Figure 1.--Here we have a dated silver nitrate studio portrait in a paper frame. It was taken in 1927. It was not a simple frame. The leaves folded together and had tissue paper over the portrait. There is writing, but we do not have Japanese capability. Hopefully we can eventually obtain a translation. The studio was y. Nakasato.

Our interest in photography is primarily to help date undated images. We can estimate the dates by the fashiions shown, but we want some way of confirming the dates and our assessment of the dates based on the fashions. Thus dated images are particularly useful. And if we know the dates of particular styles of cases, mounts, amd frames this can information can help date the undated images. Cases and mounts refer to 19th century photograph types (Dags, Ambros, and albumen photographs--CDVs and a cabinet cards). We have, however, archived very few Dags and Ambros and only a small number of albumen portrsits. We begin to see silver nitrate portraits after the turn-of-the 20th century. And studio prints often came in paper frames. We have archived quite a number of these and most are undasted. Snapshots also appeared at the turn-o-the 20th century. And differences in the white margins and edges can provide some dating insights. (Almost all snapshot prints had white margins until the 1970s.) So we are looking to acquire as many dated portraits as possible. The more we have, the better we can date the undated images and the fashions depicted. This is very useful in confirming our assessments of the fashions.

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Created: 2:55 AM 2/3/2020
Last updated: 2:55 AM 2/3/2020