This real photo post card was found at the same estate sale where I found the RPPC's from the previous two days. Other than saying the cards were purchased at a ramshackle house outside Calistoga, California I have no information. Well, I do have what is written on the back, Jessie Blue Light 1910.
Click on image to see it larger.
She fascinates me. There's drama in the photo because of the lighting, but she certainly isn't a dramatic person. She looks melancholy, which doesn't mean she was. I've said before I'm fascinated by the expressions on the old portrait faces only because I try to image them a moment before and after the shot was taken. I want to know if perhaps Jessie bent over laughing after this thinking it all so silly. She certainly doesn't look as glum as my posts the past two days.
Jessie looks like a school teacher, or a music teacher, or perhaps librarian. It's the pose, the stiff back. Perhaps the wife of a minister. But all of this is just me projecting and each of you will do the same. All of the people in these vernacular photographs are just actors in the story we tell. The truth rarely intrudes.
Then there's that name. A very unusual name. There's a story there for sure...lost to history.
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I wonder if "blue light" refers to the blue lights one might see outside of a police station. The color blue has been associated with police for years. Perhaps she was an early Police matron. If she was, that city or town was well ahead of the times for 1910. Thanks for visiting my crazy blog. Just and FYI I post some antique post cards I have collected on occasion too.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I never knew that. Of course it could be the story. "Blue Light" is written as her middle and last name so it's hard to tell. Perhaps she was Native American and that was her given name. She could have been forced into a school far away from her family and become anglicized. She looks very alone and not just because she's the only one in the shot.
ReplyDeleteHer eyes are at odds with her mouth. They look almost dead and yet there is a glimmer of a smile on her lips. She is a very intruiguing young woman. There is a real sense of mystery about her, and her unusual name.
ReplyDeleteYes, a sort of Mona Lisa smile and yet eyes so distant. Not seeming to focus on anyone. And yet, there might have been someone out of frame that she was looking at that was staring back at her bringing the slight smile to her lips. Isn't it frustrating to have these questions forever?
ReplyDeleteI think Jessie is kind of cute. Very mysterious expression on her face - she must be thinking of some handsome fellow. Seriously, don't you notice that so many of the old photos never show anyone with a great big smile? In the cabinet (isn't that what they're called) photos, everyone is usually very serious. My Aunt Nelle always has such a sophisticated look about her in snapshots - a slight smile and her head is usually tilted. My mom's pictures are a bit that way, too. You find such great pictures and I love the little stories you put with them - very fun and imaginative! Carol
ReplyDeleteA very intriguing photo indeed.
ReplyDeleteThank you Carol. You know I'm crazy about your site.
ReplyDeleteI so enjoy seeing old photos of people I don't know. Sometimes I just sit and go through the envelopes of photos I have of strangers. All of these lives in front of me with no history perspective. Often it isn't until I scan them and share them that I find myself really focusing on them.
Stan Laurel in drag?
ReplyDeleteThus the Mona Lisa smile?
Oh yes!!! I see it. I see it. Stan in drag. Of course.
ReplyDeleteEvery Jessie I ever met was an interesting person, well ahead of her time. I suspect this one is no different.
ReplyDeleteI agree, sometimes you just look once at an old portrait and the story is suddenly clear.
There's a story there...
ReplyDeleteI like to imagine she was once a Harvey Girl and while working in New Mexico at one of the Harvey Houses she met a young Navajo man, fell in love, married, and took his name.
ReplyDeleteI also say she married a Native American..her clothing seems ready made..so she would come from some wealth..perhaps she was a reservation teacher.
ReplyDeleteI love her dress, such an unusual design, crossed over in the front and trimmed in something shiny. She is very interesting:)
Yes, her dress is very interesting. Almost looks like a sash with a medal instead of trim with a watch.
ReplyDeleteI did a look on Ancestry (thank you Connie for linking this site!!). There is a woman named Jessie B Light registered to vote in 1922 in Upland, CA. At the same residence were Archie Light and Theodore Light, both carpenters. Jessie was a housewife. Of course, this was in 1922 just after women could legally vote in federal elections. Noting the medal type pin on her dress, it could either be a watch OR a suffrage medal. I like to think she fought for her rights, heh. Her name was probably Jessie Blue, a fairly common surname, I found, and her married name may have been Light.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norkio. That's certainly possible that she was from California. Too bad there wasn't some sort of photographers stamp on the image or back of card. Interesting to think of her combining her name with her husbands back then. That certainly wasn't very common. Thanks for taking the time to do a little research.
ReplyDeleteJessie is very interesting. It's hard having photographs and not knowing who the people are. It's worse when you know they're relatives and no one bothered to write a name and/or date on the back. I love your blog. So glad you posted on Sepia Saturday.
ReplyDeleteI'm back. I just noticed something about this photograph that seems unusual to me: the angle from which the photo was taken. It's almost as though the lens is pointed toward her middle and we're looking up toward her face - which may make her seem taller. Just an observation....
ReplyDeleteNancy,
ReplyDeleteMy friend has given me all sorts of old photos because she was worried when she died her kids would find them and look at each other and say "Are we related to these people?" Now they're all one big happy strange family in my filing cabinet.
Yes, the lesson is if you think the photo has a future put a label on it now.