early as the arrival of Viking ships upon the eastern shores, but by world standards Canada is comparatively young having only adopted its status as a Country in 1867.
    When I was eight years old my father presented me with two of the most glorious treasures of my Canadian past. He turned over to me a hand-written genealogy of our family tree and an old, weathered, wooden box.
    The family tree was written down by my father as his father lay dying from lung cancer when I was only five. Everything my Grandfather could remember about the names, dates and places of the Ives family, of Canada, was carefully recorded and now laid out before me.
    The primitive box, it was explained, was the personal possession of my Great Grandfather, a much beloved Captain of ships on North America's Great Lakes. The item was called a "ditty box" and acted as a nineteen century stronghold for important papers and possessions of sailing men. The ditty box, to my father's knowledge, had not been opened for more than fifty years except to add additional items to the collection inside.
    As Daddy called out the names and dates of previously unheard of ancestors from the family tree, I opened the ditty box and beheld a collection of perfectly preserved documents, deeds, photographs, newspaper clippings and items of seemingly ordinary importance when collected, but which had, over the years, become historical treasures. The letters, alone, from one family member to another dated as far back as 1820.
    It seems my Great Great Grandfather had saved every piece of paper and receipt that crossed his hands and my Great Grandfather had had the foresight to place the items, along with everything he deemed important from his time on Earth, into his seaman's chest. Five generations of day to day history, dating back to 1795, had just been handed down to me.
    Canada was not even a Country for another seventy-two years, yet my ancestors were living in that place. Here was the history of their lives and the land in which they lived placed into my hands for safekeeping.

Thus, began my love of family history and my fascination, dedication to and electrifying excitement of historical and genealogical research.
At future times I will tell more about the extraordinary contents of the ditty box as the items inside relate to other topics, but for now we have to turn our attention to YOUR family history.

    With the advent of the internet, family history research has become somewhat less of a torment. For the most part, gone are the days of driving to faraway cities and towns and sifting through dusty rooms of decaying records. It could be that an agency or association has gotten to those documents and already photographed them for public display and, hopefully, easy internet access saving you all the hard work. With the advent of the internet and email, genealogical research is much easier than it was not so long ago.
    Before we proceed, I simply must interject an important caution about researching your family history online. RECORD everything you discover, PROVE everything you find and never take the WRITTEN WORD as proof!! Just because someone puts a family history online does not make it absolutely true. Mistakes and errors can be made and misinformation is often plentiful.
    When dealing with old documents and records remember that spellings and dates were often recorded incorrectly, written phonetically or given verbally to someone who didn't have the faintest idea how to spell the word or name.

    Another person's version of the truth may not be your version and it is possible to find as many documents to prove both ways as it is to discover a third or fourth spelling of a name.   Family histories and documents are not always correct (either intentionally or by simple error). As the saying goes, take everything with a grain of salt.
    Having descended from my soap box, let us now continue with our subject......
    With a lifetime of genealogical research into my own family behind me and more than thirty years of restoring photographs and oil paintings and creating original portraits and storytelling paintings of the families of others, I am often consulted by clients to help with the research of their family's past. When their search dead ends the prevailing question to me is, "Where do I look now?"
    There are several possibilities, but here is a suggestion that very few would even consider. Head on over to the neighbors!
    If your family resided in the same house for some time chances are the neighborhood families were interconnected. The children played together, families attended cookouts and lazy afternoons in each other's yards and the lives of your ancestors intertwined with those of people living close by. At some point, somebody pulled out the camera and ordered everyone to, "Say Cheese".
    Long ago, I gave up counting how many photographs have come into the studio where the current owner of the image claims their ancestor appears in the photograph on one side or the other, but as the photograph was never labeled or identified, no one knows the identity of the other person, or persons. Someone so obviously important as to pose for a portrait intended to record their friendship for eternity is now at the mercy of my skills to airbrush them out and forever remove them from recorded history.

I purchased the charming photograph above from an antique dealer (something I do quite often to rescue unusual or outstanding images with which I teach or paint). Besides the opportunity to bring to life two angelic girls as a sample of my various restoration techniques, it was the back of the photograph that created the compulsion to buy.

Hand written in a shaky scrawl are the words, "Eugena Wilson and her Girl friend Juley James". BINGO!! I had found something worth more than gold.
It is unknown which of the girls is Eugena and which is Juley, but there is no denying that what we have is the joining of two family histories. Not sisters, cousins or distant relations, but, perhaps, the girl next door.

Did the James family live beside, behind or across the street from the Wilson's or did these little girls play together at school or in the Church grounds after the Sunday picnics?

    Somehow and somewhere the Wilson and James families knew each other and this photograph has captured the ancestry of members of both families.
    How simply tragic it feels to me when a customer requests that I remove an unknown person from their photograph. To eliminate that person and forever fade them from view seems sacrificial when some family out there in the world would give just about anything to locate this person and, perhaps for the first time, behold their face.
    Times have changed. We no longer depend upon our neighbors as we once did. Gone are the days when entire towns pulled together to raise a barn, tend the sick, plant each other's crops or see to it that the poor and old had food on the table or someone to visit.

