Nelle with Oscar Brown. I'm not certain if anything came of this.
They all were either friends or acquaintances of Emma Beauvais Thomas. We may never know which. Here are their images and many others from:
The Emma Beauvais Thomas Grumley Collection – Part Six.
Regular followers of this space will already know that many of my most recent posts have featured vintage images that were once collected by the young Emma Thomas, daughter of William Lyman and Kate Sutton Thomas. They may recall that a large number of these images were of mostly unidentified persons. Not all of them but most.
I sorted these images by type first and lastly by what photographer’s studio in which they had been made. These are a wonderful sampling of some of the folks that once populated our town and neighborhoods…and they’re wearing their best clothes! I think you will enjoy seeing these as much as I did.
This one came from Brown’s Gallery.
And one from Davis.And from the Guerin Studio, we have this lovely image of the aforementioned Nelle Trigg. I like that font they used for St. Louis.
And another high quality image, this time from the Dobler Studio in Ms. Trigg’s hometown of Richmond. How do I know that? Keep reading.
Nelle with Oscar Brown. I’m not certain if anything came of this. Nelle is one of the few people in these images that I was able to learn much about. Blame Newspapers.com. What follows is easy to do and wouldn’t be here if it weren’t.
Well, I didn’t quite get them in chronological order but you get the idea. It is unusual to find this much just by searching a name on the Newspapers.com site. I have to wonder what happened. In 1906, she was engaged to Allen Yonge. Then nothing shows up until 1938 where she is still identified as Miss Nelle Trigg.Here’s one from the Evington Studio.I’ll finish this post with images from the Genelli Studio which are among the best I’ve seen. This one is of Emma herself, to whom we owe this time trip.I don’t know who this cat is. The back has the date and a couple of initials, nothing else.It is useful to know it was made in 1893. Love this art work.Nothing on him, either.We know that this woman is Ella. but which one? There are a couple of Ellas in this story.Emma had a sister named Ella. Would a sister sign the back to “Emma Thomas”? I doubt it. This is probably the other one who was a longtime teacher in the Maplewood schools.I don’t know who this cat is, either.No ID on this baby, either.Just a stock number is all the baby gets but the back has another version of this interesting art work.
I’ll end this post with this image of three mystery men. As I mentioned earlier, a number of the images in Emma’s collection are of three men unidentified. You’ll see more of them in upcoming posts.
Believe it or not, there are still many more images to post. All made available by a descendant of Emma’s, Chrissie Hayes McConnell. Thank you, Ma’am. Many folks are enjoying seeing these, myself included.
I should get a rubber stamp made with what I’m about to say next. All of these images are now in the collection and care of The State Historical Society of Missouri at UMSL in the Thomas Jefferson Library and adjacent to the Mercantile Library.
On the bright side, it is almost springtime even though it is impossible to tell that by looking outside today.
Be safe and help others be safe as well by wearing your masks.
Doug Houser February 24, 2022
4 COMMENTS
Looking at the newspaper articles that had all the info on Nelle made me wonder if things have not changed all that much over time. You talk about invasion of privacy and everyone knowing your business. Of course I know that those stories were often submitted because the small town I grew up in had a section in their paper about things just like that. Who visited, who had a baby, who had an anniversary, someone who got a scholarship or won some sort of an award. So tell me Doug was she really all that famous or just noteworthy that she was always entertaining and traveling and it was noted for all to know?
I do wonder if some of the photos that are obvious studio shots are of the person’s actual clothing and in particular the one with the hat, or if those were props that the studio provided for pictures? And there is several mentions of the folks singing in the newspaper articles. When was the last time my family got together and had a sing along? Probably 15 or so years ago when my mom was still alive and we would gather around the piano and all sing a few tunes. Lucky for me that I was never asked to do a solo cuz that would have ended in disaster.
Hey Mark, You answered your own question. Nelle Trigg wasn’t famous. Those mentions in the newspapers were just of local social events like you mention seeing in your hometown paper. That was the social media of the day.
As for your thinking that the photographer’s studios probably supplied their clients with props such as hats and clothing, I hadn’t thought of that but I would bet you are right. It only makes sense. One wouldn’t necessarily have to own fancy clothes if you could borrow some for the shoot. Much thanks for your comments and observations. As for your singing, I’ll take your word.
Looking at the newspaper articles that had all the info on Nelle made me wonder if things have not changed all that much over time. You talk about invasion of privacy and everyone knowing your business. Of course I know that those stories were often submitted because the small town I grew up in had a section in their paper about things just like that. Who visited, who had a baby, who had an anniversary, someone who got a scholarship or won some sort of an award. So tell me Doug was she really all that famous or just noteworthy that she was always entertaining and traveling and it was noted for all to know?
I do wonder if some of the photos that are obvious studio shots are of the person’s actual clothing and in particular the one with the hat, or if those were props that the studio provided for pictures? And there is several mentions of the folks singing in the newspaper articles. When was the last time my family got together and had a sing along? Probably 15 or so years ago when my mom was still alive and we would gather around the piano and all sing a few tunes. Lucky for me that I was never asked to do a solo cuz that would have ended in disaster.
Hey Mark, You answered your own question. Nelle Trigg wasn’t famous. Those mentions in the newspapers were just of local social events like you mention seeing in your hometown paper. That was the social media of the day.
As for your thinking that the photographer’s studios probably supplied their clients with props such as hats and clothing, I hadn’t thought of that but I would bet you are right. It only makes sense. One wouldn’t necessarily have to own fancy clothes if you could borrow some for the shoot. Much thanks for your comments and observations. As for your singing, I’ll take your word.
Thank you, Doug, as always. And Spring will come.
You are welcome, Patty. I know it will. The forecast today looks pretty good.