Das Auto, part 4

Who were these strange people
dressed in outlandish costumes? 
Were they natives of some remote
northern region of the world?
Did their goggles protect them
from frigid arctic winds or
shield them from blinding blizzards?

Could they be aliens from another planet?
Were those weird metal horns some kind of
musical instrument or a weapon?
Even their little animal companions
look bizarre and a bit scary.  

No, they were not pictures of monsters or foreigners. They were crazy cartoons of ordinary German couples who were preparing to go for a ride in their new automobile. Evidently they drove very powerful cars as the postcards are captioned: 100 H. P. and 80 H. P.  

They were figments of the vivid imagination of Arthur Thiele (1860 – 1936), a prolific German postcard artist whose work I have featured many times on this blog. This is the fourth and final installment of a series I call Das Auto which presents Thiele's suite of six postcards on a theme of motorists  indulging in extravagant and plainly silly outfits for their motoring. It was a 1900s fashion trend shared throughout Europe and much of America too.  

My first story, Das Auto, part 1, started out-of-order from Thiele's progression with a card portraying 40 H. P.  This was followed by Das Auto, part 2, which presented 10 H. P. and 20 H. P.. And then in May 2024  Das Auto, part 3 showcased 60 H. P..  Even a casual reader could guess where this was going. Automobiles were still a novelty in the first decade of the 20th century but already motoring enthusiasts were demanding "more power" from their vehicles which made them a target of mockery from clever artists like Arthur Thiele.

In fact these motorists' wacky apparel was a practical answer to problems with the first automobile designs. The first motorized autos were patterned off horse-drawn carriages and had canvas coverings or just open tops. Since even 10 horsepower engines could propel a car faster than a team of horses, drivers and passengers were exposed to the elements and subject to extremes of heat and cold that had never been felt before. 

When Thiele published this series in 1908 automobiles typically had petrol and diesel engines that could produce a range of horsepower from around 10 to 60 hp depending on price. Horsepower was a new novelty term that few people understood. But to rich upper class society people more  horses had to be better, so Thiele makes a joke about how with more power, like 80 and 100 H. P., speed would increase enough to freeze toes, fingers, and noses too. It's an uncomfortable cooling phenomena that I learned about when I bought my first motorcycle. Since in the 1900s the automobile heater had not yet been invented, much less included as standard equipment on a car, other companies rushed in to manufacture suitable climate change accessories for motorists. 

Motor
1906 January

The Scandinavian Fur & Leather Co, of New York advertised in Motor, the monthly magazine for automobile aficionados, that its Scandinavian Motor Apparel for Winter Wear "is known throughout the world." Except maybe in Australia, India, and the Caribbean. Their fur coats look quite sturdy and warm, though maybe not as heavyweight as those worn by Thiele's motorists. 

The 100 H. P. postcard was sent from Dresden across town to someone staying at the Hotel du Nord in Dresden by G. S., A. S. and W. S. on 15 June 1908.

Motor 
1907 December

In 1907 Motor magazine devoted a whole page to a piece entitled "Rough Furs for Winter Motor Garb." The writer discusses the need for proper outer clothing when taking houseguests to the theater in the wintertime. These coats needed to be large enough with extra wide sleaves for a person to put on over their regular evening garments. Buttons were larger to make it easier to fasten when wearing gloves. Fur pelts like grey squirrel, opossum, muskrat, raccoons, and Russian pony were commonly used, while sealskin, leopard, sable, and broadtail, a wavy, moiré-like pelt of a young or stillborn Karakul lamb baby lamb, were available on special order for more discerning motorists.

Motor 
1906 February

Hats and veils suitable for riding in an open automobile were another important fashion accessory for every motoring woman. The sudden changes of wind direction when driving around a city street or country road made it very challenging to keep your hat on, even with traditional long hat pins. In 1905 the Boehm & Levine company of New York took out a patent for their Mon Bijou head attire that was "absolutely dust proof". The wind in an automobile also stirred up a lot of dust and dirt from road surfaces. No respectable lady wanted to see her bonnet trashed or her feathers in a twist when arriving at her destination. A full face veil was the most practical solution.

