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Solving the Mystery of the Portland ME Photographers
By Michael Ivankovich
Portland Head Lighthouse, Portland’s most photographed subject
Portland Maine was a hotbed of hand-colored photography
shortly after the start of the 20th century. It would probably be fair
to say that there were more photographers selling hand-colored photographs
in Portland than any other city at the time. Not much has been written
about these Portland photographers because so little has been known about
them. There seem to be a few people who do have information on them, but
they don't seem too interested in sharing their knowledge with the rest
of us. So we’ll share with you what we already know on three of the key
Portland photographers in this column. A future column will focus on several
of the others.
In our research things became especially confusing when
certain identical pictures were found carrying the names Lamson, Fred Thompson,
and Burrowes. Who shot the pictures? When did these photographers work?
And how did each of them gain access to the exact same pictures?
Deciphering the timeline and inter-relationships between
these three photographers has been difficult but with the help of Joe Duggan
(Glenside PA) and Kirsten Henry (Ellsworth ME), here is at least a start
to the story of three of Portland's early 20th c. hand-colored photographers.
Lamson Studios
The Lamson Studios seem to be one of the larger Portland
studios selling hand-colored photographs around 1900. We say this not based
upon any hard evidence or documented facts, but simply by the number of
Lamson pictures that come through our Auctions, or that we see is our travels
through Antique Shows, Group Shops, and other Auctions throughout New England
and Mid-Atlantic states.
The Lamson Studios, like most other early 20th c hand-colored
photographers, followed the lead of Wallace Nutting. They sold primarily
Exterior landscape scenes, including mountains, lakes, streams, rivers,
birches & blossoms, and other assorted outdoor scenes. Summer scenes
are the most common, but winter scenes and seascapes taken along the southern
Maine coastline are also sometimes found. Most Lamson pictures were taken
in Maine or northern New England. They are typically characterized by a
lighter shade of coloring, with the image mounted upon an indented matting,
signed "Lamson" lower right, titled lower left, and framed within a darker
1/2" frame.
Lamson also photographed a series of larger schooners
sailing off the Maine coastline. Tourists were always looking for souvenirs
to take back with them as momentos of their Maine vacations and Lamson
apparently felt that vintage ship photographs might be a good seller for
him. Based upon the number of Lamson schooner pictures that are found today,
we would guess that not very many such pictures were ever sold by his studio.
Lamson pictures are always signed "Lamson", with no first
name. We assume that Lamson was a man but have never seen any reference
to a first name. Lamson Studios were large enough to have several different
styles of a pre-printed "Lamson Studios" label, and were seemingly large
enough to have some of their pictures reproduced and sold via 4-color process
prints, a type of printing that usually implies a press run of 1000 or
more copies of the same picture.
It would be our guess that the Lamson Studios were in
business for only a few years based upon the relatively small volume of
Lamson pictures that remain in circulation today, perhaps from 1900-1905.
And it appears that the Lamson Studios closed its doors circa 1905 after
being bought out by the Fred Thompson Art Co., also of Portland Maine.
Fred Thompson
Since we have already written a fair amount about Fred
Thompson in two of our published books, we'll provide you with just a brief
recap here, but we should remind you that there were actually two "Fred
Thompsons". Frederick H. Thompson (1844-1909), the father, started
the Thompson Art Co, or “TACO” as it was also known, around 1905. After
leaving the carriage business due to increasing competition from the rapidly
evolving auto industry, Thompson became interested in photography. He briefly
ran a lunch room while learning the business as an amateur photographer,
and then subsequently open a full time photography studio after selling
the lunch room. His business soon flourished and as it grew, Fred Thompson
bought out a series of his earliest competitors including the Owen Perry
Co., the Lyman Nelson Co., and the Lamson Studios, all of Portland ME.
