Old Photographs

I'm interested in old photos from antique stores. Most are family portraits - wedding poses, older husbands and wives, children dressed in turn-of-the-century-cute drag. Although it's kind of sad, I like that these are abandoned pictures. They should be hanging proudly on some family wall, not stuck in a dirty box marked "Instant Relatives". But these unknown faces call out to my imagination, "We were real once, as real as you. Give us a name, bring us back to a kind of life."

While I have a general interest in such photos, I am also generally bored by their studio sameness. I'm waiting for something to jump out, to strike me. That's the one I'll buy. Here are two that have captured my attention and moved my imagination.

I found another photo of nine young men posing in and around a big old tree. They are each wearing identical black cassocks. They are probably seminarians preparing themselves for the priesthood. Three of them are holding lit cigars. Three of them are not looking at the camera. Two are wearing hats but one of them has his propped comically above his head by the V of two small trunks (not clearly seen here).

I suspect the picture was made on the grounds of the seminary for the Archdiocese of Chicago at Mundelein, IL sometime between 1900 and1920.