The 80 H. P. postcard was sent from Paris on 24 Août (August) 1908. There is no postmark so the card went with a letter or package. The handwriting is reasonably clear but the combination of letters in French, especially vowels that look like consonants, made it a difficult puzzle for me so I gave up. I do know that the writer's first line refers to arriving in Paris after traveling for 4 hours. Her name was Emma Leroy(?) and her flat at 47 Rue du Rocher is still there with decorative  ironwork so typical of Paris on the entrance to the five story building.  

Motor 
1906 January

For gentlemen there were special head and face gear too. The Scott Muffler Co. of Portsmouth, Ohio offered their "all in one piece" mufflers that protected the face, ears, neck, and chest. "Makes zero weather pleasant." 

 

Motor 
1906 January

In January 1906 the Ball-Fintze Co of Newark, Ohio advertised the Avalon Storm Apron which was a rubberized cloth that draped across an automobile's passenger compartment. It offered protection against storms and bad weather with holes for one to five people. They also offered Weed Chain Tire Grips to prevent skidding and assist in traction on muddy roads.

Motor Age
1907 December

The two men in Thiele's postcards hold strange horns. The 100 H. P. long instrument looks not unlike a brass alphorn and the 80 H. P. instrument is an unusual four valve four bell horn. Though they are exaggerated in size they were just another useful motoring accessory that filled a need not included by the automobile manufacturers. Soon after they were introduced to the world, automobiles and their drivers were recognized as being dangerous to pedestrians, horses, and other drivers. Many communities demanded that drivers announce themselves with a loud bugle horn when driving in certain situations like rounding a blind curve or entering an intersection. Some were pneumatic devices like the No. 19 La Bassoon oval horn and the Leavitt Siren Horn which were advertised in the December 1907 edition of Motor Age magazine. The sound was produced by a brass reed like on a harmonica or toy noisemaker which I think was the same method used in the horns depicted in Thiele's cartoons. 

Life
1909 April

The early motorists of the 1900s endured a lot of misadventures as they learned how to operate an automobile. Every driver was expected to understand the mechanics of their machine. Otherwise they were likely one day to find themselves stranded far from home like in this illustration from Life magazine. A broken part could force a man to get out and get under just in order to fix his car.

The travails of modern motoring, especially in winter, were a source of much amusement in America as in Germany.  

Life
1909 January 7

                                                                Getting Even

    Autoist (who has paid boy to bring assistance):   Did you give the farmer my message, boy?

    Boy:  Yep;  I told him ther'  wuz four automobeelers stuck in a driff'  an'  cuddent git out.

                                                             "What did he say?

                                                             "He said 'HOORAY,'  an'  gimme another quarter."

Life
1909 April

And when all else failed,
a motorist could still depend
on real horse power
to get their auto
back to its stable garage. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where no matter how old it is

a photo can still have that new-car scent.

The Depot Band at Jefferson Barracks

 

Back in the day
every photographer
had to carefully arrange a military band
so that the drum major was clearly visible.
It helped if the man was wearing a tall bearskin hat
but if not, then putting him with his long staff
to the side of the band was acceptable.

 

Likewise the band's director
needed to be recognizable too
especially because he wielded a much smaller stick.
If there was a band mascot, it might be next to the drums
or near the leader, ready to yowl the alarm
for the bandsmen to get into formation.

But the most important person
to feature in a military band's photograph
was the good fellow who kept everyone fed.
His nickname was Cookie
and his musical instrument
was appreciated three times a day—everyday.

Of course there were lots of exceptions
to these rules,
suggestions really,
since not every band had all the characters.

But this one did.
It's a great example
of the musical traditions
in the United States Army.

They were the band at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri.

The full photo shows 24 bandsmen (not counting the cook, the bandleader, or the mascot) standing outside the broad porch of a brick building. A caption on the postcard identifies the band as the:
 14th Co Band   Jefferson Barracks Mo. The musicians were servicemen in the United States Army stationed at Jefferson Barracks which is located on the Mississippi River just south of St. Louis, Missouri. Established in 1827 and named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson who had died the year before, this post is one of the U. S. Army's oldest commands.  

