Possible Civil War Widow

Mary Newton Maxwell

I love it. I suspect she still in mourning wear. Not only her husband's photo in brooch, but she's holding a photo album that contained tintype photos.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Tarah Thomas

5 favorites

Is that what it is is a tintype album?

Oct 14, 2015 on

Mary Newton Maxwell

I believe so, Tarah. I have one and it looks similar

Oct 14, 2015 on

Beth Pritchard

Good eye, Mary!

Oct 14, 2015 on

Mary Newton Maxwell

You know, I zoomed in on the photo and I wonder if that's a brooch she is wearing or if she just placed a photo there for the picture. It seems a little contrived and uncomfortable, but really, I don't know. Just speculation...

Oct 14, 2015 on

Sandra Cardwell Van Zandt

A thought the same thing Mary.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Lisa A. Sylvester

Wow! Good eye is right!

Oct 14, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Mary Newton Maxwell I zoomed it too but for the album. She likely put it in there like you can with a locket.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Joyce Leffingwell Bradley

Linda M. Gigliotti I think you could be right...

Oct 14, 2015 on

Marilyn Williams Wojton

Mary Newton Maxwell I thought that the "brooch" looked almost too large to be a brooch. Looks very uncomfortable if she's actually wearing it as such.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Irma N David Ramirez

Wow!! I have an album like that with Tin pictures and women dressed like that

Oct 14, 2015 on

Gail Jackson

I have never seen such a big brooch.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Jennifer Anderson

Mary Newton Maxwell all photos taken, looked contrived etc, it was just the way it was in those days... they used to sew these onto material then place around the neck or such back then too..

Oct 14, 2015 on

Jennifer Drake

Yes it is. I noticed it, too. She's definitely still in mourning over her loss.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Irma N David Ramirez The tintypes tend to go rusty after 100 years so I put mine behind glass. I (think I) threw out the rusted one, could not see the subject any more.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Susan Filipovsky

I noticed her book!

Oct 15, 2015 on

Angela Graham Campbell

Wow. I'd love to find such a brooch! She does have a look of grief and hardship about her almost shell shocked. I can't make out the book under her left hand. Perhaps an empty frame?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Maite Batalla Solís

Is a post mortem photo?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Jamie Appelbaum

I don't think it looks post mortem just my opinion.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Angela Graham Campbell

No. She's very much alive.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Juliet M Walker

It kind of does look post mortem, her right arm and hand do not look naturally poised for a long exposure picture.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Ruby King

I think she is postured oddly because of the corset she is so obviously suffering from wearing! lol

Oct 14, 2015 on

Shelley Bruce

She's alive.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Stephie Rice-lawton

She's sitting up, holding a book so I imagine she's alive. Also, you wouldn't wear black to your own funeral.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Kim Barrack

never seen a broach like that, that is cool

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Jim Flack

Interesting.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Tarah Thomas

5 favorites

Why did they hold the books in hat exact manner in photos? I have several of my husband's family like that. Can't tell if they are bibles or just books or what.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda M. Gigliotti

The had protocol in those days, you either did it or you did not fit and they shunned you. Horrid times although they seem so romantic to us from here.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

I have a photo like this one in my 1890s album, will look at the copies I scanned and see if it looks like the same -- although the picture itself could have been 30 years old too. Yes she does look bewildered, women did not have it easy when their men were gone, in those days.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda M. Gigliotti

I can post mine but I have to crop the face as the family may still be living somewhere although my father did find the album in a box at the dump. Someone didn't appreciate antiques I guess. Copyright is only good for 100 years anyway but you never know what people will try to pull.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Amanda Davis Carr

Widows still do not have it easy. Lol. It stinks.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Amanda Davis Carr Yes especially the older women whose husbands did everything for them and now they don't know even how do make a financial transaction. It's hard in any case really.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Sept. 1898:

Oct 14, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Note the shoulders.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Maureen Buckley White

Amanda Davis Carr Very true; it isn't easy. One has to establish a new life for one after years, perhaps decades of living with a spouse. The house is so very quiet.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

This is long after the Civil War. Her clothes and hairstyle are late 1880s to early 1890s.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Janet Ferguson Brasher

Love this wonderful photo

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Mona Helal

Civil war victims..
I saw ( gone with the wind movie )
What a tragedy..

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Nancy La Selva

Gone with the wind? LOL ...Poorest movie to base an educated opinion on.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Serena Williams

20 favorites

Poor widows. Poorer slaves.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Laurie Wolfschlag

Nancy La Selva don't be so mean - if you notice Ms. Helal lives in Egypt, and Gone with the Wind would be one of the few references she would have to the American Civil War. How's your knowlege of Egyptian history?

Oct 14, 2015 on

Jennifer Elaine Treaster

The woman is being rudely picked on for showing empathy for someone-I call that a problem folks.What is lacking in this world today is empathy and compassion.Too much bashing one another all of the time! The photo is what the subject is about.Let`s pay respect to the ones that are gone and feel some sort reverence and homage to their circumstance and possibly much strength and resilience!

