Saturday, September 15, 2012

Wishing for Better Photographs


As I near the end of the collection of papers and keepsakes of Agnes Tully Stevens, I find myself lingering over those little items that really shouldn’t have been saved—particularly the photographs. These sorry scraps are just that: pieces that long ago should have been tossed. But Agnes kept them—no doubt because her parents did, in some cases—and then her son kept them. And now I am keeping them, too.

There is only one difference, though: when Agnes kept them, she knew what she was keeping. In her son’s case, he could have asked and gotten the answers about these mystery photographs; perhaps he did, but never wrote the answers down. In my case…well, I have no idea. All I’m left with is a strong desire to know who these people are. Which reminds me that I have the deepest desire to have any family pictures of these previous generations with names and faces intact.

So I linger and wonder. And hope that, by digitizing and preserving these faint likenesses, I’ve done my duty to family history and can pass these items on. To the trash can.

I had hoped that, by some Adobe Photoshop magic, I could somehow resurrect these foggy scenes. One snapshot looks like a precursor to a Polaroid that someone got impatient about processing. Others are too faded, or too fuzzy, or too tiny. But each of them has something that makes me wish—to want to know more.

Take this faded snapshot of a young girl, standing. If you can make it out in the gray surroundings, she seems to be standing on a porch, possibly in front of her own home. She wears a simple dress, maybe a plaid, with stockings. She has long hair draped over her shoulders, and is standing with her arms relaxed at her side. Her dark stockings give the hint of a school-girl’s appearance.

Thankfully, this is one of the few photographs actually labeled. The back of the picture reads, “Agnes Tully, about 12 years.”

At one point, I had wondered if this might be a picture of the young Agnes Tully Stevens. I don’t know enough about the technology of photograph production through the years to pinpoint the decade in which this likeness was taken. But I suspect that the subject of this picture was actually her niece. Agnes’ brother William had a daughter, born in 1904, also named Agnes Tully. The younger Agnes would have been twelve in 1916, while her namesake’s twelfth birthday would have dated the photograph as taken at the turn of the century.

Take this other misfortunate photographic error. I don’t know what caused the markings on this picture—and I certainly do wish they hadn’t occurred, for I would have loved to be able to figure out who these four young women were—but judging from their outfits and hair styles, this picture certainly predates the invention of the Polaroid Land Camera. Yet, doesn’t it look like someone got too impatient and pulled the film off its backing too soon?

The photograph is too blurry to determine whether any of the four young women are party to the outing which inspired the next shot. Poor composition on the part of the shutterbug capturing this playful pose leaves the faces of these three women in the shadows. I am not sure what they are all holding, but it looks somewhat like they are returning from a walk to the ice cream parlor. Are those partially-eaten ice cream cones in their hands?

The last picture captures such a joyful vignette that despite its poor quality, I can’t bring myself to toss it. It looks like a picture of two siblings, one barely a toddler. The older sibling has such an exuberant look of joy on his or her face that it brings a smile to my own—and I don’t even know who these people are, or why the youngster has such an open, happy expression. Some people just have a way of radiating joy and infusing others with that same vibrant spirit. Even though this person belongs to an age that has come and gone, I’d still love to be around this one.


So there they are: shadows of my family’s past. Nameless now thanks to those who knew all too well their identities, they remind me that the people, places and stories we now know all too clearly may not survive their own journey into the future. If they are to be remembered, it is we who must become that vehicle of remembrance.

12 comments:

  1. I KNOW these feelings all too well. I have my own collection of strangers that I can't throw away. The girls with the ice cream cones is a photo worth keeping regardless of the need to know because of the progression of expressions. The four girls look like sisters judging by the similarity of foreheads and hairline; the mouths of #2, #3, #4 look alike too.

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    1. Thanks for mentioning that, Wendy. I've been lecturing myself a la "declutter" mode and developing quite a guilty conscience. It's reassuring to know others have those reservations, too.

