Figure 1.--Here we see a three-ply paper frame of a Maine boy with Dutch boy bangs andcearing a sailor suit. The portrait is undated, but the low-cut shoes strongly suggest the 1920s. The strudio was Dora Clark Tusk in Lesiston, Maine.

Paper frames were initially not designed to be stood up on desks and tables. Like CDVs and cabinet cards, they had to be propped up. beccabinet card, despite its name was not very easily displayed on sleves and cabinets. They had to be propped up. They were more likely to be stored away and brought out to be shown. Some might have been placed in albums. Thre were specially designed albums. There was also scrapbooking. Most were put away in drawers or other storage areas and brouht out to show visitors. We notice different plys. At first we see one plys like the beautifully decorated frame here (figure 1). Some had or had ovelapping flaps or protective overlays. We notice three ply frames, we think in the 1910s-20s. Eventually two-ply frames became standard (1930s). These opened like a book and thus could be stood up, but this did not display the image as one might like. Eventually the cut out back support was invented so that the frames were self supporting and could be effectively displsyed. All of these different approaches and the styling associated with them can be used to help date photographs. This we hope to do as we arquive dated examples.

Created: 1:11 PM 5/4/2017
Last updated: 1:11 PM 5/4/2017