Post Mortem Photography

Victorian era parents posing with their deceased daughter.

Nineteenth-century photograph of a deceased child with flowers

The earliest post-mortem photographs are usually close-ups of the face or shots of the full body and rarely include the coffin. The subject is usually depicted so as to seem in a deep sleep, or else arranged to appear more lifelike. Children were often shown in repose on a couch or in a crib, sometimes posed with a favorite toy or other plaything. It was not uncommon to photograph very young children with a family member, most frequently the mother. Adults were more commonly posed in chairs. Flowers were also a common prop in post-mortem photography of all types. Wikipedia

Marie Curie

 Marie Curie or Madame Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), was a Polish physicist and chemist, working mainly in France, who is famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. c. 1920  Wikipedia

Blanche McSmith

Blanche McSmith, 1920 – 2006,  McSmith was a legislator, social worker, mother, and tireless advocate for social and economic justice in Alaska. Born in Texas in 1920, Blanche Louise Preston graduated from Wiley College in 1941 and earned a masters degree in social work from the University of Southern California in 1944.

Blackpast |  Image Courtesy of the Alaska State Library, Historical Collections

Ancient Historical Photography

Earliest known, surviving heliography engraving in existence, made by Nicéphore Niépce in 1825 by the heliography process.

Robert Cornelius, self-portrait, Oct. or Nov. 1839, approximate quarter plate daguerreotype which is a procedure invented in 1839 using silver on a copper plate.

The Photo of the First Photographic Studio, 1893

smashinglists | via Wikipedia Commons

San Francisco Earthquake

San Francisco Earthquake, 1906, Refugee Camp, Jefferson Park

San Francisco, 1906, collapsed buildings

San Francisco, 1906, hot meal kitchen

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration | Wikimedia Commons

Cuba

"Cuba," mascot of the Arizona Rough Ridgers, S.L., 1890s

sharlot, Sharlot Hall Museum Archives, Call Number an014p, Spanish American War

Epsom Races

Beggar running alongside King George V’s coach, Epsom Races, ca 1920

retronaut via Nationaal Archief

FBI

FBI Special agent in target practice, 1930s, Source FBI Photos

Wikipedia Commons

Lucille Baldwin Brown

 Lucille Baldwin Brown was born on Suwannee Street in Smokey Hollow community to Mr. and Mrs. Dallis Baldwin (who co-founded St. John now New St. John Church). Lucille was the first black public county librarian. ca. 1940s

State Library and Archives of Florida, 500 S. Bronough St., Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250 USA. Contact: 850.245.6700. Archives@dos.state.fl.us

Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, "Back to the Beach" (1987)