Today’s word: ambrotype
Today, a man brought in a whole box of wonderful family ambrotypes. This was a cheaper photographic process than the daguerreotype and was later superseded by the tintype.
That helped us date them neatly from some time in the early 1850s to the early 1860s. Not that he didn’t have his documentation together!
One was a very elderly man – possibly a posthumous portrait – meaning I reckon he was born around 1780. He had an old-fashioned cravat to prove it. Spooky.
(Not the example picture, though. That’s an ambrotype of Abe Lincoln. I think we can all agree Abe was a very freaky looking dude).
The man was donating all these family pictures and the meticulous research that went along with them. People do that a lot – give us their family histories. I think they feel they’ve done a duty by handing them over. We’ll get the names in our database and future historians will have access.
The best part? He knew who every one of those people were and he had documentation to go with them.
People, I am begging you – with my professional hat on – don’t leave all your pictures digital. Print your favorites and write on the back who they are.
RIP Angela Lansbury. G_d’s Middle Finger take the dick. Back here. Friday.
Dead Pool 159.
Posted: October 11th, 2022 under history.
Comments: 10
Comments
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: October 11, 2022, 8:48 pm
Dead She Wrote. Congratulations to @G_d’s Middle Finger!
Comment from G_d's Middle Finger
Time: October 11, 2022, 8:58 pm
She was a gem of a person. Rest In Peace Angela. You will be greatly missed by your beloved family and your fans.
Comment from Uncle Al
Time: October 11, 2022, 9:26 pm
@G_d’s Middle Finger — “gem of a person” is a wonderful way to put it.
I admired the lady for her acting expertise and willingness to accept roles depicting a wide variety of character types. In particular, the differences between Oliver, the Cockney maid in Gaslight (her film debut at age 17 IIRC), Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate, and Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote.
RIP
Comment from G-d’s Middle Finger
Time: October 11, 2022, 9:38 pm
I was lucky enough to work with her on Murder She Wrote and went on to read scripts for her production company. I was around her and her family for many years. Quality people, all. She was a professional, always showed up ready to go and expected no less from everyone she worked with. Thoughts and prayers. R.I.P.
Comment from Rich Rostrom
Time: October 12, 2022, 12:16 am
The Lansbury role that truly impressed me was in State of the Union (1948). She played “Kay Thorndyke”, the domineering newspaper publisher who leads a conspiracy to make “Grant Matthews” (Spencer Tracy) President as her puppet. She was 23.
Comment from Drew458
Time: October 12, 2022, 12:55 am
I just saw that on the news. 5 days shy of her 97th birthday.
Comment from Anonymous
Time: October 12, 2022, 12:59 am
Our family has boxes and boxes of photos prints and slides and a few tin plate pics from forever ago. Very few of them have name, date, place info. You bet, write it on the back!!
Comment from Durnedyankee
Time: October 12, 2022, 1:14 am
Aren’t all them photos of people from the Anonymous family?
Comment from S. Weasel
Time: October 12, 2022, 5:38 pm
It’s a large family, Durned, and very old.
Are you a writer, G-d’s Middle Finger?
Comment from BJM
Time: October 12, 2022, 8:59 pm
@Anony…I inherited albums full of strangers…Dot at Niagara 1932 or Sue and Herb at the Pier 1928. No fricking clue who any of these folks were. When Gran died, the chain was broken.
Why did we lose the ability to recall ancestral linage? Literacy maybe?
Imagine learning and passing on Beowulf or The Illiad
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