Jefferson Barracks has a long history as a rest and supply station and a center for army recruitment and training beginning with the Black Hawk War in 1832 and continuing up to World War II.  From its revolutionary inception the United States chose not to maintain a large standing army. In 1898, before the onset of the brief war with Spain, the U. S. Army had roughly 2,100 officers and 26,000 enlisted men divided into five regiments of artillery, ten regiments of cavalry, and twenty-five regiments of infantry. But after the national call for volunteers it increased its size to 216,029 troops by August 31, 1898. All those new recruits along with numerous state militia and guard units had to be organized somewhere and Jefferson Barracks was perfectly positioned for this purpose. Soldiers back then did a lot of marching and for that a good band was a very necessary army unit for a post like Jefferson Barracks to maintain.   

Aerial view of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery
Source: Wikipedia By Mrouse - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

In 1946 Jefferson Barracks was decommissioned as a military post and much of the land was transferred to St. Louis county. However the Missouri National Guard and U. S. Air Force still maintain small headquarters operations at Jefferson Barracks. It is also the site of the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery which was established after the American Civil War for the interment of military veterans. It is the final resting place for over 237,000 veterans. 

A second postcard shows the band in a similar outdoor location, maybe even outside the same band barracks. I think it may be the same photographer too as they've made a variation of the other photo.  Here the bandleader is on the left next to his cornet and clarinet sections, but the band's mascot seems to have run off.

On the right is the same drum major and bass drummer. The double-bell euphonium and helicon players are now switched to opposite ends of the top row. 

It's a larger band with 29 bandsmen, without its mascot and cook. It's a typical instrumentation of a U. S. Army band of the 1900s, but I find it interesting for the instruments that are absent. Usually a military band, unlike a civilian town band, included double reed players on oboe and bassoon,  but here they are missing, perhaps because these instruments are more difficult to learn and have never been common in America. There are also no French horns either, another instrument regularly found in European military bands. (The horn-like instrument in the first photo, second from left in the 2nd row, is a mellophone, not a French horn.) The band has just one flute player with a blackwood instrument but no piccolo. (Though most flutists can double on piccolo.) Instead the high descant melody line would have to be played up by an E-flat clarinet.

This postcard has a lengthy message printed on the front.

                          United States Depot Band,  Jefferson Barracks, Mo.
        Mr. C. G. Conn,    1909
                        I congratulate you upon the great work you have
        done  for musicians and for your untiring efforts to supply Army
        musicians with Instruments that makes their work both pleasant
        and efficient.                            FRANK J. WEBER, Bandmaster.

The note is a testimonial to Charles Gerard Conn (1844 – 1931), the founder of the C. G. Conn musical instrument company in Elkhart, Indiana, at this time, the largest manufacturer of musical instruments in the world. Conn's innovations in brass and woodwind instrument designs and his promotion of band music were a major influence on musical culture in America. Conn owned a newspaper in Elkhart which also published a monthly music journal that regularly featured dozen of photos of bands like the Depot Band of Jefferson Barracks with testimonials from musicians and bandleaders on the merits of Conn band instruments. I wrote more about C. G. Conn in my story from March 2024, How to Make a Saxophone. 

Washington, D. C. Evening Star
2 August 1913

The bandmaster, Frank J. Weber, was regarded as one of the best musicians in the U. S. Army. He was born in 1861 in Mishawaka, Indian near South Bend where he learned to play the cornet. In July 1882 at the age of 21 Frank J. Weber enlisted in the army listing his occupation as musician. His first assignment was with the band at Jefferson Barracks. After a few years serving in both cavalry and infantry regimental bands he left the army to play with orchestras and theater bands in St. Louis. During the Spanish-American War, Weber joined the 3rd U. S. Volunteer Engineer regiment and for 10 months led its band while in Cuba. On his return to St. Louis he became director of the Letter Carriers' Band as well as playing in the St. Louis Symphony. 

In 1906 Weber re-enlisted to lead a reorganization of the Depot Band at Jefferson Barracks. Initially he had only 15 musicians in his charge but expected to have 28, the regulation number of bandsmen. He was responsible for purchasing all the band's instruments and music as well providing instrument instruction, too. His success entered him a good reputation as an army bandleader and in August 1913 he was selected to replace the retiring bandleader of the Engineer Band stationed in Washington, D. C. 

The Washington Evening Star was impressed enough to include Weber's photo along with the report.

