Meyersdale Public Library - Photographs

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  • Date = 1880-1920

About This Collection

The Meyersdale Public Library photograph collections contain approximately 2,000 photographs. From the total collection, about 320 will be selected for digitization based on the selection criteria. The photographs that will be selected for online display are significant because they provide a broad overview of life immediately before, during, and after the Progressive Era in the Allegheny Mountains region (mostly Somerset Co., PA & northern Maryland). The photographs capture families & individuals both in portraits and in natural settings, military men, coal mines, mills, railroads, transportation, education, and African American families. Our photographs have been used in Somerset Magazine and in the book "Allegheny Passage Companion, Guide to History & Heritage Along the Trail" by Bill Metzger. Accessibility to the collection will be enhanced because the images will be searchable online. Currently the photographs are accessioned on paper but are not included in our library catalog. Digitization would allow users easy & free access to historical photographs that would otherwise essentially be hidden in a closet.
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Children surrounding baby on stool
Children
The young baby is wearing a white dress and sitting on a stool. The young girl on the baby’s right has on a knee length skirt with a long top and a necklace. On the other side of the stool, a smaller girl in a white knee length dress, dark stockings, and high buttoned shoes, has a dark ribbon around her collar. A young boy stands on the end in knickerbockers, dark stockings, and high top tied shoes. His jacket is buttoned, belted, and tied at the collar. He is wearing a small round cap. 5 x 3 3/4 in. black and white photograph with broken corner.
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Lady with a ribbon in her hair
Portrait photographs, Women
Looking off to her left, a woman’s smooth and shiny hair is tied up with a ribbon. She wears a necklace around the collar of her high necked white dress. 3 1/2 x 5 1/4 in. black and white photograph.
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Man in straw hat
Straw hats, Portrait photographs, Men
A man wears a straw hat, glasses, and has a well-trimmed moustache. A white tie was worn with his dark jacket and white shirt. 3 x 3 in. black and white photograph.
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A man possibly named Dibert
Portrait photographs, Men
A man possibly named Dibert has a slight receding hairline, with his hair parted and combed neatly to his right. A scruffy moustache and beard do not give the same neat appearance. He is wearing a light colored jacket with wide lapels, and a shirt with no collar. Transcribed from the back 'Dibert?' 5 1/4 x 7 1/4 in. black and white photograph.
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Potbellied stove and eighteen men
Men, Stoves
Signs in the back of the room offer a day course and night course, Wednesday and Friday. An advertisement read 'Eat Real Food at low prices. American Restaurant.' A sign scratched on the potbellied stove reads 'Merry Xmas.' All the workers from different jobs gathered here for a photograph by the warmth of the potbellied stove. They were all in work clothes, most in newsboy hats. One man in striped pants, dark shirt, and beret sat on a pile of wood. Sitting beside the potbellied stove was a man in a long leather apron. 8 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. black and white photograph.
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School photo of children & adults
Men, Women, Children, Students, Teachers
Perhaps it was a one-room school, as the children are of varying ages. All the boys are in dark suits and newsboy hats. Most of the girls have dark skirts and white tops. Several girls, including the teacher, are wearing dark dresses. A gentleman, possibly a teacher, standing beside the female teacher has neatly combed hair and a moustache. He is wearing a dark suit with a white shirt and bow tie. Transcribed from the back 'Mrs. J.M. Wiland.' 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 in. black and white photograph.
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Two young ladies in fur coats and hats
Portrait photographs, Fur coats, Hats, Women
They are bundled against the weather. The young lady to the viewer’s left is wearing a shiny fur coat with a dark furry collar pulled up to her ears. The younger lady has a much furrier coat. The soft looking fur collar is also pulled up close to her ears. They both chose the same white, round hat, with a feather standing up. 3 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. black and white postcard.
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Young girl and baby
Children, Infants, Portrait photographs
The young girl with her white laced dress and ringlet curls, has an angelic look about her as she stands with an arm outstretched on the baby's shoulder. The baby, in a full white dress with little pointed booties, is secure in a round back soft chair with fringe. 3 3/4 x 5 in. black and white photograph.
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Young lady with a rose on her collar
Portrait photographs, Women
In this young lady's profile, her hair is fastened with a fancy hair clasp. The bangs in front are very short. The front of her dress is intricate with a high rounded collar fastened with a cloth rose. 3 3/8 x 5 1/8 in. black and white photograph.
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