   Today, some people never venture beyond their own property line and choose not to know even the name of the family next door let alone any details about them.   Many neighbors don't offer a smile or even a consenting nod these days.
    When it comes to genealogical research, however, this simply will not do. Find out where your family lived, who lived next door and get to know the neighbors.
    Instead of asking the neighbors if you can borrow that classic cup of sugar, ask if you can take a peek at their family photographs.   Is there anything written on, or included with, their pictures that would bring your family to life? Is there anyone alive that might remember your family (good or bad), played with your family or have been a treasured friend that forever held on to that single faded photograph in their collection of memories?

    Moral of the story, the next time you are looking at the photograph of the family so proudly posed in front of the house in which they lived, maybe they only had seven children and the young one at the far left was..........the pesky kid that always hung around from next door.
    Family members often lived many miles apart. Friends and neighbors were often closer than family and interacted more in daily events.    Sooner or later somebody got out the camera and captured the moments of ordinary people doing ordinary things.
    The neighbors photographed the people in their family. Those photographs just might include members of your family. Get out there and make friends with the neighbors!

As a side note to this subject:

    I have collected stacks of photographs over the years which I feel compelled to rescue from the clutches of those who wish only to profit from their sale.
    Many of my clients have photographs which do not contain family members and, wishing to put them in the hands of someone who will cherish them, often donate them to me because they know they will remain in loving care.
    I have often thought of posting these photographs online in hopes that the world my find I hold their ancestors in my hands. Hmmmmm, perhaps this should become the subject of another Blog, eh!
    For those searching for their ancestry, however, a fun place to go is www.deadfred.com
    This is an online website of unclaimed photographs in the possession of people who have no other use for the images than to see if they can be shared or returned to their rightful families.
    I stumbled across this site a few years ago and, to my complete amazement, found original photographs of members of my own Ives family posted right there. Many of the images were previously unknown and one is an original of my Great Great Grandparents in 1899, of which, only I own the only other existing copy.
    The website has the capability for the viewer to contact the owner of the posted photographs and negotiate contact and/or a possible trade or purchase.   Just maybe, you'll have such luck as I.
    In the meantime, anyone descending from Eugena Wilson or her girlfriend, Juley James, PLEASE contact me immediately. I have an original photograph I will gladly return to your family album even if my family wasn't their neighbor.

Break The Chains

2010-03-07T15:54:00.004-05:00

"Does feminist mean a large unpleasant
person who'll shout at you or someone
who believes women are human beings"
Margaret Atwood
(Canada's most eminent novelist and poet)

    I am an outstanding photographic darkroom technician, copy photographer and digital printer, but I would never consider myself a professional studio photographer. I wouldn't begin to take a photograph of a model and am definitely without the knowledge and skills practiced by the professional studio photographers of the 1930's and 40's. There is absolutely nothing like the dramatic lighting and intense mood captured in a photograph of the great movie stars and fashion plates from that early era. Those images are, by far, my favourite photographs and why today's discussion relates to just such work.
    It was just an ordinary day when the courier brought the on time deliveries. Nothing unusual was expected as I opened the first package from one of my regular framing clients. I was expecting just another broken photograph to restore, but couldn't have been more incorrect.
    The package contained what appeared to be two folders containing tissue covered photographs. Someone had taken great care to package and present these images indicating that they had to be special and, quite obviously, original.
    The quality, exceptional lighting, pose and detail of the photographs took my breath away and so did the imagery itself. I couldn't wait to tear into the accompanying letter and documentation that came with the package to learn more about what I beheld.
    It seemed that the framer's customer had come into possession of these photographs upon the recent passing of her mother who was an in-demand New York lingerie model in the 1930's and 40's. Behold, the images delivered to my studio for duplication were of the mother in two of her successful model shoots of the late 1930's.
    Gartered stockings, chiffon lingerie and sensuously soft folds in curtains seemed only remotely suggestive for the time period as they were accentuated by the dark and lights of the dramatic scene, with sensitivity and capabilities of the photographer. But, what of the imagery of the second photograph with it's chained and manacled female encased in a sun bathed doorway? This image suggested more than I could fathom taking place in the 1930's. I read on through the documentation until it all made perfect sense.
    Our questionable image was a product advertisement entitled "BREAK THE CHAINS". It was photographed specifically for.....are you ready for this?.......a TAMPAX commercial !!!
    Our lingerie lady, and quite obviously the manufacturers of Tampax, were bold and, as evidenced by this photograph, quite brazen feminists. Tampax enjoys its fame from having sold the first tampon with an applicator in 1936, patented previously by Dr. Earle Haas.
    The following information comes from the booklet "Small Wonder: How Tambrands Began, Prospered and Grew." There is no date on the booklet, but was probably published in the middle 1980s to celebrate Tampax's 50th anniversary.
    Dr. Haas was born in 1888, graduated from the Kansas City College of Osteopathy in 1918 and spent 10 years in Colorado as a country general practitioner before moving to Denver in 1928.
    He originally invented a flexible ring for a contraceptive diaphragm and made $50,000 from selling the patent, then sold real estate and was also the president of a company that manufactured antiseptics.
    Haas, however, wanted to invent something better than the "rags" his wife and other women had to wear. He claimed he got the idea for his tampon from a friend in California who used a sponge in the vagina to absorb menstrual flow and proceeded to develop a plug of cotton inserted by means of two cardboard tubes. How considerate of the Doctor to insist that he didn't want the woman to have to touch the cotton.
    After failing to get people interested in his invention (including the Johnson & Johnson company), on October 16, 1933 he sold the patent and trademark of his invention to a Denver businesswoman, Gertrude Tenderich, for $32,000.
    Gertrude started the Tampax Company and was its first president. She was an ambitious German immigrant who made the first Tampax tampons at her home using a sewing machine and Dr. Haas's compression machine. The first product was sold commercially in 1936.
    After selling the rights to the tampon, Dr. Haas continued with his doctor's practice and various other business enterprises. He later regretted selling the rights, but was glad it was successful. He continued to try to improve the product right up until his death in 1981, at the age of 96.
    As a woman, I applaud Dr. Haas' efforts and am certainly grateful that his invention made my life, and the lives of most women more comfortable. In 1969, the London Sunday Times Newspaper named Haas one of the "1000 Makers of the Twentieth Century". It certainly was one of the greatest things made.
    What of our energetic and enterprising Gertrude Tenderich?
    Subsequent research on her has turned up only minor comments and last minute notations that she was President of the Tampax Company. There seems to be no honours, accolades and awards given to this outstanding and visionary woman who changed the flow of feminism and further brought comfort and specialty products to the world of women.
    The photograph before me was a great piece of feminine history. It has it all: outstanding photography, innovative imagery representing a fantastically creative and necessary product, a bold statement and courage for a 1930's era to "Break The Chains".   No one else seems to have said it, so I will..........WAY TO GO GERTRUDE!!

