Friday, February 25, 2011

Photo Number 461

I purchased this photo in Park Rapids, Minnesota at an Antique Shop.

 Child on steps PR Antiques

I purchased it because of the little girl with the bow in her hair.  Then I noticed the maid/housekeeper/cook?  in the background.  I never could figure out what the little girl had in her hand.  I guess it will remain a mystery. I have several other photographs with this little girl…it is my impression that they were a well to do family and someone was a photographer and took many photographs. I also think that they lived near Duluth, Minnesota..but that is only a feeling I get when looking at the photos.  I have nothing concrete to base that on.  I think the photos were all taken about 1910.

Thanks for stopping by, do come again:)

9 comments:

  1. hi angie great photol
    I think the item shes holding is a doll as there is a flowing material coming from it .you can see her own dress is different material and hitched up above her knee. I think the thing in her hand that we can see is the back or side of the dolls bonnet. just my guess, lovely photo. The maid looks like shes been working hard look at her apron .

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  2. I agree with "IWASNT...", it appears to be the backside of a doll with a long dress/train. At first I thought it was a milk bottle. :)

    It is very interesting how they posed the woman in the doorway. The doors look confusing too - the white frame appears to have a black door knob while the woman leans on the wooden door's knob on the left. She appears to be standing on the threshold or just outside the door way and is very(!) short.

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  3. My goodness look at her apron! She looks like she had a hard life. Bless her heart.

    The little girl is so darling!

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  4. darling! If the maid wasnt caught in the picture then the family thought enough of her to pose her in the background. That is one cutey!- that little girl.

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  5. What an great photo. I love the composition and juxtaposition between the little girl in her pretty dress and bow and the maid in the shadows behind her.

    I hope you have a lovely weekend. :-)

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  6. Iggy I think the round black thing on the white door frame is a doorbell, not a doorknob.

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  7. Your speculation and our reader comments speak to the magic of old photos like these- looking back and trying to guess things aboutt he people we see in them. Very cool.

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  8. I can't make out what the object she is holding is, even if zooming in. I just wish she was mine to claim :-) Jo

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  9. My mother was a little girl in Minnesota during this same time period. We have a few photos of her and her siblings that were taken by a 'travelling photographer'. Apparently, these photographers would walk through a town and have children pose for them (without their parents' knowledge) with the purpose of taking their photos, then returning later to try to sell them to the childrens' parents. I highly doubt the family had the maid pose with the little girl. My guess is that she was trying to shoo the photographer away.

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Hi, Thanks for the comments, your input on these old photos is appreciated! English only please! All comments will be moderated! Connie