Most old photographs are enigmatic - providing far more questions than answers. Who are these two ladies, where were they out walking, when? If you are lucky, you might find a caption scrawled on the back of the photo, but even these can be unforthcoming. On this particularly photograph it says "This was taken in December on the street"
The photograph came from a batch which I had labelled "unknown family photographs". I could not recognise this rather stern pair of ladies, but the photograph had been passed to me by members of my family rather than acquired in some bulk purchase of unwanted old photographs. If it was met family, then the place was most likely West Yorkshire, but there was a "foreign" feel about the location - the names of the shops, the size of the billboards, the pricing of the goods. I tried searching for some of the shop names, but it wasn't until I got a match for "Millar and Coe" that things became interesting. I found online a 1930s photograph of a street of shops in which there is a Millar & Coe next door to a shop called Cordell - and it was in Vancouver in Canada.
Some of the questions are now answered - the place is the city of Vancouver - a place, to the best of my knowledge nobody in the family has ever visited - and the time is the 1930s. I am, however, left with the question as to who these two ladies of Vancouver are.
This is a Sepia Saturday post - more posts on this theme came be found by following the links on the Sepia Saturday Blog.
Well at least your sleuthing netted you the "where" part of the mystery. Looks like maybe the "who" part will forever remain unknown - unless someone in the family remembers who went to Vancouver back then? But, you never know . . .
ReplyDeleteSometimes publishing an old photo online, like you're doing here, may bring unexpected answers! (Even if no one in your family visited Vancouver, maybe someone knew someone who did?)
ReplyDeleteThat's a true lost & found photo, Alan. You first introduced me to the trade of street photographers years ago with some of your other similar photos. I've since recognized this style in a few of my own family's photos which previously confused me as to who took the picture and why were the people not standing still. Perhaps these ladies were from Yorkshire and on holiday in Canada.
ReplyDeleteExcellent sleuthing to figure out the location of the photo. I have a box of such mystery photos that I would love to identify -- no markings, but they were in a box that was my paternal grandmother's. My dad wanted to throw them out, but I rescued them. Now I face your challenge of figuring out who's who.
ReplyDeleteHow exciting! Too bad they didn't put the names on the photos. I have a street photograph of my grandfather coming home from work.
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