_ _ _

The Engineer Band was one of several military bands in our nation's capitol that regularly gave public performances from 1914 to 1918. However, as far as I could determine, the band and Bandmaster Weber never served in France. After the war ended in 1919, General John J. Pershing, promoted to General of the Armies of the United States in recognition for leading the American Expeditionary Forces in the war, decided that America's army bands needed an upgrade to match the level of military bands he had heard in Europe. In January 1922 he established the United States Army Band, also known as "Pershing's Own", as the premier musical organization of the United States Army. 

Washington, D. C. Times Herald
5 December 1920

In the lead up to forming the band, bandleader Frank J. Weber, was put in charge of organizing a music school at Columbus Barracks, Ohio called the Seventh Recruit Depot Band. It was expected that he would supervise the training of 200 musicians for the army's regimental bands. The school would also for the first time offer a higher level of music instruction for qualified musicians to become bandleaders. 

Between December 1920 and February 1921 newspapers around the country ran a report on this peacetime appeal for recruiting more army musicians.  "We can take a man who knows enough to whistle a tune," says Band Leader Weber, "and make a musician out of him.  Regiments are have trouble in keeping enough bandsmen because after three years of army training [the standard enlistment period] a man can get an easy job in some industrial plant, where he is immediately assigned to the band, now an important part in welfare work among the large corporations."

In 1925 Bandmaster Frank J. Weber retired after over 33 years of accumulated army service. In that time he had risen from a private to a non-commissioned officer rank and in the 1920s was one of the first bandmasters to attain a warrant officer's rank of captain. He and his wife Catherine, with their daughter Katherine M. Weber continued to make their home in Washington, and in retirement Weber worked as director of the veterans' band of the American Legion post there. 

On 19 May 1932 Capt. Frank J. Weber died at his home in Washington after a long illness of five weeks. He and his wife are buried at the U. S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home National Cemetery in Washington, D. C.

The United States military currently has 137 regular and reserve bands. Eleven of these are designated premier ensembles, including four U. S. Army bands, two U.S. Marine Corps bands. two U. S. Navy bands, two U. S. Air Force bands, and one U. S. Coast Guard band. Within these bands are far more sub-groups that Bandmaster Weber would not recognize, including choruses; string ensembles; and many jazz, rock, and pop combos. The premier bands and the smaller regional reserve bands play concert tours throughout America and in foreign lands too. The bands of course are now more representative of America with musicians male and female, and from  every ethnic background. The music too has evolved to include far more tunes than what the Depot Band played in 1909. However I suspect the modern army band performs far fewer military parades than in Frank Weber's day. 

My dad was an army officer whose career took him to many military posts in America, Korea, France, and Germany. Growing up I remember watching him march in regimental reviews to  music from an army band. That flourish of drums and flash of wind instruments accompanying the rhythmic cadence of the troops captured my attention and introduced me to music in a way I still marvel at, even though I chose a different path to become a musician in an orchestra rather than a band. 

There was one tune that every army band played for those parades that became my favorite march, and maybe the first music I can recall recognizing and learning of its composer. It's  "The Thunderer" by John Philip Sousa. He composed it in 1889 for a chapter of the Knights Templar fraternal order which was participating in the Twenty-fourth Triennial Conclave of the Knights' Grand Encampment. [By coincidence I wrote a story about the Twenty-sixth Conclave, The Grand Parade of the Knights Templar. Those knights likely heard "The Thunderer" when it was still a fresh novelty. ] 

So I'll finish this story of Bandmaster Frank J. Weber and his Depot Band of Jefferson Barracks with a march that I feel certain was his favorite too. Here is "The Thunderer" by John Philip Sousa performed by the Concert Band of The U.S. Army Field Band.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where no one can be too house proud.

A Quartet of Boys' Bands

 

They called themselves Black's Juvenile Band of Nowata, Oklahoma. While there are certainly a good number of youngsters in this band of 26 musicians, for a half dozen or so it's been a few years since they were called juvenile. The photographer followed a tradition of small studios to arrange everyone very compactly with all the instruments and faces neatly visible. The bandleader, Mr. Black, is surely the older gentleman with a cornet  seated center behind the bass drum with his hat cocked back on his head. I also suspect there are a few fathers and sons in this group. The half-tone image means this postcard was likely printed by a local newspaper which put the caption in a fancy Gothic calligraphy font to add a touch of class.