Thompson’s primary business seems to have been catering
to to Maine souvenir trade. Pretty much any tourist visiting southern Maine
wanted to take home a momento of their vacation and Fred Thompson pictures
seemed to be the perfect gift. Whether coastline light houses, sailing
schooners, or seascape scenes...or inland lake, mountain, stream, or country
road scenes...Fred Thompson pictures appealed to most Maine tourists. His
series of Fred Thompson “Oddities” appealed not only to the tourists market
but the gift market as well. Small mirrors, pin trays, calendars, triptychs,
miniatures, and shopping lists...all featuring a Fred Thompson hand-colored
picture...were all good sellers.
Like most other photographers of the era, Fred Thompson
followed the lead of Wallace Nutting. Most of his pictures included
a hand-colored photograph, mounted upon a linen-texture mat having a platemark
indentation, titled lower left beneath the picture, and signed "Fred Thompson"
lower right in a very distinct block letter pencil signature. As a matter
of fact, as his business grew Thompson even consulted with Wallace Nutting
at Nutting’s home in a friendly collaboration on photographic techniques.
Fred Thompson sold primarily Exterior scenes, but also
sold a nice variety of Colonial Interior scenes as well. Based upon our
experience we estimate that the Thompson Art Co. ranked 4th in total output
of hand-colored photography during the early 20th c, behind only Wallace
Nutting, David Davidson, and Charles Sawyer.
With his business just beginning to flourish at the beginning
of the golden age of hand-colored photography, Frederick H. Thompson died
suddenly in 1909 after ingesting cyanide.
Frederick M. Thompson (1876-1923), the son, took over
the business upon his father's death. And frankly, it's very difficult
to differentiate the earlier pictures sold by the father from the later
pictures sold by the son because the styles and signatures of both were
so similar.
Many of the same sailing schooner pictures that carried
the Lamson name have also been found carrying the Fred Thompson name as
well. Originally this was very confusing but, now in hindsight, it seems
very logical. Since Fred Thompson had purchased the entire Lamson Studio,
including its remaining inventory, glass plate negatives, and assorted
other supplies and equipment, Thompson simply marketed the Lamson-shot
sailing schooner pictures over his own signature. Whether Thompson shot
any original schooner pictures himself, or whether he only used those images
shot by Lamson, if unknown. But Fred Thompson did indeed market a
whole series of Lamson sailing schooners over his own signature.
The Thompson Art Co. closed its doors permanently in 1923
upon the death of Frederick M. Thompson.
Burrowes
Things got even more confusing after we started seeing
the exact same schooners that appeared over the Lamson and Fred Thompson
name, also appearing on postcards and hand-colored photographs carrying
the "Burrowes" or "H.J. Burrowes Co." name. Joe Duggan, who is one
of the country’s leading researchers into early 20th c hand-colored photography,
found a series of postcards printed by the "HJ Burrowes Co" but which
had also appeared as Fred Thompson and Lamson photographs. Who was Burrowes
and how did he gain access to these Lamson and Thompson pictures?
Well thanks to Kirsten Henry of Ellworth ME, the great
grand-daughter of the owner of the HJ Burrowes Co, we finally have the
final piece in the Lamson-Thompson-Burrowes connection.
Somewhere around 1920, Hal Burrowes (Harold John Burrowes,
1880-1926) formed the HJ Burrowes postcard company on Middle Street in
Portland. (Coincidentally, Middle Street was also where J. Carleton Bicknell
operated his photography studio. We’ll cover Bicknell and other Portland
photographers in a later column). This business sold hand-colored photographs
done in a style very similar to Nutting and the other leading photographers
of the time. They also sold a variety of postcards and hand-colored advertising
calendars as well.
