We can thank Oliver for this picture's identity. On the back of the picture it states, Grandma Olson. The original picture is very dark; partial because of age and photo finish. It is printed on post card paper.This is Gertrude. She is the one that was shot five times in 1914 at which time three family members and the man who shot them killed himself. See June 14, 2007 blog for complete articles of the murder suicide which includes, "Mrs. OK Olson, the fifth victim, is still alive and will recover. There are five wounds in her body resulting from the three shots that were fired at her. One bullet entered her elbow, passed through the muscles of the arm and lodged in her neck. Another struck her in the cheek and the third is lodged in her back about six inches below her neck and slightly to the right of the back bone".
Look at the walls. This was taken inside the house. We know that because of how the walls and the ceiling meet in the corner behind her. We can see there was a window because of the light in the upper right corner. We can see a shadow of the photographer. According to her hair and her statue, I am thinking she is in her forties when this was taken. It also compares with other pictures taken indoors during this era. What do you think?
I would like to comment on the Oliver Rye albums. I really commend him for writing the names of the people and the relation to on the back of the picture. What tickled me is something I found on the back of a picture of Ella's son, Bob.
Bob Anderson repairing Rubiks Cube in Judy Arnold's kitchen at 1126 Green Hill Drive while Ella Anderson, Bob's Mother, looks on. The divinity on the napkin is compliments of Shirley Hagen who made a box for Judy and Bob to share.
This photo was taken by Elodee Anderson on 1/1/1988.
Shirley Hagen is Bob's sister who just celebrated her wedding anniversary to Keith Hagen.
My mother-in-law said to write information on the bank of my photos so "many years from now, everyone will know who it is."
That is a little over kill but we get the point. It is like scrap booking and history all rolled into one.
But what the back of the picture doesn't say is that we were gathered together on this New Years Day because Stan Ranum had been buried the day before and Judy was hosting a get together. It doesn't talk about Rachel and her cousin Lisa, playing Scrabble nor does it talk about Ryen trying to get Phillip the poodle to warm up to him.
When one looks at old group photos, as at Christmas, when the picture is just backs of heads and paper, we wonder just what the subject of the picture was. It was a gathering. It was Christmas. It was if some tall person was walking though a house with a trigger finger just taking pictures as they looked down. We can't go back and retake a subject; the camera's were fixed lenses and the person did a good job of capturing the moment as they knew it. It should teach all of us to think about the subject in the picture.
In cleaning out albums, there is a significant amount of pictures of my grand daughter Jaeme. The pictures are close ups of her face. We can see her features. We appreciate this sort of picture. We appreciate seeing pictures of people in scenery if the people are close enough to identify. As I work with scenery pictures with people, I am hopeful the face of the person is the size of a pencil eraser, that gives us a chance zoom it to see who the person is.
I appreciate seeing a note on the back. One said, "This would have been a perfect picture if ....wouldn't have hide behind ..."
Mostly, without being anal, I appreciate pictures, like the one of Gertrude. It gives us a chance to see her in earlier years. There are so few of her. Kudos to Judy for letting me sift through the albums and find such a treasure.
And I will get off my soap box now.
e