Nowata is a small city in Nowata County, Oklahoma, United States where it is also the county seat. The origin of the town's name is a bit of a mystery as it was originally named Metz, after its first postmaster, Fred Metzner. From 1834–1907 this part of the United States was officially Indian Territory, and became Oklahoma Territory in 1890. The name Oklahoma comes from the Choctaw language phrase okla, 'people', and humma, translated as 'red'. 

In 1828 a treaty with the Cherokee Nation assigned the area of Nowata County to the Cherokee people. Later the placename became Nowata, possibly from a Delaware or Lenape word "noweta" meaning "friendly" or "welcome". However in the Cherokee language, the town was called ᎠᎹᏗᎧᏂᎬᎬ (A-ma-di-ka-ni-gunh-gunh, roughly), which means, "water is all gone," crudely translated into what the word meant: "No Water".

The postmark on this card is from Coffeyville, Oklahoma dated 16 November 1908, exactly one year after Oklahoma achieved statehood. It was sent to someone in Nowata but the pencil handwriting has faded the name. In 1900 Nowata had a population of 498 but in 1910 it expanded 637.3% to 3,672 citizens, which is close to its current population of 3,517.

Dear Sis  Had a very
good night rest
Many thanks
all O.K.  I have
a headake this
morning. good
bye  Lola

* * *

In this next postcard "The Kids Band of High Point, N. C." stand outside of an ivy-covered brick building, perhaps a church as is has stained glass windows. The boys in the band are dressed in matching white shirts and knee length pants with dark forager caps reminiscent of a Civil War soldier's hat. The image is very grainy and I think the original photo had limited contrast as it looks like the figures' outlines were improved with penciled lines and thatching before it was printed. It is a typical brass band of 14 musicians with a single clarinetist and two drummers. Their band director stands behind them on the right. I would judge their ages to be around 12 to 17. 

The city of High Point is one-third of North Carolina's northcentral Piedmont Triade along with Greensboro and Winston-Salem. It presently has a population of around 116,926 in 2023 but in 1910 it was still a small town with only 9,525 residents. 

This postcard was sent on 9 June 1910 from High Point to Mr. Joe F. Robbins of Hendersonville, NC, a city about 25 miles south of where I live in Asheville, NC.  

Hello Mr. Robbins
How is the mountains?
So glad to hear
from you.  Will
write to you
tonight.
Best wishes
                D. B.
6/9/10

* * *

The 25 musicians in this next boys' band also stood outside of a building for their photo. A caption identifies them as the Mullan School Band of Mullan, Idaho. They are dressed in a style of military cadet uniforms with mostly brass instruments with a few clarinets and drums. I don't see an adult band director but the boys' ages seem to range from 8 to 18. I found a photo online of the Mullan School taken in 1904 with a line of students outside standing in snow. It's an imposing two story brick building and the entrance matches the brickwork behind the band. 

Mullan School in Mullan, Idaho, 1904
Source: Barnard-Stockbridge Photograph Collection

 

Mullan is located in Shoshone County, in the northern panhandle of Idaho, east of Spokane, Washington. The town was established in 1884 at the east end of the Silver Valley in between two mines, which initially produced gold and then mainly lead-silver ore. Mullan's current population is just 646 residents but in the year this photo of the Mullan School Band was taken it had around 1,600.

The postcard was sent from Mullan on 29 November 1908 to Mrs. Mae Risley of Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Thanks for the big
turkey,  He's a dandy
Call again
          Phil. J. Starcks (?)

* * *

My final boys' band is a large group of 25 boys seated outdoors next to a park bandstand. The location is unknown as this postcard was never mailed. But the photographer did provide a simple caption: Whites Cadet Band. Presumably Mr. White is their leader, the man seated center behind the bass drum, which, sadly, does not have the usual stenciled band logo with a town name. 

The boys are roughly aged 8 to 16 and are dressed in simple white shirt, long tie, and military hats. Their instrumentation is a nice balance of brass instruments with clarinets and drums. I would date them to around 1910. Most boys bands of this size would usually not be part of a school but would be a separate ensemble with their instruments and music provided by a sponsor, usually a local merchant in the community. 