When Is A Photograph NOT A Photograph?

2010-02-28T21:20:00.003-05:00

"Unlike any other visual image a photograph is not

a rendering, an imitation or interpretation of its subject..."

John Berger-English Painter

    If a photograph is not a rendering why, then, are all old photographs covered with pencil and paint and, more importantly, when is an old photograph not a photograph?
    Let us begin this discussion by first determining an important way to tell an old photograph from a drawing. Look closely at our two examples above. Each one comes from the early nineteen-twenties, yet, one is an art enhanced original photograph and the other is a drawing from start to finish. Which one is which?
    The portrait artisans of earlier times were extremely talented! Artists had been responsible for capturing the human likeness as far back as recorded time and their skills were honed until their subjects appeared lifelike and often photographic. Before the invention and affordability of photography to the general public, one depended upon the artist to forever preserve a person's likeness in paint, charcoal and pencil.
    Answer to the question: the image on the top is an original photograph whereas the one on the bottom is a charcoal drawing. Here is what to look for to know the difference.
    During the last half of the twentieth century, most people were familiar with photographs that, when enlarged beyond their negative's capabilities, disintegrated into small dots. Today, using computers, we know photographs are now composed of squares called digital pixels. However, photographs from the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds showed different markings. When they were enlarged, their images broke apart into small "s" shaped squiggles. These lighter coloured markings could mostly be seen in the dark shadows of the cheeks, eyes, nose, neck and possibly dark clothing. Our woman on the top clearly shows these distinct markings of an original photograph.
    The charcoal drawing, beneath, has smooth, blended darks, a sure sign of a work of art. There is no mottling or other spotting in the shadows.

    Another detail in our photograph is that the photograph is "silvering". The right side of the hair detail shows a silvery blue haze. The silver in the surface emulsion is oxidizing and reflecting and the focus of the hair is soft. The left side of the hair is covered with brown paint and distinctly drawn strokes of painted hair can easily be seen.
    As further evidence of a work of art, a classic drawing technique is used on our charcoal portrait. The entire head of hair is covered in dark charcoal and an eraser was used to bring out the highlights and individual hairs. What an outstanding technique to create lifelike hair.
    Most photographs could not be enlarged to fill a wall sized enlargement. Rather than leave a hard square around a person's picture, photographic artisans painted darkened vignettes around the outside edges of the paper using a crude, but effective, airbrush called an atomizer. Watercolour paint was sprayed on photographic edges to make them dark and hide the square edges of the negative where the artist chose to leave the outside edges of the portrait the lighter colour of the paper on which he drew.
    Paint and drawing materials were often added to photographs to complete clothing, hair, variations in backgrounds and faded details. Colour was often added to backgrounds, cheeks and lips as we see here in our enhanced lady. It was not only common, but absolutely necessary, to enhance most old photographs to bring out their details, add colour (especially to jewelry) and enhance them to look their best.
    Many of the early photographs I see brought to the Studio have been damaged by people who unknowingly try to clean these images using a cloth and water. Intentions are good, but as this artwork is usually water based paint and drawing materials cleaning any photograph should best be left to experts.
    I would like to point out a final aspect about the charcoal drawing. Notice that there appears to be a second shoulder drawn out of the woman's chin line. This is the exact position that a shoulder line would naturally appear in a three quarter posed subject. However, this woman is rather heavy set and by placing her shoulder line higher up into her head she would look, for lack of a better term, fat. By dropping her shoulders down and elongating her neck the artist has taken ten to twenty pounds off the woman and used an artistic trait of flattery.
    As a portrait artist I have used this form of flattery several times and thank the artist for his sensitivity. I certainly appreciate it as this woman is my Great Grandmother and my Father's side of the family is heavy set. Both my daughter and I get our genetics directly from this female line.
    As to why the artist didn't erase, or better hide, his artistic change, I cannot say. I am only thankful that upon close inspection of the work his name, studio and Toronto, Canada address can be found hand signed in the lower right hand corner of the work. This, and the matching portrait of her husband, were commissioned and drawn on the couple's honeymoon. They were drawn directly from the original wedding photographs taken of their marriage union. I have both original photographs and original charcoal drawings. Side by side they are astonishingly alike.
    Are images original photographs with art enhancements or are they artistic masterpieces? Look for the signs and you will now be able to tell a photograph from a superbly executed rendering.

