HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER 4-26-14

Salisbury Photographers

We have all encountered old photographs that cannot be identified. In antique shops they are referred to as “instant relatives”. We all have that shoebox full of old photographs of our relatives that Mom saved. How many people in the pictures are identified on the reverse? Not many, you say? If you have such a box, get it down and put the names on the back. Ask older members of the family to help you with the names.

Over the years there have been many professional photographers in Salisbury. I have located many through old directories and phone books. Many others are identified by either the impression on the cardboard picture frame or by a rubber stamp on the reverse of the photograph. I have identified the following professional photographers in Salisbury through the years, beginning in 1864: Allard, Lawrence, Freeburger, George W. McBriety, Moffett, David S. Lewis, D. J. Gordon, H. W. Rich, J. W. Edwards, P. C. Hunter, Geo. W. Hitchens, Wm. T. Hearn, A. J. Taylor, Wm. Hitchens, The Smith Studio, Mitchell’s Art Studio, Wm. T. Watson, Williams Studio, Mrs. E. M. Hitchens, Leon Sklar, Davis Studios, Photo-lite, Walter Thurston, Jos. W. Brown, Henry Nelson, Jr. and Delmarva Aerial Photo Co. This list only goes up to about 1962. There have been many others since then. This does not include all of the “family photos” taken by individual members of a family. These should also be identified for future generations. Sure, we know who they are, but will your great-grandchildren?

A studio photo posed for by an ancestor can be a family treasure. One that cannot be identified might be frustrating to the researcher who would like to know the identity of the person in the portrait. The early low-speed cameras had to have the subject remain perfectly still for many seconds, if not minutes, to get the portrait. In some of the photos, you can see the rod extending up the back of the subject that facilitated this posture for the length of the sitting.

One of the more gruesome aspects of early photography was the taking of a portrait of a deceased child (like the one pictured above from Mitchell’s Art Studio). Since many children died either in infancy or at birth, the only way to remember them was by a photo. They are poignant to look at and usually have no identification as to who the child was or to what family they belonged.

Some of the real treasures to me are the ones that were made into post cards. Luckily, my mother was great for identifying photos. I have a post card that my grandfather sat for in Cincinnati in 1908 and sent to my grandmother in Salisbury before they were married in 1911. I also have post cards of my mother (born 1912) when she was 3, 6 and 9. Look around. You may have some, too.