In my story last week, The Ladies' Band of Foxhome, Minnesota, I featured a brass band from a very small rural town. My collection has many examples of similar postcards of both boys' and girls' bands from 1890 to 1920. These musical groups were often connected to family bands by being lead by an enterprising adult musician in their communities whose children were in the band. They also were often sponsored by a town band of adult amateurs, almost always men. 

The children's bands rarely mixed boys and girls as America's society conventions were strict in this era. The popularity of brass bands for boys and girls across America was driven by a combination of fads. One was the way music in this time could only be heard live. Professional bands and celebrated instrumentalists were becoming very well known through their concert tours. It created an enthusiasm in both adults and children to pick up an instrument and make music themselves. 

The second driver of making bands popular in America was from band instrument manufacturers who sponsored professional bands and soloists to promote their instruments. They used newspapers and catalogs to market bargain sets of instruments of all kinds, delivered anywhere. The music instrument industry was also aligned with publishers of sheet music who similarly promoted the latest trends of songs, marches, and dances. 

Another important motivator for starting a band for girls and boys was to develop wholesome activities for children. In this era most team sports were not included in school programs and there were no outside organizations that provided physical recreation like Little Leagues or Scouting either. Music was considered a worthy year-round activity that kept children occupied and taught them a useful skill. Every community wanted the best for their children. Otherwise, as Professor Harold Hill said, "Ya Got Trouble."

The classic 1957 musical The Music Man 
was written and composed by Meredith Willson (1902-1984),
who based the story on his own experience growing up in Mason City, Iowa.
Willson was also an accomplished flutist who got his start playing in a small town band.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where good pals are treasures for life.

The Ladies' Band of Foxhome, Minnesota

 

The first thing we notice is the sharp contrast
between their gleaming white dresses and caps
and their sun-bronzed faces and shiny brass horns.

There are subtle hints of a few smiles
but mostly their expressions
are neutral, almost inscrutable.
Yet they clearly shared
a love of music making.

They were the

Foxhome Ladies Band.

Eleven young women are posed on the grass in front of a house. Their instruments make up a typical brass band with two cornets, a trumpet, a few alto/tenor horns, trombone, tuba, helicon and a bass drum. All the women, with the exception of the young drummer, wear matching white dresses with military style hats. To one side of the house is a tiny glimpse of the horizon of a flat landscape. 

This photo postcard was never mailed but the back helpfully has the imprint of a photographer: Oxley—Carlson Studio of Fergus Falls, Minnesota. It didn't take but a few seconds to find something about the Ladies' Band of Foxhome, Minnesota in the newspaper archives of the Minneapolis Journal. The report neatly confirms that the date the photo was taken was around 26 July 1909.

Minneapolis Journal
26 July 1909

                               

                          Foxhome Woman's (sic) Band Wins Its Way

  Special to The Journal.
Fergus Falls, Minn., July 26 — The village of Foxhome, fifteen miles west of this city, boasts of a musical organization that is fast becoming famous throughout this section. This organization is a ladies' band of eleven pieces, organized about a year ago. It has practiced industriously and has become a really able musical organization. The band is becoming so popular that the ladies of Breckenridge, ten miles further west, have followed the example of the Foxhome neighbors and formed a similar organization.

Foxhome, Minnesota is a very small farming community in west central Minnesota just beyond the state's lake region and at the eastern edge of the great prairie. In 1910 its population was 206 residents while in 2022 it is around 123. It's about 75 miles east of another small town whose band I wrote a story about in November 2023, Music in Rutland, North Dakota.

I was unable to find any more information on the Foxhome Ladies' Band and it's a shame that the Minneapolis Journal report did not include the band members' names. It's very likely that some of the women are sisters or cousins. Typically a small band like this would have been directed by a man, but it's also possible that the older woman seated 3rd from left with a cornet was the band's leader. Many ladies' bands like this were established by men who had a least one, or maybe more, talented daughter. Perhaps the report's seemingly erroneous headline may have been correct and a woman was the official bandleader.

Given the size of their village, inevitably a band like this would lose members to marriage, employment, or even college, so it's very likely that it only performed for a few years. In the age before radio this band was probably the only live music outside of a church service that the folks of Foxhome might ever hear. 

Foxhome, Minnestota
Source: Google Earth

Foxhome, Minnestota
Source: Google Earth

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where every pretty face has a story to tell.

