This is one of those dramatic landscapes that, if it were a painting, one would think the artist had exaggerated the scale. We see some tents on the canyon floor, and traces of a road winding its way along — but they are all tiny compared to the massive rock walls and natural spires. To the left we see a rectangular block that looks like some ancient monument built by giants with and intricate but obscure carved facade. To the right are towering monoliths, resembling Egyptian obelisks.

The photographer who recorded this dramatic scene was one of the finest artists of the 19th century, Timothy H O’Sullivan (ca 1840-1882). He learned the basics of photography from Mathew Brady, then joined Alexander Gardner in recording the scenes of the Civil War. After the war he joined various Western Expeditions and recorded scenery such as we see here. Despite the fact that his massive talent was recognized even in his lifetime, we know relatively little of his personal life. Some sources say he was born in Ireland and came with his parents to the U.S. when he was two years old; other sources say he was born in New York City. About 1875 he married Laura Virginia Pywll, who was 15 years younger than he. They had one child that mis-carried, but no surviving children. We see them listed in the 1880 census, tenants in John Phelps household in Washington D.C. O’Sullivan is not shown in the 1870 census, probably because he was on an expedition to Panama at that time, where they were exploring the feasibility of digging a canal across the isthmus. Nor can we find him in 1850 or 1860 censuses, there are no Timothy O’Sullivan listings for someone that age, and far too many listings for Timothy Sullivan. One of the 1860 listings for Timothy Sullivan born about 1840 is for a clerk, the rest are laborers or bricklayers. All show Ireland as their birthplaces.

Here we have a car full of Eskimos. The car looks like something from the late 1910s, but that is just because it is ahead of its time. This public domain photograph, and the car, were produced in 1905. The car is a Rolls Royce, and in those days way ahead of its competitors in style. This was probably the first automobile in Nome, Alaska, and the photographer had the stroke of genius to fill it with Eskimos for this image. They look like they are having fun.

The photographer was Frank H Nowell (1864-1950), born in New Hampshire. Frank’s father Thomas Nowell moved to Alaska and took up some mining claims, and in the mid-1880s Frank joined him there. He came back south in the 1890s, met a Michigan girl (Elizabeth Helen Davis) vacationing in Florida, and married her in 1894, and soon afterward took up photography as a hobby. By 1900 they were on the outs and he is found living in California, and lists his marital status as Divorced, and his occupation as secretary of a mining company (his father’s).

Luckily, the couple reconciled, as it is said she brought his camera with her when she joined him in Alaska, where he had gone late in 1900. He began to document Alaskan life, and set up a studio in Nome. In 1909 the family moved to Seattle Washington, and Frank opened a studio there. We find them listed in the 1910 and 1920 censuses in Seattle. His biography claims he had a photographic studio up until he retired in the late 1940s, but the 1930 census shows his occupation then was as a distributor for an oil company. He was 66 years old by then, it seems unlikely he continued operating a photographic studio into the late 1940s, when he would have been over 80.

Here is another public domain image of a lighthouse, this one the Peck’s Ledge Lighthouse, sometimes just called Peck Ledge Lighthouse. This photograph comes from just after the lighthouse was completed in 1906. Peck’s Ledge is in Long Island Sound, about two miles from the mouth of Norwalk Harbor in Connecticut. There was a lighthouse keeper living here from 1906 to 1933 when the light was automated. It continues to operate today. Comparing this photo to modern images of the lighthouse, we see that the roof over the first floor balcony has been removed, as well as the pole next to the light (not sure what the heck that was for anyhow…)

This photo was taken by George S North. George was born in Connecticut about 1842, and took up photography in the 1860s, working at first with his brother Frederic in Chatham Connecticut. In the 1870s the brothers parted ways, Frederic opened a studio in Vernon Connecticut, and George worked as a photographer in Norwalk. For more than 50 years George S North was a photographer in Norwalk, the last mention of him we find is in the 1920 census, when he was 78 years old, and still listed as a photographer.

This gypsy-looking woman is a Moorish lady from Algeria. Like many of the now public-domain images from the 19th century, she was presented as representative of her ‘type’. Her striped skirt is a good six to ten inches from the ground — very practical in the dusty environment of Algeria, but something one would not see among women of Europe or the United States in that era (ca. 1880s). Her blouse was separate from the skirt, a novelty not common among European ladies of fashion until the 1890s.

The photographers are identified as the Neurdein fréres of Paris. The Neurdein brothers were Etienne (born 1832, died after 1915) and Louis Antonin (born 1846, died after 1915). They began publishing photographs in the 1860s, and took images in France and the French colonies in Africa, as well as French Canada. Their logo in the 1870s and 1880s was a monogram of the intertwined letters N and E, suggesting that Etienne, the elder brother, was the leading partner. Many of their negatives, like this one, are identified with the letters ‘ND’. In the early 1900s they became major publishers of picture post cards.

This public domain photo, first published in 1913, shows an early living-history re-enactment, with two young woman dressed in colonial period styles, posed in a colonial era house. There are all of the usual furnishings and accessories for the period: pewter plates over the fireplace, H hinges on the doors and cupboards, wicker seated chairs, a dining table with ornate turned legs, sideboard, and wood flooring that gives way to tile in front of the fireplace. To complete the domesticity of the scene, the women are winding yarn while a cat sits patiently at their feet.

Those familiar with Wallace Nutting (1861-1941) are not surprised to learn that this is one of his photos. Wallace was trained as a minister, and took up photography in 1899. He turned his hobby into his profession in 1904 when he opened a studio in New York City, but moved his business to Southbury, Connecticut in 1905, then to Framingham, Massachusetts in 1912. He specialized in romantic style scenic art prints, especially of New England, the UK and Ireland. His claim to have sold over 10 million photos was probably no exaggeration, as at its peak his business employed about two-hundred colorists.