Christmas image, 1890-1897

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The Clarke has images in multiple formats documenting Christmas. These images include family Christmas trees, downtown decorations, painted store windows, and buildings decorated for the holidays. Above is a nice example, a glass-plate negative of 5 girls and a dolly each sitting on a small chair near a small Christmas tree on a table in the 1890s photographed by Owen P. Safford of Flint, Michigan. By the 1880s he worked as a druggist (pharmacist) and photographer. Back then photographers made the chemical concoction to put on the plates to create the photographs. Having chemical knowledge and access to chemicals was very helpful. Little wheelbarrels in the lower corners of the image and small toys on the table are visible. If you look at the tree carefully there are candles, small bells, a string of popcorn, and some small photographs of girls' faces on round, oblong, or star-shaped Christmas ornaments. I believe we are looking at the photographer's daughters and their images on ornaments he made for the tree in their home.

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