The adventures and various works of a photographer, road tripper, former patron of the local arts, aspiring app developer, and late night coffee drinker and conversationalist.
A couple of weeks ago, whilst making my usual rounds at some area antique stores, I came upon a collection of interesting historical oddities. These were a decent-sized stack of old nineteenth-century letters, carefully unfolded and presented with their original envelopes inside sealed plastic Ziplock bags. The correspondence varied, consisting mostly of everyday life updates, but there were also business-related items and even some love letters included in the mix. Most were from senders inside the state of Texas, and a few were even addressed to recipients located right here in Dallas. I thumbed through the stack, looking at each item in turn, and ultimately decided I would buy one with a Wood Street address. Within the correspondence I saw references to what seemed to be the State Fair of Texas, and I was intrigued.
I like to collect vintage photos, particularly vintage photos of my hometown of Dallas and photos of places I've visited. Most of these date from the era of affordable personal photography and include mostly slides, real photo postcards, and everyday prints with the occasional vintage film negative thrown in. But a handful of items in my collection date to a period even earlier than that. These are not photo reproductions or reprints, period postcards, or facsimiles, but are actual period specimens that hail from the nineteenth or extreme early twentieth centuries. Here are examples of some of these.
Daguerreotype of young lady, 1/6 plate, circa 1840s
This portrait of a young lady is said to date to sometime during the 1840s, making it the oldest photo in my collection as of this writing. The ringlets in the woman's hair are a particular draw for me stylistically, and, unlike most photos from this period, you can see a bit of a smile playing upon her lips. Daguerreotypes consist of sheets of silver-plated copper, very highly polished and chemically treated to be light-sensitive. The image consists of the same silver as the surface upon which it sits, meaning that the appearance of the photo alternates between a positive and negative image depending on how the available light hits it. Daguerreotypes are very fragile objects and are usually presented behind glass-plated frames, which are stored inside latched, decorative cases. Mine came without a case, but I immediately placed it into one upon receipt.
Unfortunately, I have no information on the location, the photographer, or the identity of the woman in the photo. What I can say is that having one daguerreotype makes me want to have another. This was purchased from an online seller in mid-January 2025.
With 2025 now underway, I am laying out my plans for the new year. Alongside the usual new year's resolutions and the incentives to myself to get healthier, I'm also putting some thought into what blog and other personal projects I'd like to see realized over the coming months. Toward this end, I've compiled the following list of "must have" and "would be nice" items that will help bring those plans and ideas to fruition. If you (or anyone you know) are aware of a source for any of the following items, or have some examples that you are willing to donate, potentially sell, or just allow the use of for various blog features and/or research projects, please reach out to me:
Original, non-commercial (i.e., amateur) photo prints, snapshots, negatives, and slides of the Dallas-Fort Worth area from the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly those showing buildings, streets, and important events (but not parades). This includes amateur real photo postcards, and especially includes amateur photos from local band performances taken prior to the advent of digital cameras.
Original flyers for local shows at area clubs and music venues from the 1990s and earlier, or originally made (i.e., not taken off the internet) high quality images of them
Original memorabilia of any kind related to businesses located on or along Poydras Street in Dallas, from any time period, especially photos, postcards, business cards, advertisements, and physical promotional items (advertising handouts, branded items and other such artifacts) (high priority)
Cabinet cards and CDVs produced in the Dallas-Fort Worth area from 1870 through 1900
Vintage, original 8mm films of sites in the DFW area (amateur films, not commercial, and not films of private events such as weddings and birthday parties unless they include notable individuals)
Photos of interracial couples predating Loving vs. Virginia (i.e., before 1967), including slides
Original music-related 'zines from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, from any time period
Route 66-related slides and photos, amateur only (not commercially produced)
Any "found footage" style audio and video recordings related to DFW happenings, on any format I can play (cassette, 1/4 inch reel-to-reel, home-recorded 8 track cartridges, microcassettes, VHS/VHS-C, Video8, Hi8, miniDV, DVD-R and other recordable DVD media)
When it comes to cabinet cards, photos of places outside the DFW metroplex, and the pre-Loving photos, I am looking to acquire originals, but in all the other instances, I only need permission to reproduce materials and don't need to actually acquire originals as long as a good quality copy can be provided. This is particularly the case for the various historical research projects that concern local history or the DFW music scene in particular.
Plans for 2025 include finishing up the Ghosts of DFW Music History blog series, some historical posts concerning Dallas history, completing my Road Trips and Live Performance Photography photo galleries, a few recipe and cooking-related posts, and possibly some photography-related experiments and/or videos. And of course, whatever else I may feel like doing at any given time.
I picked up these ticket stubs inside a Fort Worth antique store a few months ago. The original theater operated from 1922 until sometime in the 1970s, eventually being demolished to make way for a 20-story office building. The theater opened in 1922 as the Hope Theatre and underwent multiple name changes until being christened The Capri in 1960.
Continue reading "Capri Theatre ticket stubs"
Dallas is home to a healthy community of photographers and photography studios in the digital era. While the widespread prevalence of easy, convenient cameras in everyone's mobile device makes everyday photography easier than ever, there is still a niche carved out for professional work when it comes to memorializing important events or, just as importantly, people. This was no less the case in the earlier days of photography, in the days before Kodak and the Brownie camera made picture taking easily accessible to the masses. The portrait studios that operated in the late nineteenth century captured images on plates of glass and produced printed vanity photos, or "cabinet cards," by the dozen for those seeking to memorialize their own likenesses, or those of their family members or families. But while these studios helped create a valuable record of many early communities, their own legacies have so often been erased by over a century of urban development, with little to no evidence left to recall their one-time locations near city centers. In this post, we're going to go on a sort of "walking tour" of several such locations in the city of Dallas, and take a look at the stories behind seven early Dallas photography studios.
The tour area
