The Hidden Mother

PHOTOGRAPHY BUFFS may already know about the “hidden mother” in early photographs, but some of my readers may not. So—this is for them. Shown above are two recently auctioned tintypes, both of which are excellent examples of this 19th century phenomenon. You see, most infants during that time were photographed with their mothers holding them. The intended picture was ultimately headed for a frame or mat, so the child would sit in the mothers lap for the photo. When the picture was taken, the mother simply was cropped out to serve as the backdrop.

In the top right photo, I have shown a suggested cropping, with the mother cropped out. Without a mat, the photos are decidedly creepy—but that's the way it was (under the mat), over 100 years ago. “Hidden Mother” tintypes are highly sought after by collectors.

This is an Accidental Mysteries re-post from December 2008.

Soviet Era Space Race Graphics

ONE OF THE EARLIEST MEMORIES in my life was in the late fall of 1957. I was 6 years old and I remember my father taking me out into the “country” as he called it—to get a view of Sputnik, the first man-made satellite to orbit the earth. There, we pulled over into a field, away from the city lights, and stared at the night sky. It was late, and I remember being elated as my father pointed to a moving “star” traveling slowly across the dark night sky. Since that night, I was a fan of all the space flights, both Russian and American. I saved every newspaper (still have them), and followed the first astronauts like Alan Shepard and John Glenn.

These graphics are as fresh today as they were 50 years ago.

Enjoy this earlier post readers. And thanks for feeding the goldfish.