Bill Dodge believes one of these young women may be his paternal grandmother after finding it among his father’s belongings. He questions if this image could possibly be from graduation day and whether the girl in the lower right is wearing her nurse cap for graduation photos. I believe each family portrait tells a tale; let’s break this one down piecemeal to discover its message.
Clothing Each woman in this picture was wearing one of her finest dresses, making it relatively straightforward to date it back to 1897 when tight lower sleeves accented by puffy upper sleeves became fashionable – yet you still see signs of an earlier style in this photograph.
Two girls on the right in the back row wear full fabric sleeves popular between 1893 and 1896, while on the young woman’s dress on the lower right features an uncomfortable-looking high starched collar and scarf that recalls a nurse’s cap. If this were a nursing school graduation class, all girls would have worn caps when posing.
Photographer
If you find an imprint with only surname and address information but no first name listed, pay closer attention. Photographers frequently included their initials intertwined as decorative features – W.T. could stand for William Teush in this instance.
By researching his name in US Census records, I discovered Teush had worked as a photographer for decades in New York and New Jersey before transitioning into hotel ownership by 1900.
Dodge may have correctly recognized this image as a school portrait from late 19th-century Europe. I’ve written extensively about similar class pictures during this era; what remains uncertain, however, is whether this photo represents all the girls from one class or simply some select individuals within it.
Who Is Who? Dodge needs another picture of his grandmother to help identify her among this crowd. By comparing the shapes of their eyes, noses, mouths and other features with this image he should be able to pick her out easily from among all of them. I plan to do a follow up piece in which we identify exactly who his grandmother is so that everyone stays tuned!