More Than a Bathroom Necessity

2010-02-21T22:34:00.006-05:00

"A photograph is usually looked at----Seldom looked into."

Ansel Adams

    One of my regular customers always brings in the most interesting photographic images for duplication and restoration. Images from the Civil War, college graduations from the 1930's and even ancestral trips to the far East. One never knows what this man might bring in on any given day.
    The image above arrived at the Heirloom Art Studio as a tiny record of a Great Grandfather's hunting camp. No more than three inches across and faded almost to single values of beige and gray, the photograph needed to be copied and restored to bring back the contrast and detail and enlarged greatly in order to adequately view the people, place and things within the scene. Accomplishing this task is what I do best and would be no particular problem to present my customer with an excellent image he could study and display for future generations.
    Before I began my work, however, the client asked if I could help identify the age of the photograph.
    The paper and silvered emulsion surface of the original photograph was of little help since this particular paper process covered far too many years to isolate this image to a specific decade.
    Dating photographs by the contents is the next clue. Woman's clothing is easier to identify than men's wear because styles and hem lengths, throughout time, tended to change approximately every ten years. However, we have no woman in this photograph.
    As these gentlemen are not in formal wear where jacket lapels and tie widths would give immediate clues to age, little could be deduced looking at the original photograph because of its size and condition. I would have to head for the camera and darkroom to begin the restoration process and see what an enlargement of the image might bring to view for more clues to date the photograph.
    What the client really needed to know was whether the photograph had captured his ancester before or after a particular event in his life. Was the photograph from 1875, before the event, or taken around 1880? Well, we shall head for the darkroom and see what develops. Sorry, I couldn't resist saying that!
    Enlarging the photograph and viewing details up close brought forth many discoveries. Very obvious was the dark skinned family servant who was taken along on the hunting trip to prepare meals (and one can only assume beds, boots and whatever else servants were expected to take charge of). At least it seemed the hunting party took part in pulling feathers from the wild game recently shot or did they merely pose with these birds to make the scene look good?
    Tiny signals ranged the photograph but not within the narrow span needed to determine the date my customer was hoping to place the event. THEN.....I spotted the one detail that might lead to a difinitive answer.
    Look closely inside the open flaps of the tent. What do you see? These hunters took the time to pack all the essentials. All the modern conveniences were brought on this trip including.......the rolled toilet paper. AHA!! This could be a great clue.
    Any good recorder of trivial facts knows that bathroom essentials have been around, in one form or another, since ancient times. An expert on trivia might know that Joseph C. Gayetty, of New York, started producing the first packaged toilet paper in the U.S. in 1857. It consisted of pre-moistened flat sheets medicated with aloe and was named "Gayetty’s Medicated Paper". Gayetty's name was printed on every sheet.
    After a quick information search it is learned that rolled and perforated toilet paper, as we are familiar with today, was invented in the late 1870's. Various sources attribute it to the Albany Perforated Wrapping (A.P.W.) Paper Company in 1877, and to the Scott Paper Company in 1879.
    The customer needed to date this photograph of his ancestor either in 1875 or 1880. It had to be taken either before or after certain family events, but which time period. For our gentlemen hunters to have modern rolled toilet paper in their encampment means this photograph could not have been taken in 1875. If this hunting trip took place after a recorded family event, the existence of toilet paper in the image absolutely dates it to 1880.
    Imagine! Toilet paper is the single clue that gives us an exact window to narrow down the date of our unique photograph. It just goes to show that you never know what you'll find in a photograph if you don't look into it.
    On a side note, since trivia has become secondary to today's story, the Scott Paper Company was too embarrassed to put their name on their product. As the concept of toilet paper was a sensitive subject at the time, unlike Gayetty who placed his name on every paper sheet, the Scott Company customized their rolled paper for each of their specific customers.   As such, the famous Waldorf Hotel became a "big name" in toilet paper.

