Category Archives: Faces from the Past
Faces from the Past – A Patriotic School Group (& Swasey)
A group of young children holding American flags pose for a photograph circa 1919–1921. One child, Raymond Lewis Swasey, has been identified—but who are the others? This image offers a glimpse into early school life and invites the community to help uncover the identities and location behind this patriotic scene. Continue reading
Faces from the Past – Clifford, Dana, Jordan, & Kinney
The Scarborough Historical Society’s Linwood Dyer Collection holds a remarkable family album connecting Portland and Cape Elizabeth families across three generations. Through studio portraits, wedding photographs, newspaper clippings, and a vivid 1927 memoir, we trace the Hinkley, Dana, and Clifford families from Thanksgiving gatherings in 1860s Gorham, Maine, to the elegant Portland weddings of 1939. Continue reading
Faces from the Past – Hinkley, & Kinney
In this installment of Faces from the Past, I examine five identified portraits and six unidentified photographs from the Hinkley Family Photographs album in the Linwood Dyer Collection. Spanning roughly forty years of Hinkley and Kinney family history. These images offer a glimpse into the lives of two interconnected Portland-area families. Among the portraits: a young soldier photographed for his sister just weeks after America entered the First World War, two little sisters sharing a book at a parlor table, and a pair of confident young women on the eve of their futures. Do you recognize any of the unidentified faces? Continue reading
Faces from the Past: Hinkley, Prindle & Welch
In this installment of Faces from the Past, I examine five portraits from a single family album in the Linwood Dyer Collection at the Scarborough Historical Society. The subjects span four generations of the Hinkley and Prindle families of Scarborough, Maine, and Whitehall, New York — from painted likenesses of James Lonson Prindle (1802–1851) and his wife Eunice (Welch) Prindle (1810–1895), made in the early 1840s, to a World War I military portrait of Philip Edward Hinkley (1881–1962). The album also includes a later cabinet card of Eunice in old age, taken by the Portland photographer Lamson between 1871 and 1880, which allows a remarkable comparison across three decades. The identity of a fifth portrait, inscribed simply “Grandfather Hinkley,” remains an open question pending further research. Continue reading
Unidentified Faces – Dyer, Libby, and Six Unlabeled Women
Linwood Dyer Collection, Part 097By Don Taylor IntroductionThe Scarborough Historical Society maintains several important photographic collections documenting people, places, and events. In this installment of Faces from the Past, I examine eight more photographs from the Linwood Dyer Collection. Sadly, … Continue reading