Cat-Earred Detroit Girl Victorian Cabinet Card

I've seen cat-earred Victorian hairstyles both with a bow and coiffed up with pins and this one obviously falls in the former category. While not technically Nankin it's also not that far removed either. Such is history.

The photographer, F. G. Poli, whose studio was at 234 Randolph in Detroit, was part of the Polish immigrant class of photographers operating in Detroit and Hamtramck at the time. As Ceil Wendt Jensen illustrates in a post on Polonia, Poli was known for using chairs as resting devices with his subjects, allowing for their dresses and figures to be on full display.

Faustino was born in February of 1857 near Florence, Italy, and he came to the United States in 1881. Within a year he was married to Louisa Damm and their children were born in Detroit: Clorinda in December of 1882, Lillian in July of 1884, and Oscar in May of 1892. During the 1890s he and Louisa were the proprietors of Poli’s Cafe, which was a famous rendezvous for theatrical celebrities. “F. G. Poli, Detroit, Maker of Pictures” was printed on 10 ¾ by 5 ½ inch buff mounts which carried an oval photograph and a small calendar for the year 1906. Some of his photo mount imprints included a facsimile of the gold medal which was awarded for the photographs he exhibited at the 1906 Esposizione Internazionale in Milan, Italy. Faustino sailed from Genoa, Italy, on S. S. Principe di Piemonte on November 3 and arrived at New York City on November 20, 1907. The Poli’s daughter Lillian became a well known singer and actress in musical comedies and light opera. When Faustino died on May 31, 1910, his widow took his place as proprietor of the Poli Studio.

And a colorized version of the photo:

Comments

A Dudley Randall Poem in Milestone 2

I bought this Milestone 2 poetry Magazine at a Livonia estate sale this week. Milestone was the literary publication of Wayne (State) University and this second issue dates to 1949. While I don't recognize most of the names, Dudley Randall was both a nationally known poet and the librarian for the Wayne County General Hospital at Eloise via the Wayne County Library System. The poem featured is The Southern Road which was a revised version of the completed poem from 1948 that h as a handful or two of word differences between the two. I don't know if Randall edited the poem for later collected works editions or earlier but this link features it in its likely final form in 2009. Neither version particularly enchants me but the block print in the magazine is an added bonus.

A Cabinet Card of a Dead Man Lying in Repose From Wayne Photographer Susan Doolittle

The City of Wayne, Michigan was not a large village at the turn of the 20th century so it stands to reason that there wasn't a glut of photographers practicing their trade there. As such, the 3 cabinet cards and carte de visites that I own represents roughly a quarter of the early ones. Considering that the wives of Frank Hickok and William Corlett, first Village President of Wayne, took over after Frank's death in 1892 the list grows smaller beyond those two families. Had I snagged the Doolittle dead man cabinet card I'd be even that much more Wayne-rich in photographs. Speaking of Susan Doolittle, of whom I have learned very little about, it is interesting to note that Wayne had three women photographers in an era oft dominated by men in that very field. This photograph of a corpse is a startling example of her work.

Frederick Soop: Not An Equal Opportunity Restraunteer

Detroit Free Press , March 28, 1890 If you don't want to hear a racist tale of a suburban namesake then close your eyes now. As early as 1876 Frederick Soop had left his Belleville farm once again, having done a stint at the Hawkins House in Ypsilanti during the Civil War and the City Hotel in Detroit thereafter, and ventured off to Chatham, Ontario to run the Rutley Hotel , which was conducted as a Temperance House. Detroit Free Press , August 17, 1879 In 1879 he was searching for a good restaurant or small hotel to operate. Eventually he ended up on Washington Avenue near State Street running a dining hall which he ran until around 1890. Detroit Free Press , April 16, 1890 It was in 1888 when the aforementioned racial incident occurred at his dining establishment. It was then that William H. Haynes, a black doctor, sat down with his former classmate S. W. Barkwell for dinner. The men ordered but when the food was served none was placed before Mr. Haynes who, ironically, ha...

The Nankin Township Historical Society

Search This Blog