Baby Pictures and Boxes

Do you remember when all baby portraits, boy or girl, were taken with the child wearing a dress? Of course that was the day before colored photographs, but I have often wondered if those garments were colored or white. My thought is that the dress might have been worn for baptism and was white. Thinking of the generation, it might well have been used for every baby in the family, unless you happened to have multiple births. Both my husband and I come from a family of savers and I have had the occasion to see these delicate white dresses. The ones I have seen were very fine linen or cotton with delicate embroidery.

I have noticed that my generation of grandmas and great-grandmas did not write on the back of pictures, so you are often not sure if you are viewing a male or female ancestor. Of course the next generations will probably not be looking at ancestor pictures, as most of us now store all of our photos on our computers, and I am just not able to visualize too many of us sitting with a computer (or whatever next generation device there might be) looking at photos at a family reunion. Well, the upside would be it surely takes less storage space and probably will be easier to find where you put your “boxes” of photos.

I can remember the box camera that my mother used for pictures and that makes me wonder about the photographers of the generations before that. Were they traveling individuals that just happened to have a route past your homestead? Did you gather up your children and make a trip to a neighboring community or church, or were some just lucky enough to have a friend or neighbor that had photo equipment? All of these questions. Does anyone remember, or does this involve an internet search, and I probably need help with that. Does make me wonder what technology my great-grandkids will need help with as they age. Enough rambling, but it would be fun to have a crystal ball or time machine.