This is a good photograph of Japanese ‘Baron’ (or danshaku) Kentaro Kaneko. Actually, the Japanese usually use the family name first, so he was known as Kaneko Kentaro. An 1878 graduate of Harvard University, Kaneko was born in Fukuoka to a samurai family. Here he is resplendent in his military uniform, about 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War. Later in that year he was sent as special envoy to the United States, to entreat President Roosevelt (who had been his classmate at Harvard) to help negotiate an end to that war.

This photograph was taken in the Japanese studio of Riyo Maruki (born 1850 or 1854; died 1923), in Tokyo. A prominent photographer of that era, Maruki even took photographs of the Emperor, in 1888, and another in 1915. His studio in Tokyo was in operation from 1880 until his death in 1923.

The photographer titled this portrait “Love finds the way” — and leaves it to us to decide what that means. The subject is actress Minnie Madden Fiske (Mrs Fiske). I thought at first that she probably appeared in a play of that name, based on the 1904 book — but then I noticed that the image was dated 1896 by the Library of Congress, though they don’t give their reason for choosing that date. I’d have thought it somewhat later, the high collar is typical of 1895-1905. The dress sleeves have a fluffy sleeve-cap at top, but are rather too tight for typical mid-1890s, when leg-o-mutton was more in vogue. On further research, I discovered that the book was based on a play, rather than the usual vice-versa, and Minnie appeared in that play in 1898 (the movie came out in 1912). This photo must date from that year or later.

The photographer was Zaida Ben-Yusuf (1869-1933). According to an 1897 article in Leslie’s Weekly, she was “Algerian by birth, though reared and educated in England.” She had a studio on 5th Avenue in New York City, and took many celebrity portraits such as this. Another source states she was active 1896-1915, which may be why the LOC staff chose the earlier year for this image. The title, however, demonstrates that it is from at least a couple years later.

Here is a photo from October 1st, 1940, showing Albert Einstein receiving his United States citizenship papers from Judge Phillip Forman. I suppose he must have passed the test — wonder what his score was?

The photographer was Al Aumuller. Searching for Al I found lots of references to his photographs, all celebrity photos, dating from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. But poor Al has passed under the radar of photographic biographers. I could not find any information on his life. I searched the genealogical resources, censuses and city directories — found a couple possibilities, but no way to know which (if any) were him, since they were not listed as photographers in the 1920 and 1930 censuses. This one stumped me.

This public domain image shows Charles A. Fischer, in uniform, during the Civil War. Fischer was chaplain for the 32nd Indiana Regiment. Not to be confused with the other Charles Fischer who served as a Private in Company E of the 32nd Infantry Regiment 1861-65, this Charles Fischer enlisted on 16 February 1862 in Company S as Chaplain. Guess the war didn’t suit him, he resigned eight months later, on 9 Oct 1862. Fischer died in 1867.

The photograph was taken by Daniel Stuber of Louisville KY. Daniel was born in Germany, and emigrated to Ohio with his family at a young age. He was a daguerrian in Louisville KY as early as 1855. There was also a Michael Stuber listed in the 1880 census as photographer, probably related as Michael had a son named Daniel as well. In Craig’s Daguerrian Registry he says Daniel died in 1884, but gives his birth as 1842. The census consistently shows Daniel as being born ca. 1833-34, while Michael was born ca 1842-43. (If Daniel were born 1842 and worked as a daguerrian in 1855, he would only have been 13 years old!) There was a Daniel Stuber listed as photographer in the 1890 city directory for Louisville — it is not clear if that is this Daniel, or Michael’s son Daniel.

On the streets of New York with a pushcart, this fellow tries to sell nuts and raisins to the passers-by. Ten cents, just ten cents is all he asks. He has a cigar in his mouth, but it doesn’t look like it’s lit — they last longer that way. The edge of the pushcart tray is carefully decorated with what looks suspiciously like chili peppers — suggesting this may not be the original use for this cart, perhaps not the original owner. The sixty years that separate us from this scene leave us only guesses as to how he came to this.

The photograph was taken for the New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper in 1947 by staff photographer Fred Palumbo. Fred Palumbo was born about 1905 in France of Italian parents. He came to the U.S.A. with his parents and siblings in 1910. An elder brother, born about 1895 was born in Italy, and a sister born about 1904 was born in Paraguay. Clearly, the 1910 arrival in New York was the family’s second attempt to settle in the New World. The 1930 census shows Fred was a photographer, but doesn’t list is place of employment. By the late 1930s through the 1950s he was working for the newspaper cited for this image.