Woman with apron and book
Click here to view it larger.
Here’s another attractive portrait that nevertheless puzzles me a bit, so I’ll put it out there for people’s thoughts. She’s standing confidently, wearing what appears to me to be an elegant dress, posing in a studio set suggesting an upscale home, and holding a book, suggesting education and leisure. And yet she’s also wearing an apron. To my eyes, the apron isn’t an accessory to the dress, like the apron on a dirndl. Is she implying that, despite the book and the fashion, she’s domestic at heart? There might be an obvious answer that I’m just not seeing. As a side note, the more I look at the details of the urn and table to the right, the more remarkable I think they are. This is a cabinet card by Halliday & Kessberger of Springfield, Illinois. I’m guessing that’s Henry Halliday and August Kessberger, who seem to have been in partnership in the late 1880s (in as far as the internet is reliable). Samples of their work can be found in this page of 1880s images here. But the page of 1890s images here shows Halliday working alone, and Kessberger having begun working with Victor Georg. This page here indicates Kessberger and Georg were in partnership from around 1897 to 1902, at which point Kessberg opened his own studio. A picture of Kessberger is here. And since the back is pretty, you can click on the below image to see it larger.
Pics of Then 
The apron has obvious fold marks so has never been worn before or was not ironed before the picture was taken. You are right, “Tis a puzzlement”.
Yes, I saw those fold marks, too, and wondered if it had been taken out of storage without being ironed, or if maybe that’s not something she cared about. Or maybe fold marks are a subtle way of indicating it’s clean, though that excuse is probably stretching things.
The print on her dress seems unusual. I’ve never seen it before.
Agreed. Maybe it looks looks more elegant to my eyes than it would’ve looked to somebody back then. Maybe the apron suits it after all.
I don’t think it’s a work apron. It’s much too nice. I think it’s just an elegant accessory, although not one specific to that dress.
That makes sense.
I wonder if it could be a symbol of something other than domestic work, like, something a young academic would wear? (Since she’s holding books, although they could be something like family albums.) I did a very brief search, and did find a New Zealand history page saying that little girls often wore aprons to school in the Victorian era. Just speculating.
Oh, thanks for doing the search! I think that’s a good idea, that the apron might represent something other than domesticity, particularly given the lacy panels at the bottom, maybe a profession or status as a student. I wondered if it reflected some sort of ethnic heritage, but that didn’t seem to match the dress.
I’m not sure that she is holding a book at all. The shape of the spine suggests a small photo album to me.
I’m sure the sitter (stander? 😆) would’ve been disappointed to see all those creases in the apron once she received the finished photo. It has happened to me!
Yes, I was thinking it was a rather flimsy-looking book, so a photo album is also a good idea. And I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt on the creases, thinking maybe it was a choice for some reason unknown to me (just as wearing the apron at all was a choice for some reason unknown to me), but you’re probably right that it was just an oversight.
Anything is possible, isn’t it? That is why it is so much fun musing about it!
Agreed.