Oct 14, 2015 on

Nancy La Selva

Give me a break...I don't have to respect anyone that talks pure s***. White people always trying to romanticize plantation life. I respect those that deserve it

Oct 14, 2015 on

Dawn Stringer

Gone with the wind was and is the worse film for ACW You need to see glory, gods and generals, Gettysburg and field of lost shoes. Everyone was a victim in that terrible war.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Kelly Calderon

Wow, Nancy La Selva, your something else!! Ever hear of manners? No wonder so many other countries hate Americans.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Linda Mihovich

War is tragedy for all concerned, at home and on the front lines. It is so horrific that no Hollywood movie can depict the true horror.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Lucy Hurst

Nancy, calm down and get off your high horse please.
Also Laurie didn't ask if you know Egyptian history, she was asking how in depth your knowledge of another countries personal history was.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Dawn Stringer

Linda Mihovich Very true.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Rita Cordova

Actually gone with the wind is filled with facts that is why it took so long to write. She wanted to make sure that all of her battles and people were correct. Margaret Mitchell spent a lot of time with confederate soldiers who told her many stories.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Susanne Logue

Yes, Margaret Mitchell had many many friends and family who told her endless stories first hand , of the Civil War. And back then, artifacts were everywhere. Everyone lost relatives in the war. Everyone knew first hand info about the war. As a writer, she indeed felt compelled to record these details and compiles them into one of the best stories ever told. She won many awards and her estate is worth more now than it was back in the day.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Wanda Armstrong-Bridges

Nobody jumped on the woman that commented on civil war deaths out number world war one deaths did they? European history where the war was fought was a bit misunderstood there. If I asked most people outside of the UK about the English Civil War you would all look blank. Lighten up people

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Kelly Calderon Kelly Calderon Haha we don't hate you Ameddicans up here in the north.You take yourselves too seriously at times but hey that's your option. We like you and neither of us would have done so well in the wars without the help of the other. And yes we fought and fell in the recent ones too and are still over there in many of those.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Terri Kallio

I don't think that is a broach - it's way to large. I suspect it is just a photo of her husband that has been placed there.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda Beron

Love old photos of history!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Alyssa Rose Gomori

Those are hands that have seen hard work. What a story this photo tells.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Sheri Castro

That's the first time I seen a picture of that sort used as a broach. Interesting!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Kathy Osborne Strout

Just think, 150 years from now people are going to be saying that about our clothes!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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David Gorman

It looks like her chin is holding up the photo

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Cynthia Forrester

I agree

Oct 14, 2015 on

Sue Douglas

41 favorites

kind of sad

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Steph Scovill-Ross

I agree with a couple comments here that it looks post mortem.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda M. Gigliotti

She was living when the photo was taken. She opened her eyes wide for a second and the shutter snapped -- it takes hundreds of muscles to make an expression and if the shutter snaps it freezes one movement in a million.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Joanne Smith

5 favorites

Check out those shoulders!!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Vickie Wilkerson

Just look at her hands tired and weathered. Those were some horribly tough times for them and all the families involved.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Gail Jackson

I thought the same thing.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Bo Willie

victorian era post mortem photos did include props of loved ones favorit items..the forehead bruise could be a indication as is discoloration of the hands

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda M. Gigliotti

Likely just dirt from years and years of sitting in an album, I have a couple tintypes as well. In frames behind glass. There was one in the ancient album but it was so rusted I just threw it out, did scan and copy it though.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Shelley Bruce

This is not a PM photo.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Ree Young

The "bruise" on her forehead is brownish. Why would that show up as a color when the photo is in black-and-white? Not a postmortem photo. Just a bit of discoloration from the age of the photo.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Bo Willie

most likely yes i agree. and as much as anyone can tell without documented history of it..speculation in any form you present it.being there are other images to be found of same type of brooches and holding husband images..i will agree its a mourners photograph.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Maria Eugenia Desantis

Poor lady, she looks so sad.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Diane Howard

Awww bless her xx

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Cherie Logan Thurner

Is this a post mortem photo?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Ruby King

This is an awesome photo. I couldn't imagine how painfully breathtaking those corsets would have been though! :(

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Paul Chapman

I don't think this is a post mortem photo. The discolouration on the forehead is an artifact on the paper, not in the image. I don't believe that post-mortem photos were so 'lively'--open eyes, sitting erect, one arm resting, etc. I could be wrong.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda M. Gigliotti

Oh yes. I have several of those. The women always look starched.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Shelley Bruce

No one said it was a post mortem photo. The woman is clearly alive. X

Oct 14, 2015 on

Paul Chapman

Shelley Bruce Several people asked the question. Please read the other remarks.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Corinna Louise Lovegrove

The subjects of post mortum photos were often posed in life-like positions, but I think this woman is alive here.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Cheila Pereira Abrantes

Check in google....you have a lot post mortem photos like this one

Oct 14, 2015 on

Shelley Bruce

And the majority of those are not genuine post mortems.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Dawn Stringer

I have seen postmortem photos, they have had children standing up and held up with a frame. I can't tell especially with it being b&w photo

Oct 14, 2015 on

Lena Bleacher

I have seen many pm photos with eyes open or sometimes painted to look open. They used lots of different stands and things to make the deceased look alive still.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

Lena, that stand above was used for LIVING subjects. The "post mortems" shown in most online "sources" are, more often than not, alive and well. Once rigor sets in, you can't pose a body very easily and you certainly can't make it look lifelike.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Melanie Stringer As a former palliative care worker here, yes you can because rigor mortis loosens up again after initial freeze.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Kathleen Susan Smith

I think it's PM as well.. I think the brooch is helping to position her head and her arm has been placed on the book. Also because it took a long time to take these pics and this one is so clear...she didn't wiggle at all... And that's pretty hard.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Shelley Bruce

She is alive.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

She is absolutely alive. The post mortem photos are always obvious: this woman is alive, well, and breathing just fine in a corset she laced herself.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Kathleen, Hi Kathi. Nah she's living, I've seen dead bodies and they don't look like that /

Oct 15, 2015 on

Betsy Englehart

I would be a rebel back in those days, no way could I wear those kind of clothes!! lol

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Victoria Louise House

Her late husband

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda Crabtree Rains

She has bat wings on her shoulders, glad we don't have to wear all that material now days, but sometimes some don't wear enough!!!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Carine Munro

Its brooch unless you are broaching a subject

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Doris Kovalcik

These are so interesting.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Andrea Richards

I watched a documentary recently and someone had a picture of their female Ancestor sitting in this exact pose with bible in hand, but research later uncovered that the women had actually been institutionalised for mental illness, and the photo was taken by the institute. They took the same photos of all their inmates around this era. I think this might me the same thing.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Andrea Richards

