Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

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Curt A
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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by Curt A »

I think they are all just leaning funny... :roll: :lol: But if it bothers you, a little tweaking in PhotoShop will take it out...
"The phonograph† is not of any commercial value."
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"No one needs a Victrola XX, a Perfected Graphophone Type G, or whatever you call those noisy things."
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marcapra
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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by marcapra »

From my mother's side of the family, I got a photo circa 1893 judging from how old my grandmother looked. She was born in 1881. This photo shows her father and a large extended family of about 20 people and kids from east Texas. The funny thing is they are all barefoot and all of them are holding a BIG slice of watermelon! I told my mother that they all looked like hicks, but she protested saying her grandfather was a very successful farmer who could afford a telephone!

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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by TinfoilPhono »

And....... here it is.

Yes, I ended up buying it. It's just such an unusual image, and a very unusually large one, that I couldn't resist. It looks vastly better in real life than in the eBay photos. The distortion in the auction image disappeared when properly scanned.

Here's a high resolution scan, feel free to download and print. I tweaked it slightly in Photoshop to compensate for fading and restore contrast and depth. Click to enlarge.
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group_adjusted.jpg

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fran604g
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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by fran604g »

TinfoilPhono wrote:And....... here it is.

Yes, I ended up buying it. It's just such an unusual image, and a very unusually large one, that I couldn't resist. It looks vastly better in real life than in the eBay photos. The distortion in the auction image disappeared when properly scanned.

Here's a high resolution scan, feel free to download and print. I tweaked it slightly in Photoshop to compensate for fading and restore contrast and depth. Click to enlarge.
Thank you, Rene.

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travisgreyfox
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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by travisgreyfox »

Thank you for posting. I love these old pics.

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TinfoilPhono
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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by TinfoilPhono »

It's fascinating to study this photo. There are no fewer than 22 people (counting children and one infant), which is a huge crowd. Plus a dog. Everyone is shown razor-sharp -- except the presumed phonograph owner just to the right of the machine, whose glass may have a stronger beverage than others, and who clearly moved during the short exposure.

There are a couple of gentle smiles, and a few more half-smiles, but most people are quite serious. The happiest people are the women at the center right, and the mother at the far left. The man on the far right appears to have traded hats with the woman behind him.

The photographer appears to have chosen to focus on the phonograph. That is super-sharp. The people in front, and behind, are just a tiny bit less clearly focused.

We are left to wonder who these people were. I assume an extended family. The photographer's stamp on the back is from Milwaukee, so this was presumably photographed nearby. What was the occasion? Why do only a few people have drinks (the young boys in back, the blurred man next to the machine, the woman raising her arm at the right, and one man sitting on the ground in front)? And where are the records? Did they haul the machine and horn out to the yard with just the record on the mandrel?

The photographer was very, very good at his craft.

I love old photographs because of these delightful mysteries.

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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by coyote »

TinfoilPhono wrote: The man on the far right appears to have traded hats with the woman behind him.
There are two men wearing women's hats, and at least three women who appear to have men's hats on. Also, is that a blurred glass in the hand of the "man who moved" or something else? It's a great photo, Rene. Congrats!

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Cody K
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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by Cody K »

Rene, I'm so glad that this ended up in your collection, since you're deeply interested not only in phonographs but antique photography as well. I've collected antique photographs, especially group pictures, since I was about 12 and my mother bought a box lot of books at an auction and there was an album of tintypes in it. A few of those were outdoor shots, relatively unusual.

I've always considered outdoor pictures more compelling than the much more common studio shots, because they're less staged and tend to contain more hints as to what may have been going on before and after the very brief moment frozen forever by the click of the shutter. This would be an interesting picture even without the phonograph, what with the widely varied personalities of the people in it, some scowling, some smiling, some lifting a glass (of what?)...but the phonograph takes it over the top.

I love this genre of photographs from the turn of the century that show people taking their phonographs out of the parlor and boating, camping, or just onto the front porch for a portrait with it, like it's a member of the family. I've rarely seen one in which the phonograph is at the very center of a large group. Was the arrival of a phonograph such a big deal in their small town (they do look like rural people, and the setting seems like an orchard) that they all gathered outdoors to hear it for the first time, since not everybody could fit into the parlor? Had they been singing along, dancing around? Or just listening to Parsifal? What wouldn't I give to be a fly at their picnic and see what happened next after the photo was taken and they started moving around again, with actual sound (and in color!). Did the grouchy ones go home, leaving the rest to trade hats and play cylinders until the cows came home?

A picture like this -- rare for both subject matter and size -- says a lot about how people related to their new-fangled phonographs, and how proud they were to have one. It's an important document of the time. Your collection, with your dual interests, is the perfect place to assure its preservation. Congratulations -- and thanks very much for the excellent scan!
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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by TinfoilPhono »

This photo raises all kinds of questions. It's such a large group, for starters. Surely they were family. Or maybe not entirely -- it could include friends and neighbors. What was the occasion? They hired a skilled photographer to document it, and that would not have been cheap. Especially since the photographer made such a large image. Most images I find from that era are no larger than cabinet cards, more often real-photo postcards. This is almost 8x10, and mounted. The occasion evidently warranted the trouble and expense of getting all those people together and making a permanent photographic record.

Not to mention, moving the phonograph outdoors, setting it up, and putting it right in the center. It was clearly an important part of the gathering. Was it the first unveiling of a new purchase? It is certainly the most sharply focused part of the entire image.

And, as you say, it would be magical to know what happened after the click of the shutter, and the photographer left. Did everyone get to raise a glass? It would appear that the young men (or boys) at the back left were raising beer. The presumed owner, the blurry man next to the machine, has a glass with what looks to be a darker liquid. Whisky? Did others partake after the photographer left?

So many questions but no answers.

It really is a pretty wonderful image, a very mysterious hint of what must have been an important moment in all of those people's lives. But, again, why?

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Re: Group Photograph with Phonograph, ca. 1900 on eBay

Post by EarlH »

I showed my grandmother a picture something like this, only they were all standing around a pump organ and she said that often times when something like this (that they considered a major purchase) one of the selling points was to have your picture taken when the thing was delivered. And the family was told ahead of time when it was going to happen because it was a big deal to them. And then the picture or a copy of it was put on display at the store so everyone in town could have a look at it. Kind of an interesting way to do some marketing.

Those "family" pictures in the bubble glass frames were usually part of a magazine subscription or seed purchase. Those were almost always enlarged to a odd size, or cropped strangely so when the guy showed up with your free photograph, you had to buy the frame if you wanted your picture to look right in a frame. Minnie refused to buy the frame for her family picture, so it's in a frame that makes no sense for the way the picture is cropped. She said she wasn't going to pay $2.00 for a 98 cent frame. They did the same thing selling those picture postcards of people out in front of their house. I have a picture postcard of some guy standing on his front porch and his text reads something like "The man that sold us our flower seeds showed up to take the picture he promised and I was the only one home" Ha!

It's a nice picture and it's really nice it's not all faded.

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