Dating Photographs by Costume

This and the succeeding pages consist of photgraphs of costumes in date order. I generally only include images which bear dates.

At present there are separate pages for the 1860s (below), 1900s, 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Cartes de visites and Cabinet Cards are of an earlier era and very rarely marked with dates. My guide to dating them relies on other features.

Unless otherwise stated, the models are likely to be British.

1867

This portrait by Lynchburg, Virginia photographers Tanner and Van Ness (qv) is dated 1867. Lynchburg played an active part in the US civil war but by 1867 postwar recovery was underway. The subject is Colonel Augustine Leftwich, a prominent tobacco manufacturer and slave owner aged 73.