Naiche, Chief of the Chiricahua Apache 1898
This is a photograph of Naiche (ca 1856 – 1919), son of Chochise, in his U.S. Military uniform, wearing medals he was awarded. The crossed arrows with letters USS on his hat were part of the Indian Scout uniform from 1890 until 1907.
This photo was taken in 1898 by Adolph F Muhr (ca 1858 – 1913) and published by F A Rinehart. Muhr took up photography in the late 1870s in Hoboken New Jersey, and moved to Denver in the early 1880s. He married Cora about 1885, and they moved to Omaha, perhaps about 1898, to work with Frank Rinehart (see below). Sometime between 1900 and 1910 Adolph and Cora moved to Seattle, Washington.
Frank A Rinehart (1861-1928) was an artist and photographer, well known for his Native American portraits. He operated out of Denver ca 1879-1881, then joined the staff of William Henry Jackson there. In 1885 he married the receptionist at the Jackson studio – Anna Ransom Johnson, and they moved to Omaha Nebraska, where Rinehart opened his own studio, remaining there until his death in 1928.
In 1898 Rinehart was commissioned to photograph the Native Americans attending the Indian Congress held in conjunction with the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in Omaha. Rinehart hired Adolph Muhr as his assistant.
Five Smiling Women in Lansing Iowa 1891
It was the beginning of the ‘Gay 90s’ and people were beginning to relax slightly from the Victorian stiffness that had so long prevailed. Photographers were becoming more experimental in their posing, trying to effect natural-seeming settings in the studio.
Here we have five young women arranged as if outdoors for a bit of bird-watching (two hold small opera-glasses/binoculars) and one has a large box camera on her lap. A small mound of dried plants in the foreground help us imagine that the painted background really is a forest. Every one of the women is smiling.
I like group photos, not just for their dynamics, but because they let us see some of the diversity of styles that were clearly contemporaneous. The various hats and dress styles in this example show some of the range of decoration that was available for individual expression, without forgoing the basic puffy upper-sleeve and small collars that define the early 90s style.
This photo was taken by J R McGarrity of Lansing Iowa (we deduced the initials from the monogram). That would probably be John R McGarrity, who was married to Emma J Schrody. His photographic career was probably short-lived, he was born about 1861 in Iowa, so he probably took up photography in the 1880s some time. By 1900 his wife was living with her parents, and he was off somewhere, probably looking for work to support his wife and two young children. By 1910 he is back in the county, working as a newspaper printer.
1899 Bruno Nauschuetz photo of Boy in San Antonio TX
Here is a wonderful photograph of a boy about five years old, dressed in a frilly Little Lord Fauntleroy style, with his trusted dog at his side. The image is dated July 1899 on the back. The boy holds the dog’s chain in one hand, while in the other he clutches a hat that looks about two sizes too large for his head. I’m sure his mother loved this photo, but one has to wonder what he thought of it years later, when he had his Texan macho image to uphold. Lacey frills and big white collars and ruffles were very popular dress-up styles for little boys in the late 1890s.
The photo was taken by Bruno Nauschuetz at 224 Sharer Street, San Antonio, Texas. Bruno was a photographer in San Antonio from before 1891 until his death in 1914. We learn from the 1900 U.S. Census that Bruno was born October 1861 in Germany, and immigrated in 1887, so he probably opened a studio soon after that. He was married with one son, Max, born July 1891.