You are right Judy in the documentary I mentioned the woman was suffering from grief of the death of a child. So her husband had her committed, so much unnecessary suffering.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Julia Steinke Stublaski

Andrea Richards--What documentary are you referring to? It sounds really interesting.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Viviana Chavarría

Oct 15, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

But most likely it is just an ordinary portrait of an ordinary woman who is mourning the loss of a male family member.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Julia Steinke Stublaski That went on all the time, all he had to do was decide he wanted another woman so wife had to be gotten rid of, he would have her commited.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Helena Shelby

I need her corset. ;)

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Jeff Cicotte

Creeps me out

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Amanda Miller

Cool!!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Susan Schloss

507 favorites

I have a photo of my great grandmother wearimg a similar but smaller oval pin at her neck with a portrait of a man (I have no idea who it is), taken around 1900 in NYC. Apparently, that was the style back.then. I will try to find the photo

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Lisa Riley Hickman

Her corset is so tight, I don't know how she's breathing!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Terie G Spencer

If a corset is made to measure and fits well, it is not restrictive and actually helps with back health. The dress is very close fitting, which was the fashion, but the entire affect doesn't look painful at al to me. I loved wearing my corset when I wore period clothing at a history museum.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Mary Clements Keller

so much sadness in her eyes.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Jason Michelle Walters

Totally steams punk it out!!!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Robbie Dickey

Their dresses sure are snug

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Melanie Stringer

It's more illusion of dressmaking tailored specifically for the individual than anything else. Her clothes will only fit her.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Robbie Dickey

I never thought of that.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Bo Willie

found similar victorian era images..of livlier looking ladies wearing these husband brooches..and one holding a photo as well..though this dear lady has the largest of the bunch..(brooch)[external link]

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Lisa M Davis

Imagine her hair being down.....neatly styled to suit her face. And a smile- people didn't smile in pictures then- possibility due to poor dental care. This is not post mortem- this woman is proudly sitting showing her deceased husband off, not showing/caring about herself--

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Alyssa Rose Gomori

People didn't smile in photos because taking a photo took too long to retain any kind of facial expression. That isn't to say the dental care would have been great though! Granted, they didn't eat nearly as much garbage as we do today.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Corinna Louise Lovegrove

People didn't smile in photos as it was thought to be "unbecoming." It wasn't the done thing. :)

Oct 14, 2015 on

Tiffany Ann

No Alyssa is right it took a some time to take the picture. Taking pictures back then was not the same as taking them now. One click and the picture is captured now. Back then people had to sit still for some time in order to have the picture taken.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Laaren Brown

We just went to a talk at Colonial Williamsburg about this very subject--why did people not smile in photographs? Corinna is correct. It was because getting your picture taken was an expensive and significant experience. You might only get your picture taken once in your lifetime. Exposures only took about three seconds even during the Civil War, and people can easily smile for three seconds. Here's the Smithsonian's video on the subject: [external link]

Oct 14, 2015 on

Alyssa Rose Gomori

Cool, I had no idea.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Dawn Stringer

Alyssa Rose Gomori You are the only who got it right, i know a photographer he said the said. The method to take it is long and slow due to the process. All interesting stuff.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Luz Martinez

No importa cual es el estado de ella, solo que sostiene un libro, y eso la hace interesante.!!!1

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Blanca Rivera

😍💝 I love it!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda Kachel

yes, looks to me like the photo under her chin is not a brooch, but a photo that might have even come from the cover of the album she holds in her hand ... notice the blank circle where a photo would be

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda M. Gigliotti

That's an idea!!'

Oct 15, 2015 on

Brenda Lichty-Steedley

I may be wrong. I enlarged this photo. I think she may have a wedding band on her left hand. I can see her right hand clearly. No ring on it. Like I said, I may be wrong.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Melanie Stringer

Plenty of women continued to wear the wedding band after being widowed. Or, she may have remarried. She could still have been honoring her prior, dead, husband. Or perhaps she was honoring some other dead relative, such as a father or brother. The Civil War doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it, either.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Brenda some countries have the custom even now to wear the wedding band on their right hand and when they immigrate here they retain that custom. Germans still do it, Georgians (the country), etc.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Ricardo Aqquino

am the only one who notice a lizard head in her dress?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Carolyn Butler

First thing I saw. Big eye under the book. I do think it's just an illusion from the fabric. Well I hope so anyway!

Oct 14, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Carolyn Butler What I learned was that is a trick of paredeliia if I spelled it right. Seeing faces in things. They explain that the brain must define and so it tells you oh this design on the floor reminds me of face so you see face. The larger umbrella term over paredelia is when we see appartions or other things. How can you tell I love ghost stories, sometimes they even explain these things and then I look it up of course. But then there could be a lizard for real....

Oct 15, 2015 on

Carlos Pinheiro

it was very usuak during Victorian Time widows wear lockets or brooch with their husband's pic or even some hair and even nails...

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Kathryn E Bass

That brooch is jabbing her in the neck. How uncomfortable. She's chocking on it.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Michelle Broussard

War is hell and it looks like she has been there and back. Tragic for those who died in the war and their loved ones who had to carry on each and every day to be able to remember and honor them.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda Mihovich

So true about every war.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Michelle Broussard

We never learn.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Tracy Tannen

Michelle Broussard so true, we don't. :(

Oct 14, 2015 on

Gail Roberson Hall

If that's a broach, it wins the award for the largest ever made.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Flicka Johnson

This outfit is nicer to look at than the skimpy clothing women wear or do not wear these days!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Nicola Jane Flack

"Brooch".

