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- Woman's Dress
- Card Style
- Props
This carte de visite is a great exercise in dating photographs using all the characteristics available. Because this one could be a trick, looking at only one aspect. It is a great cross-over photograph between two distinct eras: the 1870s and 1880s.
The lovely lady's dress has the elegant clean lines and innumerable buttons down the front, typical of the 1880s. Her neckline however, has vestiges of late 1870s and very early 1880s. This would be the high neckline (which did last throughout the 80s), but the underlace, which completes the Victorian look, was popular throughout the 1870s, but diminished rapidly in the 80s. The flounces of her dress are typical of the 70s and early 80s, and they became less prominent as the 1880s wore on.
Her hairstyle could have crossed decades, though it trends more to the 1880s.
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Estimated Date: 1883 +- 2 Years
Card Style
The fact that the card is a CDV is interesting, as the carte de visite was nearly replaced by the larger cabinet card by the early 1880s. Also, the gold border, extending to the edge of the card, is found most often in 1870s photographs.
Not sure if the fact that this was taken in Modesto, California which was a very rural community, was a reflection of the photographer and his offerings.
However, the prop she is resting her hand on is surely a paper mache fake column, which were standard in the 80s, used sparingly in the 70s. |
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Unfortunatley, the photograph did not include a documented date. However, the name of the woman was incuded, in period ink.
A quick search in Ancestry.com for Minnie Wood of Modesto, with a father of A.A. Wood found an entry that is a high probability of the same person.
Looking at several related records, they all concurred that she was born in 1861 in Iowa. (Note: Pencil entry of that information was written by this author)
Looking closely at the young woman, she does appear to be in her early 20s, which would agree with the estimated date of the photograph.
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