Medical History in Your Family Album

2010-02-14T15:55:00.007-05:00

“All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget."
John Berger-English Painter, b.1926

    Anyone familiar with my fine art paintings knows of the storytelling portraits I create called "Spirit Paintings".
    One of these original oil paintings, created in 2009, was to contain a portrait of myself dreamily gazing out a window toward the blue waters of Lake Erie where I grew up. Ever watchful within the scene would be the ghostly apparitions of my Great Grandparents. As one of the last tall ship captain's on the Great Lakes, one of Great Grandfather's Ships, the Maple Leaf, would appear to sail in the distance.   (You may view this work at: http://www.heirloomartstudio.com/spiritpaintings.html)
    I bring up this particular work of art because little did I know at the time of laying out the composition for this painting that an historical revelation would take place. All my years of restoring and duplicating photographs, all my years of training to know photographic processes and memorize production dates, to know the ins and outs of photographic details had not prepared me for what I was about to learn next about the history of photography.
    Upon completing my painting, "Oh, To Be Sailing", I emailed my friend Henrietta photographs of both the final painting and the individual photographs that were the subjects of the painting. I've spoken about Henri before as my genealogical partner but not mentioned that Henri's career expertise is as a highly trained Nurse and Administrator.   It is not uncommon for me to direct the odd medical query to my friend, but I have now learned that her expertise in the medical field has opened a new aspect of photographic research and data for both myself and my clients. The family album has become a visual record of one's family medical history!!
    Upon receiving the emailed photographs of my newest painting and ancestors Henri immediately emailed me back and asked the following question, "What do you know about your Great Grandmother's medical history?"
    The only answer I could give at the time was that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer, had a breast removed at Harper Hospital in Detroit, Michigan and died one month from the day of the operation on May 20, 1923 at the age of 48.     Through letters, autographs, photographs, data, and historical accounts I knew everything about Anna Barbara's birth in Switzerland, her arrival in Canada, her love for the stern, but handsome, ship Captain Frank, but knew only her cause of death and nothing else about the medical history of this lovely woman who was long since gone. All my years of research and I had never thought to ask medical questions about my family.
    Henri referred to one of the research photographs and proceeded to direct my attention to the hand and fingers of my beloved ancestor. She asked if I noticed the triangular and enlarged shape of her knuckles and the misshapen form of her fingers. Having just completed my painting, I admitted that this malformation had immediately struck me as inconsistent with my life drawing training, but as I was painting a vision of my ancestors and not a photographic depiction I had merely questioned the odd anatomy and pushed the thought to the back of my mind.
    Henri continued to explain that this misshapen hand showed distinct symptoms and traits of Rheumatoid Arthritis.
    "This woman," Henri stated emphatically "must have experienced a great deal of daily pain."
    Good grief! There was a long pause at which time I realized it was time to breath. I had so many photographs of my Great Grandmother, so many hand written notes including a love note to her husband shortly after they met and all of her cook books (she was the housekeeper and cook of a private club on Pelee Island in Lake Erie) that I had grown up feeling as if I had known Anna Barbara in real time. Her breast cancer pained me, but learning of her own daily pain with this crippling disease broke my heart.
    Anna Barbara was only twenty-six in the photograph I had used for the subject of my painting. How terrible to learn how painful her daily routine must have been even at that young age.
    Henri and I discussed the aspects and importance of physical symptoms appearing in the photographs of the family album and what this would mean to my customers when added to my other expertise in dating and identifying historical photographs. I thanked her for this insight and set out on a mission to contact my immediate family with this information.
    Phone calls and emails went out to close and distant family relations to inquire about the medical aspects of what I had just been given as well as any other pertinent information I could gather.
    Yes, my eighty-six year old father did remember that his paternal Grandmother's side of the family did suffer from extreme arthritis.
    My ninety-seven year old Great Aunt is alive and well and as sharp of mind than most of those half her age. She has always been just Aunt Frances to me and as an active part of my life rarely brings to mind the fact that she is actually one generation removed from me and the daughter of our Great Grandmother in question. It stood to reason that although Aunt Frances was only ten years old at the time of her mother's death surely she would remember her physical condition. I planned a visit home to Canada to meet with her to ask questions and study photographs.
    In the meantime, I headed into the photographic darkroom with a collection of photographs and eighty year old negatives that I had, until this time, not yet restored or had time to print. There is time to do customer work, but never enough hours in a day to follow the personal pursuits of my own.
    A badly faded photograph subjected to ultraviolet light and special darkroom techniques brought back the intense image of my Grandfather, Great Grandmother and Great Great Grandmother. Look at the hands on Anna Schmid shown above. Regally sits the mother of my painting's subject with crippled hands and the distinct enlarged knuckles Henri had just pointed out as important to my genetic history.
    My visit with Aunt Frances not only confirmed everything that was appearing before me, but she additionally informed me that Anna Barbara's older sister was badly crippled by arthritis. Her feet were contorted inward so badly they hung diagonally making it difficult for her to walk.
    It seems, as a young teenager, my Grandfather (the child in the photograph above and Aunt Frances' older brother) took sections of old tires and layered them diagonally to the bottoms of Aunt Lena's shoes so that although her feet were diagonal, the soles of her shoes walked the ground flat making it possible for her to live a full and long life well into old age.
    My father has arthritis in his shoulders, but as it is not Rheumatoid Arthritis, says it is just a little hindrance to enjoying another day at his age.
    As an artist I am aware of every ache and pain that arises in my body, but greatly relieved to have it confirmed that most of my ailments are from spending so many hours at the easel or drawing on the computer tablet without taking the necessary breaks my physician warns are necessary. My genetic family history has been noted but, given the pain and agony I have since learned comes with RA, I arise thankful each morning that an ordinary aspirin will conquer any aches and pains that currently plague my body.
    As an additional thought on this subject I would like to add one last example to stress the importance of searching your family photographs. While printing that batch of negatives I mentioned I was astonished to find forgotten images of people attending a family wedding. I recognized only half of the faces peering out at me and who was the jovial looking man in the wheelchair with.....only one leg?
    After conferring with my father, I learned that this well dressed figure was none other than Uncle Alphonso Allan or "Uncle Tuggy" as I had grown up to know him. He passed away just before I was born and I had only seen photographs of him as a young man. This one-legged gentleman was an ancestor?
    It was no secret that diabetes ran rampant in my mother's family, but imagine my utter shock when I learned it was there, in my father's side of the family in photographic record before my eyes. Uncle Tuggy suffered so badly with poor circulation, swelling and painful leg disorders as a result of his diabetes that he (and I quote!) told the Doctors to, "Take the damn leg off".   Yikes!   No one bothered to tell me this WHY???
    So, there you have it. The old adage rings true one again, YOU DON'T KNOW IF YOU DON'T ASK. More importantly, you might SEE if you take a look. Good or bad, you never know what medical history you might see when you get out the family photo album.