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda M. Gigliotti

Unless you broach the subject. Smile.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Ana Anchy

Very interesting

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Helena Kois-Kucharski

The shoulder pads are interesting. I didn't realize these were fashionable back then unless they were meant to look more puffy & just came out looking flat in this picture.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Regina Parker

17 favorites

Love the brooch what a beautiful way to honor her loved one

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Manalisha Sharma Gogoi

Very nice.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Corinna Louise Lovegrove

No veil or gloves...interesting. In English Victorian photos, you get women with the whole shebang. Cultural differences perhaps?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Maureen Buckley White

Or financial differences.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Gerard Matthews

She looks quite a formidable woman!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Grace Gibb

Is she dead??

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Melanie Stringer

No. She is most certainly alive. If she was dead she would look very different, and you could't very easily pose her or keep her upright. Post mortems have lots of telltale signs and and every indicator here is that she is alive and well.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Akkie Caecilia

Brooch.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Shirley Crocker

She looks beautiful but i am glad we don't wear those dresses now i swear i would smother in it you could hardly bend in that but they were very strong women .

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Terri Allen

Nice one.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Indiana Saunders

11 favorites

The dress is actually quite beautiful, but her corset was way too tall. She was a more mature woman that just decided if she could still get it on herself, why bother getting a new one?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Melanie Stringer

No, the corset length is perfectly fine. You may be thinking of the underbust corsets from the 1860s; this image is a good 20 years after the Civil War. And many women with larger breasts would find an underbust corset entirely useless and extremely uncomfortable, as it doesn't provide any support for the bust, which creates a lot of terrible chafing. Take my word for it. Mature breasts need support from the corset. Bust support is the primary function of the corset. Waist shaping is a secondary function which becomes more of a fashion statement over time.

The length and features of corset styles changed many times over the 19th century. This image is somewhere between the late 1880s and early 1890s, and overbust corsets were quite standard in that era. I wear them myself when I present my educational history programs, and mine fits similarly to this.

Also: corsets, like modern bras or any other clothing, eventually wear out and need to be replaced. Unless she was desperately poor (which the image indicates is not the case), she would have 2 or 3 corsets at any one time (at least) and replace them as needed. A ratty corset is not going to lace up well at all.

Oct 15, 2015 on

April Rain

i love her dress

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Jenny Dellaria

Maybe could be

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Amanda Bilotto

So creepy but i love that outfit and brooch!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Kim Monteith Clady

Looks terribly tight and uncomfortable

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Graceann Dacon

thats your great great granny ellie

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Connie Smith

I know that about this same time in history there were some inmates , I believe it was a penal system in TEXAS. And they were all dressed in the same tie and jacket for a portrait like picture. I have only seen post mortem pictures that were popular for awhile , with the deceased in their coffin. All very interesting.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Dawn Stringer

I didn't think women in mourning went out and had their photos took.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Sheri Tyner

Yes they did I have one of my great great grandmother and her sisters

Oct 14, 2015 on

Dawn Stringer

Really. Is it true that there was different stages of mourning? You would think the the wife would be to filled with other things to being having photos taken. Well they say we learn new things everyday. :)

Oct 14, 2015 on

Ree Young

Since black was worn for several years after the death of a spouse (Queen Victoria wore black for the remaining 40 years of her life after her husband died), this woman has had time to deal with the grief. Plus, life went on. You couldn't stop when everything was done by hand, food cooked from scratch, no modern conveniences. And clothing wasn't cheap. Most women had only two dresses, possibly a third, but even then, the dresses had to last for years.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Dawn Stringer

Excuse my comment Ree but did depend on whether the person was northern or southern, rich or poor?

Oct 14, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Dawn STringer your humour is as cheeky as your smile. Love it!

Oct 15, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

Mourning traditions are widely varied from religion to religion, culture to culture, and region to region, family to family. Not all people observed all customs, and many people remarried shortly after being widowed.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Dawn Stringer

Well Like i said i live and learn, never thought of it that way. thanks for sharing stringer to stringer :)

Oct 15, 2015 on

Sanya Immanuel

Varsha Deepak Wadhwa dress style look familiar?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Varsha Deepak Wadhwa

Lol 👍 😍 😍 👍 Yessssss it does!!!!
What an outfit!

Oct 14, 2015 on

Jamie Jones

Awe! Eyes & hands tell a lot about her life.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Mike Thompson

Based on her age it could be a mother who lost a son

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Marie Vento

Yves Saint Laurent loved a pagoda shoulder

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Cheila Pereira Abrantes

I think its a Post mortem photo...

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Melanie Stringer

No, she is alive and well.

Oct 15, 2015 on

E Jane Smith Schreiner

My humble opinion is also it's a PM. Those pics were staged in many ways.. they would use steel rods to keep the people upright.. I have seen several pictures of children with their siblings . They do not look deceased, but they are..All sort of props were used to "stage" the look desired..

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Dawn Stringer

Yeah i have seen those very creepy.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Ree Young

Living people were also often held up with frames and resting posts because of the long time it took for the picture to develop on the film. This woman is in a tight corset; she couldn't have bent over well at the waist, live or dead!

Oct 14, 2015 on

Tracy Tannen

Many times the only photo that was ever taken was that of a dead person. So, the photographer was called right before or after someone passed. :(

Oct 14, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

She isn't dead. A post mortem is very obvious. This woman is alive and well and probably laced her own corset. The image is late 1880s to early 1890s, and by then, photographers were quite readily available and having a portrait taken was much more affordable than in earlier decades.

Oct 15, 2015 on

E Jane Smith Schreiner

Agree to disagree. I've seen PM'S extremely well done and life like.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Shelley Bruce

The majority of the post mortems you believe you have seen are actually NOT post mortems. This myth was spread a few years ago and still perpetuates on the internet. Look at some trustworthy sites and dispell the myths.

Oct 15, 2015 on

E Jane Smith Schreiner

So glad to know you know what I believe. What I am discussing is NOT ON THE FREAKIN' INTERNET. I have done research also. Please don't tell me what I believe!!!

