Friday, July 17, 2009

A Family Affair


I love vintage photos of print shops and try to latch on to as many as I can. This is one that came my way while online this afternoon. I think it shows a family operation and I think my hunch is a reasonable one. The age of the three boys: young, older, and oldest; the presence of those who appear to be a father and mother of appropriate age to be the parents; and an older man who seems the right age to be the scion of the family. How likely is it that a group with those characteristics would be found working in a small shop. I think it likely that this is a newspaper office also doing the real money-making job work.

I'm particularly drawn by and attracted to this photo. One reason is for the apparent family relationship and that it therefore represents a not uncommon though seldom seen working scenario of that era. Another is that it shows regular, daily print shop activity including the accompanying work that goes on in any shop. The woman appears to be collating or otherwise sorting and stacking printed matter for some kind of jobbing work.

Unfortunately I don't have any information about where this photo was taken or the date, but based on the clothing, equipment, and facilities I'm thinking circa 1900-1920, possibly out west or in some rural area.

I wonder what ever became of them all...

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