Women and Education in Photo History, Part 1

This is the first of a collection of posts that will feature images from my collection.

I have been reexamining my archive of found photographs and using them to investigate women's lives in historical context. As I try to research individuals I have no pictures of, I wonder about the individuals whose pictures I do have.

Public schooling in the nineteenth century was not required, so less that 60% of children attended school. Many stopped at eighth grade (hence our eighth grade graduations!). Many students missed up to 30% of class days, whether because of illness, weather, or seasonal family-farm work.

Before high schools become prevalent after the 1870s, a student wanting further education might attend a local Normal School, later called Colleges. Both school types varied between two and four years by county (which makes aging sitters tricky).

Oxford Female College, 1864

Fannie Graddy and Belle Hamilton, Oxford, Ohio, 1864; Original Photographer Unknown; Copy Photographer Unknown;
 image printed abt 2"x3-3.75" on a 3.5"x5.5" photo-paper; Collection of the Author

Verso: Taken at Oxford Ohio, while attending Oxford Female College 1864. Fannie Graddy of Cynthiana Ky + Belle Hamilton, of Terre Haute, Ind. From your grandmother Belle Hamilton Weinstein, to Catherine Cavine [sp?], Oct. 10th 1919, Indianapolis, Ind. I will be 72 years old Dec. 7th, 1919.   -- B.H.W.

The first image is of two women in corseted gowns over bell-shaped skirts, seated at a small chess set table. The woman at left looks down at  the game, her hand posed to take a piece, while the woman at right looks into a distant place to the left. According to the date, the woman on the right is 16.

The photograph is stained and poorly fixed, unmounted, matte silver gelatin paper. A note on back states it was taken in 1864, which matches the style of dress, but not the style of material. The high-contrast and low detail of the image suggest this was a copy-photograph made from an 1864 original, such as a tintype or collodion print. The photographer may have even collaged prints of the originals so the women appear together, and re-photographed them (note the hard, smooth line around their hair).

Or it could be their heads were clamped at those angles without much consideration for the effect. In 1864, a portrait can take more-than-thirty seconds to expose, up to many minutes on average.

The sitter on the right is the author of the note on the back (according to the note): Thirza Belle Hamilton Weinstein. After attending Oxford Female College in 1864, she returned to Terre Haute and lived there the remainder of her life. Her diary from 1889 is held by the Indiana Historical Society. Belle married Dr. Leo J. Weinstein and they had 3 children. There are few references to her in the newspapers.

Her husband, Dr. Weinstein, was a gynecologist, and worked with another doctor to buy and convert a farm into a public hospital (first a sanitarium). So far, I haven't found any indication that Belle worked after leaving school, and her obituary doesn't mention her schooling, though it does mention her father was also a doctor. As her husband saw patients at home (according to advertisements in the newspapers of the time), I wonder what roll she had as his inevitable helper? The censuses simplify her Occupation as "at home".  When her husband dies in 1909, her digital-scanned, microfilm trail disappears.

But in 1919 (or around then), this photograph was created. Did she have it made especially to send to her grandchild in Indianapolis? Or was she commemorating her friendship? Or teaching herself darkroom photography? What do you think?

On the back, she wrote, "I will be 72 years old". Future tense. Looking forward. She lived 12 more years.

This image was acquired from an Indianapolis antique shop. All research done online during lock-down.

Update: I decided to look more at Fannie Graddy of Cynthiana, and her name ended up being easier to find than I thought. Sadly, in the 1850 Kentucky census, she, at 9 months, and her 3 year old sister are alone with their father, her mother having died just months after she was born (by the 1860 census, she has a step-mother and is living in Arkansas). In the 1860s, she goes to Ohio to attend school and make this photograph. In the 1870 census, she is living with a widowed 76 year old M.C. Graddy (grandma?) in Kentucky again. She married Arthur Cary in 1876, at 26 years old. She died from complications two days after giving birth to her only child, in 1878. Her son was also raised by a step-mom; he grew up to be a lawyer in Louisville, Kentucky. I wonder if Belle knew her friend was long dead when she sent this photo?

Also, Oxford Female College was founded in 1852, along with a sister Oxford Female Institute (They seem to have been different, but who knows why). They merged in 1867 (after our chess players' stay), and remained a women's college until closing in 1928. The properties were purchased by Miami University (also of Oxford, Ohio). The College building was converted to a sanitarium for a few years, before being converted to a men's dormitory. It was listed as an historic landmark for less than a year, then was demolished to build a conference center.