Lost Grandmother

2010-01-30T17:27:00.002-05:00

"People who don't cherish their elderly have forgotten
whence they came and whither they go."

Ramsey Clark

     In the late 1980’s I was exhibiting my fine art and restoration services at a conservation conference in Baltimore, Maryland when a lady entered my booth clutching a blackened piece of bent and rusted metal. What used to be a treasured image of a female had been reduced, over the years, to a ghostly silhouette highlighted by gold leaf paint over earrings, a broach and a ring. On the back of the metal was etched the date December 1877.
     Having taken the tintype to several other conservators who claimed nothing could be done to bring back the image of this important ancestor, the woman had been referred to me. Because of my fine art and portraiture skills the client hoped that, at the very least, I could visualize enough in the aged metal to draw or paint a portrait of the woman. The family desperately wanted to see what this woman looked like.
     It seemed that the woman in the photograph passed away in 1923 leaving fourteen children. The youngest of these children was my client’s father who would turn eighty years old on his upcoming birthday. Because of the span of years between children and the early century death, no one currently alive had ever seen their Grandmother. This was the only known photograph of her and it was very important to the family to know what she looked like and what the photograph could tell.
     I asked the woman to leave the tintype with me so I could return to my studio and further investigate options and costs. If she were patient I just might have some ideas.
     A tintype, also called a ferrotype, is a photograph made by creating a direct positive on a sheet of iron metal that has been blackened by paint, lacquer or enamel. No tin in a tintype, but this blackened metal was then coated with a photographic emulsion, placed inside a camera and exposed to light through a lens that would capture a direct image in the silver particles in the emulsion.
     Over time our tintype had been rubbed, scratched and rusted. The right wrist area of the woman was all of the original emulsion left on the surface. Only a latent image remained to be seen in the metal.
     At some point it appeared someone had tried to clean the surface and used a harsh chemical that had dissolved the surface in the process leaving several areas that exposed the bottom black layer of paint. “Above all, do no harm” is a conservator’s mantra, but something not always practiced by well-meaning, but unskilled laymen.
     I prefer not to divulge the process which I developed to bring back this, and other, darkened images, but suffice to say I was able to photograph the metal in a liquid solution that allowed me to focus on the embedded image in the metal rather its surface. Processing the film and dramatically filtering the resulting negatives, I was able to produce a print which could now be restored to its original captured condition. I wouldn’t put the final product on metal, but would be able to supply the family with aged looking fiber base, toned duplicated prints.
     What an exceptional treasure this project turned out to be for more reasons than one.
     Look closely at the images shown above and you will see some definite genealogical features and..... one of the ugliest crocheted neck scarves I have ever come across!
     When I phoned the client to report on the success of pulling a rescued image, I was concerned about the size and manliness of the subject’s hands as well as the proportion and length of the female's torso. My client was shocked that I should question family anatomy.
     She assured me her female family members were not known for dainty traits. Apparently, the eldest daughter of our subject was the first female butcher on the East Coast of the United States during the early 1800’s. Score one for womanhood!!
     Restoration on a work print proceeded by bleaching darkened areas, darkening overexposed details and airbrushing missing pieces of clothing, hair and background. Finally, our lost Grandmother appeared before my eyes. How happy my client would be when I returned an original photographic image to her family history instead of a painted interpretation.
     My client and her entire family were indeed overjoyed. I received a phone call of thanks and gratitude and learned that the restored photograph had arrived just in time to be presented at the recent birthday party. Remember, our lost Grandmother’s youngest child was turning eighty and was the father of my client.
     Not only had a Mother been returned to her Son, but a Grandmother, Aunt and Great Aunt was returned to a family who could not track their photographic history back farther than two generations.
     What really amazed the family was that there were three living female relatives who were exact images of their long since gone relation. Without this restoration, and my ability to present it, no one would have ever seen family resemblances or genetic traits. At the very least it answered the question of where the size and manly features were passed down through generations. It didn’t come from male ancestors it was passed down through females.
     An additional joy on this project came when I entered the work into the Professional Photographers of America annual competition where the world’s finest photographic and artisan images compete for international award and acclaim. Unbeknown to me, my restored Grandmother was submitted for consideration for an outstanding award.
     Traditionally presented to a professional photographer for photographic excellence, the Fuji Masterpiece Award, presented by the Fuji Photo Corporation, is the highest honor given within the photographic industry.
Recognizing an important contribution to the photographic industry, the Fuji Photo Corporation broke with tradition and, for the first time, the Masterpiece Award was presented to an artisan and a process rather than to a photographer taking an image.
     It is overwhelmingly heartfelt to accept thanks and praises from individuals who cherish my talents and work, but what an honor to be recognized by one of the top Corporations for work I do quietly and alone in the privacy of my studio. The Heirloom Art Studio continues to Bring Back Memories of Another Time.

