Maplewood History: More Photographs from the Goldsmith Studio

By
Doug Houser
-
8
132

As most of you know I have been running a series of posts that have been supplied from the collection of Emma Beauvais Thomas Grumley.  This is number eight.  The collection included a large number of images of friends and acquaintances of Emma’s, one has to assume.  Many of these had nothing written on them that would identify the subjects.

First I separated by type, mounts etc.  Then I separated them according to which photographer’s studio had made them. This research has turned up some interesting and unexpected details about life in our area around the turn of the 19th century into the 20th.

In my last post I focused on an unusual (to me anyway) set of diamond-shaped images that had been made by the Goldsmith Studio.  In this post we’ll have a look at the other photos in the collection by the same photographer.

Written on the back: C.R. to R.T. 1896.

There is no information on either of these tiny dancers.

I cleaned the image up a bit.
This image has…
…this one burned into the back of it.
No ID on her either.
This image has…
…this one burned into the back.

The backside of the previous image. We get a always welcome year on this one.

We have this young woman’s name, Lucretia J. Humphreys.  One of James Sutton’s daughters, Sarah W. married Charles S. Humphreys in the Sutton mansion at 7453 Manchester on March 30, 1864.

We have nothing on this handsome fellow.
And nothing on this attractive young woman either.
From this 1901 ad, we learn the name of the owner of the Goldsmith Studio, Mr. A.H. Curtis.

As usual, a wealth of trivia from Newspapers.com.
Mr. A.H. Curtis, apparently no shrinking violet, shares some personal details.
And then in 1910, he disappears. I never did find an article that confirmed his return.

 

The images are shown courtesy of Chrissie Hayes McConnell.  All of the images in this post are now in the collection of SHSMO at UMSL.

It should be spring-like weather tomorrow.  About time.  We still have the pandemic and the horrible war in Ukraine on our minds.  Perhaps we can be more thankful for what we’ve got and hopefully help some of those poor folks who are losing everything.

As always, I appreciate everyone who supports this effort.

Much thanks.

Doug Houser      March 12, 2022

8 COMMENTS

  1. I just have to remark on the hat with the entire flower arrangement on it. Wow, that would be perfect for the Easter Parade, or the horse races. Fantastic! Even though many of the photos you have been sharing have people who we will never learn anymore about, I have really enjoyed seeing the styles and poses of the individuals. So sweet. Thank you Doug, lots of eye candy here.

  2. his disappearance is something to think about as well as his memory loss. Too many photo chemicals over the years or just age and genetics and diet? Never heard from again? Sounds like this is not the first time he went fishing but had always returned. Did the business continue after his disappearance?

    • You make a good point, Mark. Those early photographers must have been exposed to a variety of chemicals. I wonder what effect those may have had on them. As for what became of Curtis, I don’t know. I found only a couple of mentions of Goldsmith Studio in 1911, then nothing until 1919 when it was called Goldsmith Keller Studio. So did he ever return from that fishing trip? We don’t know.

Comments are closed.