Hal Burrowes died in 1926, and his business was purchased
by his sister (Ether Burrowes Morton) and her husband (Ernest Morton),
who then moved to Portland from Johnstown PA. Keeping the same H.J. Burrowes
name, the company grew under Ernest Morton to the point where they had
up to 12 colorists hand-tinting pictures on any given day. Somewhere shortly
after taking control of the business, Ernest purchased what remained of
the Thompson Art Co, including all remaining supplies, inventory, and most
importantly, all glass plate negatives...which included the Lamson glass
plate negatives as well. He apparently purchased the inventory of several
other local photographers as well. But this solves the mystery of how the
H.J. Burrowes Co ended up marketing the some of the same images that had
been sold by both Fred Thompson and the Lamson Studios.
Perhaps the saddest part of this story is what happened
to all of the surviving glass plate negatives. After the death of
Ernest Morton in 1952, his son Rutledge Morton was faced with the task
of closing up the business...and what to do with the thousands of original
glass negatives that had been part of the business. Photographic technology
had certainly changed over the years and the bulky glass negatives had
been replaced by celluloid film. The 1950's represented a time well prior
to the start of America's collecting phenomenum and no one really wanted
the glass negatives. Rutledge Morton tried to donate the glass plate negatives
to several Historical Societies but none had the means or ability to store
such a massive inventory. So with no other alternative, Rutledge sold the
glass negatives to a florist who washed the photographic emulsion off the
Norwegian plate glass and used the glass as part of a green house. Quite
literally that piece of Lamson, Thompson & Burrowes photographic history
went down the drain.
Fortunately a few of the glass negatives do remain. Rutledge Morton
passed away fairly recently but his grand daughter, Kirsten Henry, and
her family have preserved approximately 25-30 of the original negatives
and are selling reproductions of these images. Kirsten Henry can be reached
at: Grandfather’s Collection, PO Box 1357, Ellsworth, ME 04605.
Lamson-Thompson-Burrowes Timeline
(all Dates are Approximate)
1905 – Fred Thompson enters photography business
1905 - Lamson Studios close after being purchased by Fred Thompson
1909 – Frederick H. Thompson dies; Frederick M. Thompson assumes control
of Thompson Art Co.
1920 – Hal Burrowes dies; Burrowes Postcard Co. purchased by his sister
(Ethel Burrowes) and brother-in-law (Ernest Morgan)
1928 – Ernest Morton purchases remains of Thompson Art Co.
1952 - Ernest Morton dies; H.J. Burrowes Co. ends
1952+ - Nearly all Burrowes, Fred Thompson & Lamson glass negatives
are destroyed.
Representative Auction Prices
To help you to better stay in touch with current Auction Prices in the
early 20th c. Hand-Colored Photography and Print Market, here is a representative
sampling of some actual Auction Prices realized in our November Auction
(Hartford CT) and our December Auction (Doylestown PA). After receiving
numerous requests for this service we will try to include such prices in
most future column. All prices include the 10% Buyer’s Premium.
Bessie Pease Gutmann - Message of the Roses - $330
Charlotte Becker - Playmates - $55
Lamson - Double Master Sailing Ship - $38
Burrowes - Scarboro Marshes - $22
David Davidson - Berkshire Sunset - $66
Hodges - Canal Gossip, 1900 - $105
Fred Thompson - Untitled Cows - $220
Sawyer - Torrington Brook in May - $132
Zula Kenyon - Gem of the Rockies - $33
H Marshall Gardiner - Barney House, Nantucket - $360
R. Atkinson Fox - Pleading at the Bar - $187
Wallace Nutting - Roses & Larkspur Cluster - $880
Wallace Nutting Furniture - Rare Child’s High Chair with Food Tray
- $2310
About the author: Michael Ivankovich is a collector, author, dealer
and auctioneer specializing in early 20th century hand-colored photography
and prints. His Auction Company conducts 3-4 Live Catalog Auctions per
year in this field. E-Mail questions or inquiries can be directed to Michael
at: ivankovich@wnutting.com
or you can write to: P.O. Box 1536, Doylestown, PA 18901. If you
would like a reply, you must include a SASE. You can learn about his next
live Catalog Auction at: www.wnutting.com/upcoming.htm