Living History

2010-01-24T19:15:00.006-05:00

“History never looks like history when you are living through it.”

John W. Gardner

Our first tale concerns the oldest photograph ever brought to the Heirloom Art Studio, my fine art and restoration studio.

A customer had phoned stating she had a tintype photograph in her possession that had rusted and required some restoration services. At the appointed hour of her appointment, the woman arrived with nothing apparent in her hands. Following introductions, she reached into her purse and produced a plastic diaper bundle which she began to unfold. She grasped the contents between her fingers as if she were dealing cards and thrust the image toward me.

One look at the precious image and I felt faint. My knees buckled as I had her place the piece of metal across my outstretched palm.

I peered down at something I had, until that time, only read about in books. Written descriptions about the earliest photograph produced on small sterling silver plates with mirrored images that flip from positive to negative is inconceivable until one is actually confronted with the real thing.

In my hand I held a piece of history. It wasn’t a tintype, a commonly mislabeled piece of japanned iron dating between 1853 and later. In front of me I held a Daguerreotype, a photographic image first produced in 1839, but not commonly appearing until the mid to late 1840’s.

Forever captured in the delicate silver mirrored tones of black and plum and peering out at me was the soft image of a motherly woman approaching, or already in, her eightieth years. Fast calculations in my head made a quick determination that I was beholding a person from Colonial time. I was holding an image of my customer’s Great-Great Grandmother!

The surface of the sterling plate showed the telltale markings of oxidation, commonly known as tarnish. Where the varnished surface had come into contact with the air tarnish had appeared most prevalently in an oval shape where a brass mat should have been. My customer’s image was not rusted, merely tarnished naturally over time.

Regaining my composure I proceeded to explain to my customer what she had in her possession. The disappointing news was that previous efforts to remove the tarnish through an electrolytic process had just been declared disastrous by the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Previous methods to treat Daguerreotypes were now showing signs of newly created damage. Until further notice there were no approved methods to treat these images except to protect their delicate surface from harm.

I was about to make recommendations when my customer sheepishly admitted she had taken the photograph out of its frame before bringing it to me. Perhaps, she suggested, she should retrieve the framing materials and have me reassemble the works using archival methods. I agreed this would be in the best interest of preserving the image for future years. A photograph from this time period should have been inside a hinged book-like cover encased by a thin bezel of decorative brass in a sandwich of a decoratively etched brass mat, piece of glass and taped edges intended to keep oxygen from reaching the photographic image on the sterling plate. You’ve all seen these photographic cases in romantic and sentimental movie scenes where characters gaze upon the faces of their loved ones.

I placed the historic image out of harms way and waited for the customer to return with what I expected would be a small handful of framing materials.

My second shock of the day came when my customer returned and required assistance getting an over-sized shadow box, glass and framing materials into the Studio and safely placed upon my work table.

She had not only inexpertly disassembled the Daguerreotype’s individual case, thus endangering the photograph’s surface, but had broken into a shadow box that was created and sealed in 1895 and contained an historical essay about items of historical interest.

The shadow box contained a paper fan with a circular lithographed print of toga-clad woman lounging in an outdoor scene. On either side of the print was hand painted embellishments of ribbons, bows and flowers.

