Holding on, Part 2
What it is:
Photo (5.5 x 4 inches) mounted on cardboard frame/backing (8 x 6 inches; the edges of the frame have been cropped out of this scan).
What I know about it:
Photographer is F. A. Mack & Bro. of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Otherwise undated and unidentified, except that four of these people also appear in yesterday’s post.
Comments:
I try not to be too boringly repetitive with the subject matter of my posts, but I was so delighted to run across this companion to yesterday’s post that I decided to present it without delay. It’s the same four people, but with the addition of three more, every person present grabbing on to at least one other person. I gather these photos were taken on the same occasion, unless the repeated clothing of our four friends represents either an astonishing coincidence or a remarkable display of sartorial fidelity. (Comparing these photos, it seemed that the man on the left was wearing an odd lapel pin in yesterday’s photo that he wasn’t wearing in today’s. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to have been a scratch in yesterday’s beat-up photo.) I am struck (just saying, not judging) by what seems to me the rather unladylike wide-legged posture of the seated women (the seated man, too, come to that, although that’s less noteworthy). A comment yesterday expressed a desire to know the stories of these people (and, by implication, of the people in antique photos generally). I find it an amusing paradox that this second photo, with its new configuration and new people, gives added dimension to these stories, and yet brings us no closer to really knowing them.
Pics of Then 
Great to see the two companion pieces, Matt. The hand holding stuck me in this one as looking kind of force with the woman on the left, but not in yesterday’s photo, so I don’t think it’s indicative of anything. Thanks for sharing the two images.
Thanks, Katie. It’s so interesting when the assumptions you make about somebody based on one photo can be contradicted by another photo, even if they are similar.
“I find it an amusing paradox that this second photo, with its new configuration and new people, gives added dimension to these stories, and yet brings us no closer to really knowing them.” Yes, yes, yes.
Thanks! Glad that made sense.