To Have and To Hold

 The first subjects of early cameras were people.
The novelty of a photograph portrait was irresistible.
It was relatively quick and inexpensive,
and though it wasn't in color
like a painted picture,
it still preserved a person's true likeness.
Everyone want one,
especially married couples
who wanted a memento of their lives together.

Taking a photograph was a special occasion.
It demanded the best clothes, 
and slickest hair style.
Smiles were not really necessary
but eye contact with the camera lens was important.
And for this most personal of photos
a couple might display symbols
of their enduring love and marital pride.


Like a trumpet.

My first happy couple are pictured on a small ferrotype, aka. a tintype photograph. The original is fairly dark but through the magic of computer software I can adjust the contrast to add more light, so here is a comparison of before (left) and after (right). The photo shows a man and a woman seated, he is holding a trumpet and she has a book or letter in her lap. Behind them is a painted canvas backdrop of a landscape, though only a thin pointed treetop is visible. I think they are husband and wife, but judging their ages is difficult so I could be mistaken. They might be mother and son, or sister and younger brother for all I know. But I'm going with married couple because that seems the most likely reason in this era for taking such a photo. 

Ferrotypes are made on a thin sheet of iron, not 'tin', coated with a dark lacquer or enamel which supports the photographic emulsion. Placed into a camera the light through the lens produces a direct positive image on the metal just like on a mirror. There is no negative to reproduce more photos, so the image is a unique one-of-a-kind image. [Though there were cameras with multiple lens that could take several ferrotypes simultaneously.] It was also called a melanotype and was first introduced in 1853 by Adolphe Alexandre Martin in Paris.

Using software I can flip the image to give a true real-life perspective. Looking at them in this view shows that the buttonhole edge of their garments are now in a traditional orientation: to the right on men and to the left on women. The trumpet is also now correct with valve keys set for right-handed playing. (More on the instrument later.)

This photo is a sixth plate size, roughly 2.75 x 3.25 inches, and has been carefully preserved in its original paper mat frame. On the back of the photo is an orange 2¢ United States Revenue stamp with the face of George Washington. This was a tax stamp first issued in August 1864 during the American Civil War. It followed similar revenue stamps established in 1862 that were duties collected on other proprietary items such as playing cards, patent medicines and luxuries, as well as various legal documents, stocks, transactions and other legal services. Portrait photos like this were understandably very popular during the war, and the small sales tax collected by photographers, usually only 2¢—4¢, became an important source of public funds for the federal government's treasury. The requirement for revenue stamps on photographs was repealed in August 1866.

My second happy couple are similarly seated in a photographer's studio but their photo is a carte de visite. or cdv. Like in the other photo, the man holds a trumpet, but here his wife only clasps her hands. The man has a chinstrap beard and a curious oiled top wave in his hair. His wife, like the woman in the ferrotype, has hair heavily oiled and pulled tight at the back. They look about the same age, roughly in their mid 30s or late 20s. 

This photo is actually a duplicate of another cdv of the same couple that I have in my collection. Both prints are the same image but have different designs on the photo card's back.

It's a great example of how a cdv's albumen print process using a collodion negative could make multiple copies easily and cheaply. I acquired the first photo several years ago but it offered few clues for identification with only the photograph studio's name: Bundy & Williams of 314 & 326 Chapel St. in New Haven, Connecticut. The back of that cdv is pictured on the left in this composite image. 

However the second one, pictured on right, I bought two years ago because it has two first class clues. On the bottom of the back is a green 3¢ U. S. Proprietary stamp, so it dates from 1864 to 1866. But more important was a name written on the top by the dealer: "Benjamin Lord + Wife".

[The tiny Latin words in the center illustration on the right card are "Qui Trans Sust", a short version of the Connecticut state motto "Qui transtulit sustinet" ~ "He Who Transplanted Still Sustains"]

This photo was trimmed to fit into a very large photo album which the dealer was breaking up to sell each individual photo. They helpfully wrote down the names as recorded in the album by its original owner. Many of the photos were taken by the same photographer, Bundy & Williams and clearly date from New Haven in the mid 1860s, during or shortly after the war. 

