In 1876, the city of Philadelphia hosted a Centennial Exposition to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was the first World’s Fair in the United States. There were thirty thousand exhibits in the four hundred and fifty acre park. There was even a separate building just for photography. Over twenty million people visited during the five month event.
Newspaper editor Edward L. Wilson and photographer William Notman had the only license for images. You can view many of their images at the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition website. The Smithsonian also has a Flickr site of images tagged as having been taken then.
There may be images in your own family album taken during the Exposition or during this centennial year. In my own collection, is this image of a woman captioned, “Aunt Ella in her brown corded silk wedding dress, 1876.”
To spot a photo from 1876, look at fashion clues (like Ella’s bustle), roll-back chairs (like the one she’s leaning on), and appropriate photographer work dates. Ella’s braided hairpiece was the height of fashion as was her choice of a brown dress. Not all brides wore white.
Add up the clues:
- Fashion sense–bustles, braided hair, hairpieces, elaborate drapery on the dresses. For men, watch for bowler hats, wide neckties, ties under the collar and large mustaches
- Roll-back chairs, painted backdrops and drapery appeared as props.
- Look for patent information or awards in photographer’s imprints. There were thirty-nine different patents for photographic improvements in 1876 alone.
Hope you find images that document your ancestor’s life during the centennial.
About Maureen Taylor
Maureen Taylor AKA the Photo Detective is a professional genealogist, author and journalist on the topic who’s written a bunch of books and magazine articles, as well as being a contributing editor at Family Tree Magazine and editorial board member of Legacy Magazine. She’s also been a featured expert on CNN, the Today Show and in Martha Stewart Living. Maureen can be contacted through her website Photo Detective or on Twitter at @PhotoDetective.
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