Not many photos from the south

Why does it seem like all older (pre 1900) photos come from Tx or up north?
There just doesnt seem to be many from Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina...

 

I never thought about that before. But I live in the north, so I would have thought that is why I see fewer southern ones.

Here is a listing of 19th-century stereoviews depicting scenes in Georgia:
http://antiquephotographics.com/stereoviews/georgia-stereos/

 

Less 'disposable' income available then?

 

Here is a current eBay search in the category of pre-1940 photos, with Alabama in the title of the listing. Since this includes some 20th-century photos you would have to narrow by category of photo on the left, or just look through the 390 items to find the pre-1900 ones:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odk...4.A0.H0.Xalabama.TRS1&_nkw=alabama&_sacat=407

Here is the list of the 13 that they have under Cabinet cards. Of course, not all sellers know what a cabinet card is, but some of these are definitely pre-1900:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/Vintage-Ant...=Cabinet%20Photo&rt=nc&_trksid=p2045573.m1684

 

I do know they exist as I own a few, but for every 1 southern picture I have I have 20 northern ones.

Income I could see.
I didnt know if the technology wasnt as available due to it being more rural

 

Because the Southerners' old/antique photographs are still "in the family" and will (most probably) remain so.

 

Well my family is doing a fine job of hiding them from me then!
There are a lot from about the 40 to present, but before that, nothing that I know of.


My SOs grandmother has a few hanging in her house dating back to when they drew portraits.
Shes a hoarder so there is no telling what shes got stored in there.
Weve tried to help her clean out some, but cant even scratch the surface.
"I cant let that bottle go because I used to rinse so and so off in the tub with it!"

 

Now THAT is laugh-out-loud funny (and sweet/touching at the same time)!!!

 

Of course, I have to take a guess.

I think that after the Civil War, there was a shortage of income, technology, and just about everything. Meanwhile, photos were "coming of age" during the same time frame (say, 1865 to early 1900s), sooooooooooooooooo...

Fewer Southern photos. As for Texas, well, we're just special (native Texan here).

 

Heartily agree with GG, "shortage of income" - disposable income, after the Civil War for decades. First there was the era of Reconstruction (1865-1877). Secondly there was the worldwide depression of the 1870s with the Panic of 1873. Thirdly there was cotton. Before the CW cotton was King, the largest US export. Cotton was the reason Great Britain was rooting for the south. Of course cotton would never have been King without slavery. After the CW with slavery abolish (thank goodness), cotton - the money crop of the south - dropped like a lead balloon. By the end of the Civil War, Great Britain had turned to other suppliers for cotton like India, Egypt and Brazil. Also the advent of the boll weevil (1890s to 1920s) devastated the cotton crop. The South's agriculture wasn't diversified. Probably the greatest help to Southern agriculture was the boll weevil for it forced the South to diversify. Today soybeans, rice, corn for grain, peanuts, etc... with cotton probably still the biggest crop. With all the above money was scarce in the South from the plantation owners, middle class shop owners to the tenant and share choppers with the blacks penniless.

--- Susan

 

Hmmmm....

 

There ya go!

 

I'm guessing the humidity didn't help them any. We have a handful of ancestral photos from the deep South, pre-1900, but they were brought to comparatively dry Washington, D.C. in the early 20th century.

 

Yeah, I bought a velvet lined civil war era case the other day. The photo that was in it was all disintegrated to the point it was little shreds.
Someone mentioned the humidity could have been the cause


I found a relative of mine that doesnt have any decedents, but he has a ton of old family photos.
We are a early Stone Mountain, Ga family. From about the 1840s till the early 2000s.
Hes got all the photographs and last I heard he was going to donate them to the counties history center. Hes in his late 70s early 80s now. He asked if my grandmother and I wouldnt come visit him a few years ago, but she was busy at that point in her life, maybe now shed take the trip..
Ugh! I selfishly would like them to stay with the family rather than sit in the closet of the history center. The county is a really rough part of town now and if the history center ever closes, then what???
Mixed feelings.

 

Sorry, the Dags and Ambros just grabbed the mouse out of my hand and said "Lookkee HERE" ..... ALL SO fascinating to me!!!!!

 

I don't think it's selfish at all. Your family history is most important to the family. Maybe you could convince him to donate a couple of photos to the museum, and distribute the rest to family members who promise to care for them properly and keep them in the family for as long as possible.

 

I would hope that, at the VERY LEAST, he would let you photograph the ones you were most interested in............bring paper with you......write names under each photo of who it is and dates if you can before photographing.......the camera only records generic numbers......