Oct 15, 2015 on

France Scully Osterman

This is NOT a post-mortem.

Oct 16, 2015 on

Mary Crestani Silantyev

I read recently that more lives were lost in The Civil war than in the WW1.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Helen A. Johns Linker

American lives, yes.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Victoria Matheus

More American lives lost in the Civil War than in ANY other war our nation has ever been involved in.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Jo Vaughn-Hutson

Victoria Matheus good call. Most forget.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Richard Kenney

It was a war fought with 18th century tactics and 20th century weapons, resulting in carnage. Gettysburg alone killed and wounded almost 50,000 men.

Oct 18, 2015 on

Mary Crestani Silantyev

Thank you for the information. Read with interest.

Oct 18, 2015 on

Liz Brown

You could put an eye out on one of those sleeves!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Christine Wener Pechacek

My goodness, she looks very uncomfortable!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Shelley Bruce

I was going by the main title Paul as posted by Ancient Faces, NOT by general comments.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Kimberley A Smith-Cooper

Amazing pic

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Kimberley A Smith-Cooper

So sad and tragic the sadness in her eyes

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Anna Howard Giberson

I guess that's like the fake wrestlers belt they "win"...someone should have told her it would look better around her waist.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Bill Walton

Seems nothing to smile about

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Pat Hamer

what a nice idea to have the photo in a broach.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Christine Kelley

What a broach!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Shannon Gonzaga

This lady would probably roll over in her grave LAUGHING if she knew people over a hundred years later thought she looked dead at all! I can imagine her like, "y'all, do I seriously look THAT bad?!".

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda M. Gigliotti

Shannon Gonzaga She was living. Look at the light in her eyes. I worked palliative care and never saw a dying person look that lively. Her hand muscles are still visible as well as those in her face. she was caught in an instant of the time it takes the facial muscles to form an expression.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Shannon Gonzaga

I KNOW! That's why I was saying that she would probaly not appreciate that people think she looks dead. I am also a Hospice volunteer, and I feel the same way as you.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Benedicta Whittaker

Widow's weeds.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Helen A. Johns Linker

The heighth of fashion then. You were to be in black for three years, then change to purple and dark blue. There was a pension for Civil War widows. My ancestor managed to save money on the $11 a month that she received.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Dawn Stringer

I thought it was the edging of the mourning clothes then change the colours of clothing later on the mourning time.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Helen A. Johns Linker

Not necessarily, it depended on where you lived and how your family treated the situation. Some places they only had to wear black two years. During the Civil war, black might have been all you had, especially down South.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

This woman is many years past the Civil War. She is dressed in a late 1880s to early 1890s style. Also, the dress could be almost any color. Reds and browns and deep greens will look black in b&w photos, too.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Dyne Hooper Cox

She looks sad

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Cornelia Stuyver

This lady is a man...look at his hands!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Ree Young

Wash clothes with lye soap and boiling water, sweep carpets with a broom, empty coal stoves and carry heavy coal scuttles...do this for about 20 or so years, and see what your hands look like. Her joints look a bit swollen, so she probably has arthritis as well.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Kate Gordon

Good grief

Oct 14, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

Um, Cornelia Stuyver, what does that even mean? You sound so snobby and judgmental and ignorant about the past--and a little like an old Jerry Seinfeld episode. Most women (even wealthy ones) in earlier generations--especially prior to the mid-20th century--had "old" hands at a young age because they lacked the luxury and relative ease of modern life. They had to do everything with their hands. Much of their work involved heavy repetitive motion, and few had access to all the pampering and gentle products we in the modern era take for granted.

Besides, ANY person who has worked with their hands for decades will have "man" hands. Ree Young is correct, and didn't even mention all the other tasks, like sewing, scrubbing floors, ironing with a flatiron (those things are heavy and awkward to use and will destroy your wrists) and many other physical tasks. In fact, just lacing one's corset every day will stress one's hands. I'm a historian who portrays a woman in the 1890s and I can promise you, lacing up is hard on the hands. This woman probably did that every day of her life, unlike someone like me who only does it for my presentations--about 50 times per year.

Incidentally, I worked as a cashier at a grocery store as my first job, stayed there almost a decade, and had man hands in my early 20s from carpal tunnel syndrome and the many scars acquired when handling boxes, cans, paper, money, and harsh cleaning products constantly. I left that job almost 20 years ago and my hands always give away my age even though the rest of me still looks younger than I am chronologically. But I always look at that as a happy accident, because my hands look the part FAR better than they would if I had really "feminine" hands.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Melanie Stringer For goodness sake just because we disagree with you, you take offence? Big deal. I could not care less who disagrees with me in fact I rather enjoy it. My my my.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Brenda Thompson Davis

That dress looks so uncomfortable.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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José Wagner de Castro

Why a civil War widow? The man on the photo is not wearing an uniform!!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Lucy Hurst

Because of the date of the photo.

Oct 14, 2015 on

José Wagner de Castro

What is the date?

Oct 14, 2015 on

Lowlie Benallou

Good observation! Also if you look even closer, he appears to be an older man, not solider age.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Lowlie Benallou

Lucy, even if the photo was taken during the Civil War, it doesn't mean he died fighting in it, just like not every man who died during the Vietnam war years didn't died as a result of that war.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Lucy Hurst See the picture I posted above, of the two women whose faces I had to crop for copyright law -- their dresses are similar and the photo is dated Sept 1898 on its back. In beautiful teacher scripted longhand yet. The pair or at least the young one taught at a little school in Canada.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

This photo is at least 20 years post-Civil War.

Oct 15, 2015 on

France Scully Osterman

...And she is likely not wearing black! The collodion process is fairly insensitive to certain colors, so actually she could just as well be wearing red or yellow. Black tends to photograph lighter, and comes across as gray.

