Are these ladies in Mourning?

Absolutely not in mourning. The youngest, who is pointing at someone in the album, is smiling at the woman behind her, who is leaning over the older woman's shoulder to see the album. The youngest and oldest have light trim on their dresses. Plum, brown, red, blue - all photograph as "black" in a B&W picture, and all were popular fabric choices for everyday clothing, because they didn't show the dirt.

 

RE: Figtree's post showing the photo of a classroom (Post #15) --

Oh what beautiful handwriting on the blackboard. It's sad that such handwriting has been lost to the ages, unless, of course, someone practices the art of calligraphy.

 

I still have some handwriting here

 

I certainly agree. Writing that well on a blackboard/chalkboard and in such level lines is not easy. No doubt she had literally years of experience. I tried to read the writing and ID the pictures with little luck on the pics. The first column is on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow with a listing of some of his works such as The Psalm of Life, My Lost Youth, Three Friends of Mine, An April Day, The Reaper and the Flower, Resignation, The Builders, The Ladder of St. Augustine, The Fire of Driftwood, Miles Standish, etc. I can't read the 2nd column. The 3rd column is titled "Plan for Studying." Thinking the pics might relate to Longfellow, I tried to ID them. The top pic is of a multi gabled house or a line of attached houses. Seeing the gables I thought The House of Seven Gables or Longfellow's house. It is neither. I thought the 4th pic down of a heavy set bearded man might be Longfellow himself. It is not him. He had quite a mane of white hair and a fuller white beard. Gee, that pic looks like the notorious, infamous, Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall New York City. Boss Tweed & Longfellow certainly had nothing in common. So much for my sleuthing abilities.

--- Susan

 

The headings on the blackboard are:

Henry W. Longfellow
Marks used in correcting Mss.
Plan for Studying (with a couple of words after that).

Also, I posted this in a Facebook photo collectors group, and somebody said that he thought the heavy-set fellow was possibly Tennyson. Some literary figure, I'm guessing.

Fig

 

Right on, Alfred Lord Tennyson! That is certainly him. There are some similarities.

Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892):


William "Boss" Tweed (1823-1878) of Tammany Hall fame:

 

It's a death photo staged to make your family member look alive, very popular in Victorian times. Some are good, some really creepy. Due to long film exposure times the dead are usually a lot clearer.

 

do u mean the seated woman is dead...?

 

most likely the seated one but I have seen a few with them standing being held up by contraptions and other family members. The sad ones are of young mothers holding deceased babies, you can see a lot of pain on their faces.

 

There is usually a slackness to the face of a sitting dead person that I am not seeing here.
Also, the eyes don't look "dead" wither, nor do they look like they have been painted like they would sometimes do.

And FYI, 99.99% of "standing post mortem" are just the figment of someone's mind.
http://mourningportraits.blogspot.com/p/hoaxes-scams-ebay-optimism.html

http://cabinetofcuriosities.ca/pictures-of-the-dead-the-truth-about-post-mortem-photography/

 

don't know if I agree with the 99.99% (never say never) but would agree that most found for sale would most likely have false statements to hype the sale, especially because of the enormous prices they fetch. The more money to be made the more corruption goes with it. The thing that stands out to me is the sitting lady's expression doesn't fit with the other two. That being said I probably know less than most and what I have posted is opinion only based on almost no facts. I'm more interested in the items in the pics and not the people. I might have a little too much time on my hands today.

 

There are long discussions in some Facebook photo collector groups, many comments from well-known and reputable dealers and collectors... people who are well-known in the field of antique photographs. I tend to believe them. I agree that there is a lot of hype out there. There are a lot of positions that you just would not be able to get a dead person to maintain unless you taxidermized their body (I made that word up). Standing is one of those positions. Sitting erect is another one. Looking alert is also impossible for a dead person.

 

Looking alert can be difficult for live people I know of.

 

i have a magnet that says.
" If you want to see the dead come back to life...
be here at quitting time !!! "

 

: What happens to a catfish head when a redneck leaves it on a fence post, in the hot summer sun.
So your saying Victorian death pictures have never been taken?

 

No, what we are saying is that they plain didn't do standing dead people.
At least, that is what I am saying.

In case folks think this is a "dead' art, there is now a group that does it for parents
of dead/dying newborns.
http://petapixel.com/2014/09/22/photographers-giving-back-now-lay-sleep/
https://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/find-photographers/

I think it is a sweet thing to do. Poor little bitties.

 

seeing those pics makes my heart hurt

 

No, I wasn't saying that.