It was customary for every young woman of culture to possess a fan and to personalize them with hand painted decorations, but the written account and my customer’s story were nothing short of breathtaking. The account written in the framing materials is as follows:

“This fan was used by my Grandmother, Susannah McGill, when a child of nine, to fan

her father, Sargeant Henry Hypp, who fell at the Battle of Bunker Hill, while fighting in

the British ranks June 17^th, 1775 but who lived for two days and was buried on Boston

Common.

He was attached to the 43^rd Regiment and was one of the soldiers who climbed the
Heights of Abraham under Gen. Wolfe in 1759.

Grandmother died in 1856_____F.M. Lewis 1895.”

Take a breath!!!!

What my customer did not know was that in times gone by it was popular to pack a picnic lunch, head to a vantage point and......watch the war. The British were known to stop battles in Canada and break for tea with both sides then resume their fighting. War was civilized at least it was until the American Civil War. While crowds sat in buggies and picnicked on the grounds to watch the war, Southern Soldiers broke through the Northern lines and forced their way toward Washington, DC, in a direct path of the spectators. Panic and riot ensued as the civilians desperately tried to return to the safety of their homes and away from the approaching danger. Never again was the public so naive as to consider war a spectator sport.

Things were different, though, in 1775. During the fight for American Independence from Britain our female subject sat and watched her British soldier father fight the Americans and become mortally wounded.

Our tiny photograph of a diminutive woman was of a once living person born in 1766, and only nine years old when she held her dying father’s head in her lap and fanned his face.

History never looks like history when you are living through it, says our quote, yet, here was a recorded account, artifacts and an authentic image of truth and reality. Real people, real lives with a real history.

Using proper archival methods and materials I cleaned the shadow box and its historic contents, repackaged the Daguerreotype and sealed it all in the aged frame to preserve it for the future.

The oldest photograph I had ever handled to date had brought back a small piece of another time and Susannah McGill continues to live in image and memory.

BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING....

2010-01-24T16:20:00.002-05:00

"Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop"

Said the King to the White Rabbit

Lewis Carroll-Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

When the marketing experts began touting the praises of Blogging I not only wondered how I was possibly going to fit this task into my already overloaded schedule, but could not figure what on Earth I was going to say that would be of interest to readers.
Blogging seemed synonymous with “Bleah, Bleah, Bleah”. If I were going to post Blogs what direction of thoughts would I write? What would be so compelling as to attract an audience and add something of interest to their lives? I pondered this thought for weeks until something very profound happened.

On an unscheduled evening, a treasured friend phoned to bring our acquaintance up to date. Since she and I are somewhat collaborating on international genealogical projects, we quickly brought the family news up to date then got down to business discussing photographs, archives, historical data and research.

Excitement and electricity reigned supreme as it usually does when my friend and I are engrossed in conversation. Put the two of us together and our husbands usually run exhausted from the room. My daughter says we are the only two people she knows that can converse for hours of time and still have to email each other because some subject was omitted. So it was with this day’s contact.

That night I slept soundly but awoke far too early. My mind began to wander from one thought to another. It didn’t take long to begin reviewing the earlier conversation I’d had with my friend.

The sun was just beginning to rise when it literally “dawned” on me that I had suddenly found the subject matter for this Blog.

Where my personal life dedicates a great deal of time to my own family history research, my business revolves around the photographic images and lives of my customers and their ancestors. I am a professional fine artist, photographic conservator and restoration artisan. Day in and day out I retouch, restore, enhance and duplicate treasured images of other people and their past.

Where passion is the current word of choice to describe one’s desire, I prefer to consider my work electrifying. Every photograph that comes into the Studio has a story to tell, a mystery to solve and a myriad of questions to resolve. Owners in possession of photographs handed down through generations tend to have little knowledge of an image’s date, origin, construction and often subject matter. Some images are so faded or deteriorated the average person cannot make sense of the jigsaw puzzle effect of the broken pieces still remaining. They certainly have no concept of the level of skills required, skills I possess, which will bring back and preserve their family history for future generations.

With this thought, it comes to light that over the past thirty years I have seen some of the most beautiful photographs and handled some of the most neglected and damaged. With each treasured image there is a story whether it is an investigation into methods of reproduction and restoration, an historical search of setting, clothing and image details or an attempt to pinpoint the genealogy of those peering out at the viewer forever frozen in time.

Throughout this Blog I will bring you some of the more exciting tales and images surrounding my work. Where to begin was not a question. Like the King said to the White Rabbit in Alice and Wonderland, we will begin at the beginning and go until we come to the end.

The most obvious choice for the first story concerns the oldest photograph ever brought to the Studio. We will begin with the start of photographic history and, in fact, the early history of the New World, and move through time and generations of fascinating people, places and events.

I would very much like to thank my dear friend, Henrietta, for sharing my unending enthusiasm for historical and genealogical research and investigation. Special thanks for all of our conversations each of which re-energizes my unending excitement and focus. Thank you, my friend, for phoning and this time reminding me why the sun rises in the morning.

Sit back, grab another cup of coffee or make a lovely cup of tea and read on. We are about to take a journey that will................Bring Back Memories of Another Time.