Mayflower Faces
©2012-2020 MayflowerFaces
  • Home
  • Tallies (per Pilgrim)
  • Alden-Mullins
  • Allerton
  • Billington
  • Bradford
  • Brewster
  • Brown/Browne
  • Chilton
  • Cooke
  • Doty
  • Eaton
  • Fletcher
  • Fuller, Edward
  • Fuller, Samuel
  • Hopkins
  • Howland-Tilley
  • More
  • Priest
  • Rogers
  • Samson
  • Soule
  • Standish
  • Warren
  • White
  • Winslow
  • About this Site
  • How do I find my Pilgrim ancestors?
  • Useful Links
  • Mayflower Faces BLOG (Updated 10.21.20)
  • Findagrave Mayflower Descendants (Updated 9.6.20 with Mary Ann Collins)
  • Mystery/Fun Photos (updated 7.8.20)
  • Descendant Index: A - C
  • Descendant Index: D - I
  • Descendant Index: J - P
  • Descendant Index: Q - Z
  • ALL SURNAME INDEX

Retouched photos in the late 1800s & early 1900s

8/29/2016

0 Comments

 
Most of the images on this site are from digitized books, thus the quality is underwhelming. Some, though, are much sharper because they are photos from the Library of Congress and other archives that allow public use, or came from print books that someone scanned for use here. Be aware that some of the formal portrait photos may have been given the Photoshopping technique of that era, namely retouching on the glass negative (before printing) by artists. They could to erase wrinkles and freckles, cover exposed skin, hide bad teeth or a goiter neck, straighten a crossed eye or crooked nose, slim a subject, and even open closed eyes. This week's NEHGS member newsletter had a link to an article on mentalfloss.com about these techniques, emphasizing how politically/socially incorrect they would be today. Depending on age and sex, for example, one could have too many or too few facial wrinkles and the "science" of phrenology (the study of a skull's bumps to determine one's character) might call for retouching to make a head rounder or less bony. The source for the article was a 1909 book - part of a 10-book series -  downloadable from Internet Archive, J. B. Schriever, ed., The Complete Self-Instructing Library of Practical Photography, Vol. X, Negative Retouching, Etching and Modeling (Scranton: American School of Art and Photography, 1909), digitized by the California Digital Library. The article only touched on a few highlights, but Volume X contains many more examples of impressive changes a skilled artist could accomplish. Social commentary aside, it demonstrates artistic talent being used to alter truth. It is thus a caution about taking the images on this site too literally when using them to ponder what your ancestors really looked like and which side of the family you got your features from. 
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dr. Maura Mackowski is an Arizona research historian who enjoys the challenge of looking for Mayflower descendants, hers and anyone else's.

    Archives

    May 2022
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.