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.

This is an interesting image of Inuit Eskimos of Alaska, inside an igloo. We see three Eskimo women and a child sitting around a bowl of crabs, stripping the delicate meat out of the leg shells. With them is a non-native woman, the photographer’s wife according to the caption. That would be Margaret. Clearly, the photographer had to remove half of the roof of the igloo to make the shot, but no doubt the Eskimos didn’t mind. We have seen another image by this photographer of Eskimos building an igloo, probably this one — most likely built just to be photographed.

The photographer was Captain Frank E Kleinschmidt. He made documentary films 1912-34, such as The Alaska-Siberian Expedition (1912) and Captain F. E. Kleinschmidt’s Arctic Hunt (1914). His main occupation however was as Captain of a merchant freighter, plying the waters from Seattle to Alaska. His wife, Margaret Alaska Young Kleinschmidt (1884-1962), while not Inuit was Alaskan born. Her father was Rev. Samuel Hall Young, who went to Alaska with his young wife in the 1880s to spread the Gospel among the heathens (probably much to their everlasting regret). Frank and Margaret Kleinschmidt had twin daughters born in Nome, Alaska in 1907.

Here we see what an early 20th century kitchen looked like, before there were all those electric gadgets and modern conveniences. And this is no ordinary kitchen, but the White House kitchen, where meals were (and are) prepared for large dinner parties for heads of state. On the right a gentleman sits and works at a desk, this is a government kitchen so of course there is plenty of paperwork to be done! On a cupboard behind him is a wall-clock, probably a Seth Thomas. The cupboard if full of pitchers and assorted other ceramics, but not the fine dinnerware. A large table with square legs occupies the center of the space, with a large breadboard on its marble surface, and a drawer in front slightly ajar. Behind that is a lower table with five round legs — a dinner table in most households, here it holds a large coffee grinder. To the left we see an enameled sink, and along the roof there are various water pipes exposed, and a large metal pot-hanger with many pots on it. There is an electric light fixture hanging from the ceiling too, the only electric device in sight.

The image was taken by photographer Barnett McFee Clinedinst (ca 1865-1953). His father, Barnett M Clinedinst had also been a photographer, born in Virginia about 1837, photographed in Virginia from before 1860 to after 1870, and in Baltimore MD from before 1880 to after 1890; he died before 1910. Barnett Clinedinst Jr, who took this photo, was born in Virginia about 1865 or 1866 according to the census records, thought the National Archives listing for him shows 1862. He was a photographer in Washington DC from before 1910, and later in Brooklyn New York until after 1920. In 1930, his son, Barnett M Clinedinst III (though he is listed as ‘Jr’) is listed as a photographer in Brooklyn New York.

This is the kind of picture you can stare at for hours, and keep finding new things. Well, old things in this case. This is the Bazar de Stamboul, presumably in Instanbul, ca 1880s. It is awash with with lamps, water pipes, textiles, ceramics, jewelry, furnishing, and things that I can’t even guess what they may be. American hearing the term ‘bazar’ usually think of a huge marketplace, but the term is often used to refer to a shop selling used goods … not quite antiques, more of a second-hand shop. Since this photo is over 100 years old it looks like an antique shop to us, but contemporaries would not have viewed it as such.

The photo is by Swedish photographer Guillaume Berggren (1835-1920) who settled in Constantinople in 1866 and opened a studio in the Pera district in the early 1870s. He is best known for his portraits, particularly of the every-day working people of the city in the 1890s, but also made a wide variety of city-scape images, portraits of travelers and dignitaries, monumental buildings and ruins from the surrounding region, construction projects, and other works.