I could not help but purchase some of them. Unfortunately all the clues in these photos connected their subjects to other family names and not to Benjamin Lord and his wife, who must have been only friends or neighbors. And most frustratingly, I've been unable to find Mr. & Mrs. Lord in any New Haven records. There were a few men named Benjamin Lord who lived in other parts of Connecticut and adjacent states but there are too many puzzle pieces missing to connect them to New Haven and the family names in the photo album. So this is another genealogy dead-end, so to speak. At least until I stumble upon more photos or better clues. 

Advert for Bundy & Williams Photography Rooms
1863 New Haven, Connecticut city directory

The photographers were Joseph K. Bundy and Simon Williams. They both had received  training under other photographers making ferrotypes and daguerreotypes. In 1863 they set up their own studio in New Haven joining a group of a dozen photographers who all worked at addresses on the 300 or 200 blocks of Chapel St. In their first advertisements in the city directory they promote CARTE DE VISITES! and also that they are able to "COPY PORTRAITS from OLD DAGUEREOTYPES, all sizes up to life, and colored in OIL, INK, OR PASTEL."

I'm intrigued by this offer to copy a daguerreotype because I feel there is something odd about Benjamin Lord's appearance. I think his haircut and chin beard resembles an earlier fashion seen in gentlemen pictured in older daguerreotype and ambrotype photos from the late 1840s and 1850s. Could this be one of those copies that Misters Bundy & Williams offered to take "particular pains" to make?  It's only a hunch but there is another thing in the photo that doesn't fit with a musician from 1864-1866

Benjamin Lord's trumpet is an unusual type of early brass instrument design that was very uncommon in the United States. It has double piston valves that likely came from Wien, Austria.

In the mid-19th century brass instruments were evolving very fast. The industrial revolution inspired countless musical innovations with new metal working tools and better metal fabricating techniques. Many of these novel musical inventions came from improved valve designs that lengthened the instrument to give it more chromatic notes. Most of this development originated in Europe. German and Bohemian  brass instruments makers favored rotary valves. Those in France, Belgium, and Britain preferred piston valves. But in Austria, especially in Wien~Vienna, the double piston was the popular style. It is still used on the horn played today in the Vienna Philharmonic. 

The mechanics of the double piston involve spring-wound key levers and tightly fitted twin pistons which we can see in a closeup of Mr. Lord's instrument. It was a type of early valve trumpet first introduced in Austria in the 1840s but not typical of the rotary and single piston instruments played in American bands of the 1860s. So why would this relatively young man have this kind of trumpet? It seems very outdated and out of place. Could the reason be  that this image is a copy of an older photograph? Who knows?

And to further complicate the question, in my first ferrotype photo, also dating from around 1864-66, that man is playing a Viennese double piston trumpet too! 

His trumpet is larger with longer tubing so it plays in a lower natural pitch. It also has a peculiar coiled crook for the mouthpiece, called a pig's tail, which was a way to lengthen a brass instrument by a half tone. A brass instrument really only needs three valves and here we can see the arrangement of six doubled valves. It resembles an instrument made  in 1835 by Joseph Riedel in Wien. Here is a photo of that instrument from the Wien Museum collection.

Trompete in hoch C, 3 Wiener Ventile
1835, Joseph Riedel, Wien
Source: Musical Instrument Museums Online

I know next to nothing about the couples in these photos. I could not find any records of their domestic life like where they lived or how many children they had. As to whether the husband was a professional trumpet player or an amateur musician, much less a band leader or music teacher, that too is unknown. But I think it is fair to say that these two couples shared a common love of music since they chose to include a musical instrument in their photo. And I bet the photographers got to hear those trumpets too. It was a special keepsake that they wanted for other people, most likely their grandchildren, to appreciate their faces and remember them by symbols of their interests and pastimes. Those future generations of their families may have forgotten them but at least I can honor their memory here.

As I have often mentioned before in other stories,
brass players like to talk about plumbing.
It's a topic I will explore later in more depth
with other photos from my collection.

Since my subject for this post is partly
about Viennese brass instruments

it seem appropriate to hear some music
from my favorite brass ensemble,

who happen to be from Wien.
Here is the Mnozil Brass
performing their version of Rossini's
Wilhelm (William) Tell Overture.
None of their trumpets have double piston valves
but some do have another novel design
with rotary valves activated with piston style buttons.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where a twosome is never tiresome.