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by Maureen A. Taylor
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 Monday, December 05, 2011
Storytelling Pictures
Posted by Maureen
You never know what you're going to find in a family photo collection. If you have an odd picture, please send it along. You can email it to me.
Dario X. Musso sent me a lovely family photo:
Seated on the right side is Nikita Radionov. Dario's grandmother is next to him. This photo of the Radionov family was taken circa 1919.
The curious part of Dario's family collection isn't this image, it's the series of photos taken of Nikita's funeral in 1929. He was dragged to death by a horse.
I've shown you two of the four images Dario submitted. From the size of the crowds at this funeral, it appears that both family and townspeople attended this event.
Photos like this are an opportunity: I'd scan the faces to find other relatives. It might end up being the only known image of a particular person.
- Start with the front row and the pallbearers. Those individuals are likely family members or close friends.
- Compare the faces in the family group portrait with the individuals at the funeral.
If you had relatives living near the Radionov family in Russia, then you might find your family represented as well. I'll double-check the location with Dario and publish that next week.
Solve your family photo mysteries with these books by Maureen A. Taylor:
Preserving Your Family Photographs
Fashionable Folks: Hairstyles 1840-1900
Finding the Civil War in Your Family Album
1910s photos | 1920s photos | group photos | mourning photos
Monday, December 05, 2011 4:45:32 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00) 
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Monday, August 02, 2010 Monday, July 19, 2010
Mourning Clothes
Posted by Maureen
Ten years ago, I analyzed a photo sent to me from a woman in New Zealand. In the New Zealand Mystery, I discussed the family information, but also described her clothing and how it indicated she was in mourning.
Queen Victoria set the standard for both wedding attire and for mourning. After the death of Prince Albert in 1861, she wore black mourning clothes for the rest of her life. In the Victorian era, men would wear a black armband when someone died, but women wore full black crape (the 19th century spelling for crepe) dresses for a year and a day. Then they wore just crape-trimmed black dresses for another 21 months. (Tortora and Eubank, Survey of Historic Costume, 348).
But what if your family didn't have the resources of the woman depicted above? A wardrobe of mourning clothes probably wasn't economically feasible. Instead, clothes could be rented or borrowed for the funeral. According to the 1877 article by Henry R Hatherly, "Mourning Clothes as a Source of Infection" (Sanitary Record: A Journal of Public Health, Google Books), less-fortunate folks were spreading disease by wearing clothing worn by others—in particular, skin and parasitic diseases.
Not just Queen Victoria's subjects followed mourning customs. This week I looked at a tintype from Dresden. The dark clothing and the large hat with long, heavy fabric at the back suggests this 1880s woman is in mourning. The style of the hat is a bit unusual. I think the browband helps keep the hat on her head.
If you have any 19th-century photos of family wearing crape, I'd love to see them. You can e-mail them to me.
Need help researching, preserving and displaying your family photos? Visit ShopFamilyTree.com for how-to books and CDs.
1850s photos | 1880s photos | mourning photos | unusual photos | women
Monday, July 19, 2010 3:47:35 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
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