Saving and Sharing Family Photos

A picture of pictures. On left: probably Nellie Paulson, On Right: Paul and Elina Paulson with daughter, Amy

I’ve been working on a little class “Out of the Shoebox: How to Save, See and Share Your Family Photos.” It made me think of this photograph. Saving and sharing family pictures has probably been an issue ever since family portraits were invented. Can you imagine the fight over who got the single copy of a picture?

Here our family photographer took a picture of two earlier family portraits. I expect this was done to make additional copies to distribute to family members. (Hmmm.... copyright?)  This single photo of the two earlier pictures was probably taken some time after 1900, long after the original ones had been printed.

The family on the right, are Paul and Elina Anderson Paulson with their daughter, Amy, who was born in December 1881. This must have been taken just about the time they left Sweden / arrived in the United States in the spring of 1882. I can’t be sure where it was taken as I’ve only seen a copy made from this negative, not the original. But an earlier family history tags it as "the first photo taken in the U.S."

The baby on the left may also be Amy, but I’m thinking it might be her sister, Nellie Paulson. Nellie was born in February 1883 in Racine, Wisconsin, just a short time after the family arrived from Sweden. The family appears to have lived in Racine for a year or two before moving on to Illinois and Iowa. Having seen the original of this picture, I know it was taken in Racine (“Thomas: College Ave between Twelfth and Thirteenth, Racine Wisconsin” according to the back). One of my cousins recently unearthed a couple of small photos of our great grandparents (Bengta and Anders Swenson) also taken about this same time at the same photography studio.

I should mention that the original of the baby picture has “Ruth” written on the back of it, meaning “Ruth Paulson”, Amy and Nellie’s little sister who was born in 1899. As the family never lived even close to Racine Wisconsin after 1884 and because the other photographs definitely date to the earlier time, I am revising “family history.”

Identifiers:

Negative:  Paulson319
Paul Paulson (20 Jul 1850 to 22 May 1918)
Elina Anderson Paulson (6 May 1856 to 10 Dec 1928)
Amy Justine Paulson (10 Dec 1881 to 18 Oct 1918)
Nellie Pauline Paulson (15 Feb 1883 to 28 Mar 1958)

Sources:

·         John Robert Swenson (Elina’s brother) passport application which states that he (and, I am assuming, the family) sailed from Landskrona, Skåne, Sweden April 13, 1882.) Accessed through Ancestry.com.
·         Original photographs taken at Thomas studio, Racine Wisconsin
·         Swenson family history (still tracking down the exact author on this – but I owe her a huge debt of gratitude, as it includes : JR Swenson’s teaching application and biography as well as other family papers giving extensive information relating to where the family was living in the period immediately after arriving in the U.S.; and so much more.) 
·         More information on the Paulsons can be found in an earlier post http://swedishamericanphotos.blogspot.com/2012/07/cast-of-characters-3-paulsons.html