Oct 16, 2015 on

Lynn Thomas

Looks very uncomfortable. The brooch is poking her in the chin.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Rose Gasak

I see a beautiful woman in morning over losing a son or husband. But I also get the feeling it is a post mortem picture because looking at the picture the left arm looks stiff and placed there for this picture. The only thing I get from the brooch is that maybe she died over losing this loved one in the war and through respect the picture was placed there as a forever reminder of what happened.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Melanie Stringer

No she is very much alive.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Beth Krastins

they used to have t wear black for a year of mourning their husband.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Rose Gasak

How disrespectful some of you people are

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Suzan Kay Heine

What a broach!!!!!!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Chris Ann Johnston

Very cool. I wonder what book she is holding. The brooch is probably her husband.. She must have loved him very much. I bet it was costly too

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Jennifer Anderson

WONDERFUL. I feel sorry for those poor women, they didn't have any help like today.. just had to suck it up and move on, even with loads of littlies to feed... looks like it could be the black dress, worn for a good while after the death of your husband. so tight and restrictive..

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Linda M. Gigliotti

Jennifer, the Portugese women living up here still do that. All the rest of their life they have to wear black, take out their flowers, stay single yet the widowers can get remarried the same afternoon as his wife's funeral.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Fran Pleines Eanes

The women wore hoop dresses at the beginning of the civil war. ...then after the war they wore the bustle dresses. This lady wanted one more photo of her with her husband! So sad in her eyes.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Kris Kessell

First thing I noticed was to eyes.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

This is long after the Civil War--easily late 1880s or early 1890s. That could be a dead husband, brother, father, or son.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Siannon Birch

what an uncomfortable-looking dress, poor lady

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Brandy Reed Graham

that outfit looks super uncomfortable! and she looks kinda scary. lol

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Karen Howard

Agree.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Stephanie Marlyene Fuston Byaridge

Anne Talbott, this brings to mind Francis Clalin.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Anne Talbott

"They Fought Like Demons" is a great book about women in the Civil War. I highly recommend it!!

Oct 14, 2015 on

Jill McGlennon

Poor woman

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Richard Bowers

interesting

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Marjorie Wintle

How did women breath in those dresses?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Julie Vallance

its wonderfu

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Rose Rader Jayah

Oh my goodness look at that awful outfit!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Karrie Gibson

Holding down the home front was hard for women. That woman looks, like she held her own.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Shauna Holtgrewe

...seems we all have a photo of an ancestor that is a deep mourning civil war widow

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Marise Maciej Guizzetti

When women years ago held a book in pictures meant she was very educated

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Ree Young

It could be that the brooch was from the front of the album. It oculd have had a pin on the back so it could be worn. Brooches were sometimes made so that they could be used as pendants, so the brooch being a multi-use item is possible.

I doubt she wore it on a regular basis, as it is large. But this is a formal photograph. She probably donned her best black mourning dress to have it taken with the photo of her lost loved one.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Jackie Lewis

She's probably like 25 😆

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Sharon Ennen-Sulser

The pain and suffering in her eyes.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Brenda Rushton Hunt

Love the pic

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Leslie Mikolay Green

This is such an amazing photo...

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Shirley Manning

Wizard of Oz bad witch

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Cheryl Ann Stakelbeck

Wonder if that was her husband that is in her pin?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Vicki Snyder-Sonstegard

Poor woman. No one can be truly free to move around when trussed up in a straitjacket called a dress.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Jo Prentice

She looks so uncomfortable ' Poor thing :/

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Sophia's Page

Outfit
Yes!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Stefany Mendoza

Me encanta su camafeo, seguro era su esposo

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Lisa Miller Jackson

Those sleeves tho lol

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Teresa Faucheux

Raven Stone

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Kyttie Lee Nicholson

and oh, the corset. She did all that backbreaking work while compressing her lungs so tightly that she could never get a full, deep breath. Any wonder women died young in those days?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Melanie Stringer

Your lungs aren't compressed. Corsets are not as restrictive as they look and a woman customized the fit herself to accommodate accordingly. The corset is more about creating a visual illusion than anything. When I am laced up (I present first-person history as a specific person from the mid-1890s), my waist only LOOKS smaller than normal. But the actual measurement when corseted vs any other day of the year is almost exactly the same.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Rose Gasak

Melanie, how did we Ever figure things out on our own without you being here to correct all of us
Thank you😢😨😮

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Rose Gasak Some people know more than teenagers who know it all.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Kyttie Lee Nicholson

well, Melanie, I also have been corseted, as was my grandmother, and I couldn't breathe a deep breath nor could she. I also reduced my waist measurement by 3" and so, I suppose, for each of us the issue is different.

Oct 15, 2015 on

John Welch

That's Frau Blucher!

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Cheryl Harness

Melanie Stringer

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Mary Ellen Grayberg

Yes I don't understand how they got through the hot weather all that they had to wear . Even the long hair that they had would be excruciatingly warm . I recently let my hair grow long a little longer than would be normal for my age just to sort of test it out it was so warm when I put it down I cannot stand it . They had three layers of clothing or better as far as the time frame they did wear black a lot but this was a morning outfit I could not see the face and broach not sure if there is a uniform on or not maybe not not necessarily a soldier so I'm just guessing at around 1850 to 1875.

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Melanie Stringer

Much later than that. Her clothes and hairstyle indicate late 1880s to early 1890s.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Mary Ellen Grayberg

I took my magnifying glass and looked closer he was not a soldier just a gentleman who is bald sort of a Dr. Phil look I can't tell if the discoloration was in her fingers or part of the picture just being old also when you look at it with a magnifying glass her face looks really odd her skin looks shriveled but, now I'm thinking about it it could be just age and the fact that she had wrinkles, I could not see that her pupils were dilated I don't believe this is a p.m..

