This very interesting public domain image shows the children of Captain (at that time, later Brigadier General) Montgomery C. Meigs. Meigs was with the Corps of Engineers, and in 1850 when this image was taken, was assigned to oversee the construction of Fort Wayne in Detroit, Michigan. In fact, it was Meigs who selected the site and arranged for the government to purchase the land where the fort stands, on the Detroit River. From the looks of the buildings in this photo, and the fact that there is water visible in the background, this was probably taken on the grounds of Fort Wayne, where their father was working. (Curiously enough, I was on those grounds a bit over 120 years later as an archaeology student, participating in test excavations at the site.)

A note in the case of this daguerreotype identifies the children as (left to right) Mary Montgomery Meigs (later Mrs. Taylor), Charles Meigs, Vincent Meigs, and John Rodgers Meigs. It was General Meigs who recommended that property in Arlington Virginia owned by Mary Custis Lee, the wife of the confederate General, Robert E. Lee, should be used as a burial ground for U.S. Military casualties of the then raging Civil War. Arlington National Cemetery was established there in 1864. One of those buried there during the first year of use was First Lieutenant John Rodgers Meigs, the little boy leading the donkey, killed in October 1864.

The photographer for this image is unknown.

With Christmas just three weeks away I thought we should have a picture evocative of that event. This is a typical mid-eastern couple posing with a donkey in a Joseph and Mary on their way to Bethlehem type of scene. The background has been entirely blacked out — I suspect the photographer intended (and maybe did in other prints) add a background suitable to the scene. In the U.S. photographers used something called ‘Bendann Backgrounds’ to add background scenes to studio images, I’m sure this photographer had something similar, either purchased or that he made himself. To print the background a mask was cut out of black paper in the shape of the subject — both parts of the paper were used in turn, the one shaped like the subject blocked that area while the background was printed, then the outline part was used to block the background while the subject was printed.

This public domain image was made by Tancrède R Dumas (1830-1905) of Beirut, Lebanon. We profiled Dumas on our post about the Snake Charmer. He seems to have opened his Beirut studio in 1866, so this image dates from between 1866 and about 1890. The scene is so generic there are no clues to the date directly from the subject, we have to rely on the known dates of operation for the photographer, and the knowledge that the photograph is an Albumen print.

In this image we have the typical American cowboys on the plains of Texas, their horses grazing in the back-ground. The photographer labeled this ‘A mumble-peg game’ — though mumble peg is usually played standing. It is a knife-throwing game, and there are many variants. A former owner of this photograph, Amon Carter, wrote a helpful inscription on the back giving details: Some Turkey Track cowboys taking a few moments rest: Jess Bomar lying, Charley Thompson sitting far left, and Fred “Kid” Bomar sitting far right, Turkey Track Ranch, Texas, 1906.

The photographer for this image was Erwin Evans Smith (1886–1947), who was living in Bonham Texas when not attending art school in Chicago or Boston. During the summers he worked on ranches as a cow-hand, and documented the cowboy way of life. Since he was ‘one of the gang’ his images have an un-staged honesty and informality that is lacking in more formal portraits of cowboys made self-conscious by the intruding photographer.

This cute little fellow was photographed in San Antonio Texas in the mid-1890s, with his faithful dog at his side. Think he will grow up to be a cowboy? Regardless of his later profession, I’m sure he was thoroughly embarrassed by pictures of him in this frilly outfit. Maybe that is why nobody ever bothered to write a name on the back of this card-mounted photograph, so we have no clue as to who he was.

The photographer was Bruno Nauschuetz. Born in Germany about 1862 his parents brought him to the USA about 1867. He probably started his photography business in the late 1880s, as we find him located at 700 Austin Street in San Antonio in the 1891 city directory, and by 1892 he is at 221 Sharer where this photo was taken. He was still in business as a photographer in San Antonio at the time of the 1910 census, and died 19th May, 1914.

The Terai (”moist land”) is an area of marshy grasslands, savannas, and forests at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains in India, Nepal, and Bhutan. It was a popular area for hunting tigers and other wildlife when India was under British Rule. Here we see a fine Indian Elephant with a howdash on its back. The fellow standing in front with the helmet on is His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, later King George V of England.

This public domain image was taken in 1875 or 1876 and is attributed to Samuel Bourne (1834-1912), probably the most famous name in photography in India for the 19th century. But Bourne only spent seven years in India, 1863-70 — so either the date is wrong, or it was not Bourne who took this image. He did found a photographic gallery while in India, Bourne and Shepherd, that still operates in Calcutta to this day. Charles Shepherd may have taken this picture, as the Prince of Wales was too important to be left to one of his assistants.