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  2. I have a similar group of photos and it absolutely pains me. Periodically I pull them out and just stare at the faces, almost willing them to tell me who they are. I look at their facial qualities looking for similarities with other identified individuals and agonize over the fact that I have pictures of people that others loved and valued and I have no idea who they are.

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    1. That's quite an arresting thought: that these are "people that others loved and valued." I wish that importance attached to the memory of these people would have been passed down, too. Not sure we have any way out of this dilemma, either--unless it's the hope that, in revisiting these pictures, as so often happens with documents we find in our research, we see anew and something fresh presents itself to us. I know that's happened to me when looking at old documents I've filed away. Maybe next time, I'll know something more...

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  3. That first photo is most likely from the late 1910..as you suggested..however..the way the top part of her dress is pulled out (pigeon breasted) really bugs me...it could be a clue to a photo around 1900. Sometimes photos answer no questions..they only make more:)

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    1. You know, I hadn't even thought of the pigeon breasted style when I saw that. The scan makes a pretty horrible copy of a pretty horrible original, I know, but when I look at the original, I always took the design of the dress to include a bib or yoke with a ruffle at the bottom. Odd choice of design, true, but that is what it looked like to me. The pigeon breasted look would place this at the earlier date. Although what I can see of the face doesn't seem to look like Agnes Tully Stevens. That's another reason I had opted for the later date. Oh, well, maybe it's just a case of hand-me-downs???

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  4. I recently visited a museum in another state and they had pictures that had been donated of some of my ancestors (they did not keep track of who had donated the pictures). Some of their photos were the same as some of my "unknowns" and some of those photos had names, so it helped me a lot. At the same time, they had copies of some of my photos without names as well and I was able to supply them with the names for those. It gave me a little hope that overtime, I might actually be able to identify more and more.

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    1. What a wonderful find for you! I imagine you were overjoyed! And so nice that you were able to provide the museum with a little more information, yourself.

      With all the online blogs publishing orphan photographs, I keep hoping someone will stumble upon some forsaken cabinet cards of my ancestors and publish them online. Of course, my chances are slim to nil, but I still appreciate what people like Far Side and others are doing with those Forgotten Old Photos.

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  5. The brown photo of the lone girl shows 3 electric door buzzers on the door frame behind her. :) As you know - electric came along in the 1900s.

    The girls in white with the big floppy hats remind me of the Wednesday, July 11, 2012 post "More Hats and Bonnets" - and I don't doubt these are the same "girls".

    The two little boys playing is such an endearing photo! Could this be Frank and Gerry?

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    1. Iggy, you don't miss a thing! I saw those three spots at the door, but didn't think about that.

      I'll have to revisit the hats post. Good thought to keep in mind. I hope someday I'll discover who these people are!

      I naturally also thought about Frank and Gerry--or at least one set of the Stevens brothers--but the photo doesn't give many hints as to time period. Frank and Gerry together would mean a photo post 1930 at least. Hmmm...maybe dating the "stroller" in the background might help...

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  6. Hello again Jacqi..I am reading were you lady struggle to keep ahold of old photos that are very well worn. And not knowing for sure who they are...Well for me I do not have hardly any pics of my family from years before..My family did not pass any down that I can find. And the few I do have are few and far between...There is only 1 that I have that was said to be one family .However we have come to find out they are not that family...But anyways I am relpying not because of me not having pic but because there is a really great blog out there that as thousands of unknown people and maybe you can get help not only finding better family pics but with dating yours...good luck ladys here is the link

    http://forgottenoldphotos.blogspot.com/

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    1. Lisa, thanks so much for the link to that wonderful blog. I follow Forgotten Old Photos, too. Actually, the woman who writes that blog has helped me a lot--she is "Far Side of Fifty" who wrote the comment above. I really appreciate what she is doing with her blog. Glad you are a fan of hers, too!

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