ViewMate - Image Archive, Image 94655 - Photo Identification - Poland - Unknown - Unknown

Information

Picture

Question

Category: Photo Identification
Approval Date: 8/8/2021 3:48 PM
Family Surname: Unknown
Country: Poland
Town: Unknown
Date of Image: Unknown

Click the picture to enlarge

This photo was in my deceased parent’s collection. I don’t know the identity of the two women. To me, this appears to be a photo of two sisters, and not a mother and her daughter. The photo could date from the late 19th or early 20th century. The background suggests a studio setting. The dresses could be studio props—or not.

My parents were born in the United States. My mother’s family resided in the area of Poland that was part of the Russian Empire. They emigrated to New York City between 1906 and 1927. My father’s grandparents were from the area of Poland that was part of Prussia and the German Empire. They
emigrated to New York City in the 1870s.

I would appreciate any analysis/advice that might help me learn two things about this photo. First, approximately when it was made. That might help with my second question: Are these women from my mother’s or my father’s family? Thank you.

Response

8/12/2021 1:35 PM

To me, that looks like a teenaged girl and her 30-something mother around the 1890s. If it's a studio portrait -- which it appears to be -- normally there is identifying info somewhere. Could be that the photo is glued to another piece of paper and the identifying info is under that?

8/13/2021 6:12 AM

They are wearing essentially the same dress, which very mildly suggests they are the same generation; or as you say it may just be what the studio had on hand. Victorian-era convention often showed the parents seated and the children standing, but here the one seated appears younger. The age difference does not look to me like a whole generation.
The one seated definitively has no rings, the one standing might possibly have one on the left middle finger. The two women have the same eyes and nose as each other and kind of the same mouth angle but visibly different lips.
That's all I can make out. Good luck.

8/13/2021 9:44 AM

Both have pierced ears (see the earrings) and both appear to have their own hair, which argues for sisters, since the dresses are modest and if one were the mother, her hair would be covered. It does look like a studio photo, and my guess is that it is between 1890 and 1910.

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ViewMate Posting VM 94655

Submitted by Michael Levy