Featured Post Mortem Baby 1927

I bought this at a flea market today. It was more than I usually spend on these things. But, it's the two photos on the back, that made me dig a little deeper. Plus it found a good home.



The people are sad. But, the moving dogs are very cool.

 

Too interesting. Colonial setting. Perhaps @Any Jewelry, can identify where. And what does it read before the date? Is that the location?

Debora

 

The setting is colonial Indonesia, so in the Dutch East Indies.
The lady is wearing the sarong and white kebaya which was worn by nyonyas, colonial ladies. This style dress was worn until the early 1900s, even by ladies who were 100% European.
A sarong and kebaya on a European lady in the 1920s probably meant they lived in an outpost. As part of the "Ethical Politics" of the Dutch government there was pressure from the colonial authorities on European ladies to dress European, and leave this comfortable colonial style dress to indigenous ladies.

 

How very sad.

 

I could never buy those pics!

 

What's the date on the first photo?
The other 2 are from May 25, but the first photo seems to have another month.
2 different babies? Were the 2 on the back taken before the baby died? Or isn't that a day and month before 1927?

 

Those are really sad, but sadder was finding them out in the wild for sale. The smaller ones say May 25, 1927. The one with the clearly dead child says 16 ?April? 1927. That's all I've got.

 

Doesn't it say "25 May 1927"? Or is that "25 Mar 1927"?

Debora

 

It says "25 Mei", which means May 25th.
The Dutch word for March is "Maart", abbreviation "Mrt".

 

Can anyone make out the name of the location?

 

Thank you. You know your stuff.

This is the way people back in the day remembered their loved ones. I have a few. I personally think the woman is the grand mother, she looks to old to have been the mother. She must have been devastated.

The guy selling it was making fun of people who buy things like this. He told me a price. I tried to get him to lower it. Later on, I sent my wife to try to get him to lower it. But, he actually raised the price for her. So, I went back and bought it for the original price. If I wanted to sell it, I could make some money. But, this is a keeper. I have to figure out a way to show both sides. The photos seem to be glued (since 1927) to the page.

I no longer think these are post mortem photos. That must be some sort of set up for taking a photo of a new born, because the date on the large photo is April 16, 1927, and the photos on the back are May 25, 1927. That baby would not look like that if it were passed for over a month.

Well, I screwed up on this. It's still neat.

They're no longer sad. That's a live baby.

 

I'm so relieved! Just didn't want to think about it otherwise.

 

Wonder what happened to the rest of the album. Would/could you post close-up photographs of the captions?

Debora

 

You can sell one as "(nearly) antique photo with two ghost dogs"

 

The first photo could still be a post mortem, if they were twins ...