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Ree Young

Her husband could have been a soldier, but the only photograph she has of him was taken before he became one. Being bald, of course, is not necessarily a sign of age, and he might have died of something other than war-related injuries or diseases. All sorts of possibilities...we can only guess.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

It could be any significant male in her life--father, brother, son are all possibilities.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Buddy Anggana

Is that book or photo album?

Oct 14, 2015 on

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Eve Davenport Holder

I have several mourning brooches. Some have hair of the deceased. Some have a photo of their loved one and some have both.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Ena Vinciguerra

It's a Brooch.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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BJ Lopez Sky Walker

Wow fascinante

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Barbara Gulick

No junk food back then, look how thin she is. Looking good.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Christine Moore Smith

I believe the woman being so flogged was thinking of the mourning rituals which she saw in Gone With the Wind, and which are described in the book. Margaret Mitchell was born in 1900 and would have had contact with many women who were widows of the CW and men who had fought in it. The importance of GWTW the book, according to Margaret Mitchell herself, is that it is a story of survival. It remains a very popular book in Vietnam and Japan for that reason. And while we as Americans in the last 40 years are so, have been taught to see it as racist, (and it is to us, but we cannot judge Mitchell as she was a product of her time) I th ink it is important to remember that she wrote, as she said, about what happened to people who had "gumption" and those who didn't. None of the sequels are worth a damn because they fail to have Mitchell's vision. I have enjoyed the books concerning Rhett Butler and Mammy, but they are no where near what Mitchell may have had in mind when she finished the book, which was probably nothing.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Christine Moore Smith

Also I think she was few years out of mourning given the button decoration and the elaborate fashion of her clothing. I agree that the photo is probably of her dead husband, but she may just simply have been a widow with not connection to the war. She also probably had money since she had her picture taken and once again because of her clothing.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Christine Moore Smith

As to the war dead, the only acceptable number of war dead is zero. Every soldier who fights in a war is someone's father, brother, uncle, cousin, or friend, (or sister, mother, aunt, etc.) and those people deserve to rest in peace without any argument. I have ancestors who fought on both sides of the CW and honor them equally, because I am not them, cannot know how they felt, and have read and studied the war itself for too many years to know that hating someone is tragic and serves no purpose.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Robin Loughran

Can you imagine hot flashes in this getup?

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Terri Floyd

Her eyes look a little ( I said a little) like Shelley Goad

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Kay Finn

Mercy! I've read that people rarely smile in old tintypes or photos because it took so long to record the image and their faces would start to tremble. Otherwise, she might have been prettier.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Holly Schuetz

I don't think this was Civil War.. Perhaps her dead husband did fight in the Civil War, but the photo shown he was not wearing an uniform. This looks like 1870 or later..

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Melanie Stringer

This is late 1880s or early 1890s. No hoops, longline corset, lunatic fringe hair and close-cropped sleeves.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Holly Schuetz

Ok... just what I thought.. but it's clear she's in mourning..

Oct 15, 2015 on

Kathryn Rocha

That really looks uncomfortable.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Lisa Devin

And probably a tin covered bible on her lap, that's what it looks like to me...looks like 1890

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Christine Moore Smith

Well, she was in mourning, and may not have felt like smiling. There might also been a stand holding her head still and she was afraid to smile, Many people didn't smile because they didn't have good teeth, and then too, some people just didn't think it was correct to smile in a mourning picture. I think it was chiefly, however, because the exposure took so long.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Bobbie Avery

the clothes at that time period were extremely uncomfortable from what I've read and see

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Lissa Sun

Um with the slackness in her hands couldn't this be death photography? She looks kind of sunken and unhealthy.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Mike Linkof

Very competent looking hands

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Gary Ashley

Wow! What a photo

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Julie Hartley

Just curious as to how comfortable the styles of clothing were back then?!

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Teresa Regenold

Looks stern

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Paddy Dunne

Beautiful Photo

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Jean O'Connor

Too tight....how did she even breathe?

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Nanny Granny

What type of fabric do you think the dress is made of ? Look at her sleeve hems....they look turned under like very soft leather...thick shiney stretchy fabric....look how the top of her sleeves stand up...

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Sharon Raven Legnon

She would be pretty if she wasn't dressed so STARK!!! But, that was then.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Sharon Raven Legnon

Don't forget - only the man worked.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Casi J. Candia

She has the hands of a tough woman,a hard working woman!!!

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Charlene Feiner

Great photo. Amazing that this tiny people is in such good shape.

Oct 15, 2015 on

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Dawn White

Love seeing these old photos

Oct 16, 2015 on

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Toni Gonzales

How did they breathe in those dresses? They are beautiful but i wouldn't be able to breathe.

Oct 16, 2015 on

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Maria Sullivan Coady

Her eyes have seen much sadness

Oct 16, 2015 on

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Vicki Kennedy

That looks so uncomfortable

Oct 16, 2015 on

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Brian Anderton

Looking at the out-sized brooch wedged under her chin, I'm wondering if this isn't another of those corpse photos?

Oct 17, 2015 on

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Susan Schloss

507 favorites

This is my great great grandmother, and she is wearing a similar pin. I think it's around 1900, in NYC.

Oct 18, 2015 on

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Ginny French

Am I wrong or is this lady's dress torn right below the book she's holding?

