So, okay, Covid. Two-and-a-half, so far, long years of surfing the Internet. And it truly is amazing what we have been watching. As Betty Drake admitted openly at the last board meeting — cat videos! In response, member and long-time collector, Jeremy Rowe, shares with us a little history and some fun photos from his collection.
Long before the Internet where millions of cute cat videos are only a click away, during the 19th century, images of cats were relatively rare. Both dogs and cats were seen as utilitarian animals. Dogs were bred and used for hunting game, and cats for controlling rodents. Vintage studio images of dogs during this era are relatively common – most posed with their masters, but individual canine portraits are far more unusual.
Images of cats and other animals are far less common and have become a highly competitive collecting area. Most difficult to find are Daguerreotypes of individuals with cats. I looked for years before I could find one that I could afford. I finally found mine early one morning about 5:00 a.m. at an outdoor antique market in Connecticut. I barely beat another collector’s hand as I grabbed it from the display case.
Individual cat portrait images are even rarer. Two of the best known “sixth plate” images of a cat sleeping on a studio table were finally compared side by side and found to be the two halves of a stereo pair that had been separated by a dealer in the 1970s.
Ambrotypes of the late 1850s through 1870s are next on the scale, followed by cartes-de-visites, cabinet cards, and tintypes. For some reason, paper stereo views seemed to be a media of choice for images of cats, including a series of kittens playing with a series of props, including a camera.
The rise of amateur cameras, snapshots and photographic postcards in the early 20th Century dramatically expanded the scope and range of cat photos.
Above is a brief portfolio of vintage cat images from my collection. Enjoy.
Feature Image: Genre studio scene of draped cat. Real photo postcard. Circa 1908.
Jeremy Rowe
Contributing Writer
Jeremy Rowe has collected researched and written about historic photography for over 30 years. His collecting has focused on 19th and early 20th century photographs – ranging from daguerreotypes and cased images to mounted photographs, real photo postcards, and vernacular images with an emphasis on Arizona and the Southwest, Lower Manhattan, and the open-ended category of “images that strike me.”
Jeremy has curated exhibitions and served on the boards of the Daguerreian Society, National Stereoscopic Association, Daniel Nagrin Film, Theater and Dance Foundation, In Focus, and Ephemera Society of America. Jeremy is currently working with the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs to establish a National Stereoscopic Research Collection and Research Fellowship.
Jeremy has written numerous publications about historic photography, including Arizona Photographers 1865 – 1920 a History and Directory, Arizona Real Photo Postcards a History and Portfolio, and Arizona Stereographs 1865- 1930.
Jeremy has three degrees from Arizona State University and is an Emeritus Professor. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at New York University and travels between New York City and Arizona.