Oct 29, 2015 on

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N Hertel

191 favorites

No, it's not torn. It's a pleat, just like the one on the other side of her skirt. Nobody in the U.S. knows what it's like to live in the middle of a war. The U.S. hasn't seen war on their own land in 150 years. We have things way too cushy here. Not only is there a lot of blood shed and death of loved ones, but watching your world go up in smoke, literally, everything you own; disease (plagues of all sorts, including an abundance of lice, typhus, diphtheria, cholera, etc. - those who don't die of gun shot, die of plague, and far more of them, than die of gun shot); listening to the guns going off all day; listening to the screaming of injured men all night; women and girls being raped (in some wars, gang raped to their deaths); no food to be had anywhere, which means going hungry for lengthy periods of time; having to steal the little food they do have, because the scarcity of it makes the prices go sky high, and there's no money to be had - a shoe box full of money being barely enough to buy a loaf of bread, maybe - in the better times; troops of soldiers demanding you prepare them a meal at gun point, which means that potato you planned for your family's meals for the next two or three days/nights, goes into a soup pot for those soldiers, who have food provided for them by their military, but they just want a home cooked meal; the scarcity of clean water, etc., etc., and those are only the kinds of things one can talk about years later. There are many other horrors that no word, or words can describe - only mute tears. This woman didn't just lose one or two loved ones - she lost everything that made life worthwhile. Her pose isn't unnatural, it''s as comfortable as she can get while she's waiting for the photographer to take the picture. The fact that she posed for such a photo, in her mourning clothes, with the picture of her husband at her neck, and the tin-type picture album, no doubt filled with the pictures of many other loved ones she lost, in her hand, is a statement in itself. It's not about showing respect for the dead, and those left behind - it's about the gross, unnecessary waste of war over things that could have been settled around a table, with a lot of desire to find a compromise, and a lot less hot headedness over having your own way. War is never the only way - it's only the only way for those who refuse to listen to the other person's side of the story, and demand to have their way - 100%. Respect for the other person, and their opinions and needs is what prevents war.

Nov 02, 2015 · Reply

N Hertel

191 favorites

She wouldn't have had a picture of her husband in uniform. For one thing most soldiers made up their own uniform (see the story of George Custer, and his uniforms), but mostly, her husband isn't in uniform in the picture, because it's a picture of him before the war began. Why should she smile over a statement of the evils of war, and everybody and thing that is lost in war? People who talk about the lack of a smile over a photo like this, has no clue to the horrors of war. It's a proof of the superficiality - shallowness - of today's society.

Nov 02, 2015 · Reply

Luis Laureiro

Nov 14, 2015 on

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Luis Laureiro

She is scaryyyyy

Nov 14, 2015 on

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Marycad; Canadian Steampunker & Time traveler

I just love the shine of that silk taffetas

Jan 14, 2016 on

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Raja Jai

88834341

Mar 31, 2016 on

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Raja Jai

8883434217

Mar 31, 2016 on

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Debbie Lee

Looks like after dead photo common back in day

Oct 15, 2017 on

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Daniel Pinna

540 favorites

Those "Danny Elfman" shoulders!

Mar 02, 2020 · Reply

Linda M. Gigliotti

Linda Woody her dress is like the one I posted above which was dated at the back as Sept. 8, 1898. One or both the subjects were teachers in Canada.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

This could easily be a mid-1880s to early 1890s style--she's not wearing hoops of any kind, so I'm going with a later date. 1870s was more Natural Form, and the lunatic fringe hairstyle didn't really take off until the 1880s, getting very large like this in the early 1890s and going out of style by 1897-1900.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Melanie Stringer I'm saying that the picture I posted from my own album out of the 1890s is dated Sept 1898 and was worn by professional women, teachers in Canada at that time.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Lucy Hurst

I wonder what the women of the future will think when they look back on our fashions.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Lowlie Benallou

They may say they can't believe how slovenly the women were! Not pointing fingers. I'm a country girl and I go to town looking like Ive been digging in the garden.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Dawn Stringer

I loved wearing period clothing, but it does make you think, about how these women managed with everyday tasks.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Ree Young

If you were raised wearing those fashions, you didn't expect anything else. What would you have compared it to? No one would have believed the way we dress now or that we expect our clothes to be comfortable.

Actually, I can't figure out why modern women wear those very high heels that cause the Achilles tendon to shorten, the spine to be out of alignment, and those tight, pointy shoes...women end up with painful bunions and callouses. Whatever the century, it's all in the name of following fashion, painful, confining, or just plain silly!

Oct 14, 2015 on

Lowlie Benallou

Oh yes, Stilettos! Ouch, and add to that a super short dress that fits like it's spray painted on. A dress like that of course requires that a woman wear thong panties (aka; butt saw) At least the absurd fashions we have now are optional, not the standard daily wear.

Oct 14, 2015 on

Char Mack

I know what you mean Lowlie . . .looks as if they were holding in farts!

Oct 15, 2015 on

Linda M. Gigliotti

Dawn Stringer I mention this in my novel in progress. Imagine trying to do a dirty job and having your hem caught in the muck. Or trying to outrun something. And they didn't just stick their dress in the washer like we can.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Lowlie Benallou

I hike this trail frequently, and it's quite dangerous. I can't even imagine how (or WHY) a woman would manage this trail in long, multi-layerd, cumbersom skirts and corsetes. So I've always found this photo astonishing.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Melanie Stringer

Linda M. Gigliotti--I assume you're consulting with someone on the physical aspects? Women made all sorts of adaptations for various conditions such as housework.

And corsets weren't nearly as bad as we imagine. I'm not saying they were wonderful, but a properly-laced and properly-fitted corset (custom made--you'll never get the correct fit "off the rack") is rather more comfortable than you'd expect. Once you know how to put one on and lace it yourself there are many ways to get "the look" like the woman in the picture without suffocating. Remember, too, the clothing was made for the individual, so it is perfectly fitted over the layers of underpinnings and the corset for the individual woman. But a woman in a formal portrait is dressed in her best outfit, NOT in her daily wear. It looks much worse than it actually is.

I am an historian and I present educational programs in first-person--meaning I portray a specific woman from history as she would have been in the mid-1890s--so I have the full complement of wardrobe that was custom-sewn to fit me perfectly. When I'm dressed for presentation, people think I'm much thinner than I am, but the corset and the shape of the clothes create the illusion. My actual waist measurement is no smaller while corseted than when I'm in modern street clothes.

Oct 15, 2015 on

Possible Civil War Widow

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