Riverton's Lothrop Photography Chronicled Our Ancestors' Milestones

Gaslight News June 2013 Historical Society of Riverton vol. XXXXIII, no. 3 (#152)

Founded 1970 Riverton, NJ 08077 Incorporated 1978 Riverton’s Lothrop Photography chronicled our ancestors’ milestones

During the 1890s, in an age when photog- Paul’s authoritative findings indicated that raphy as a fine-art was just emerging, a pio- in 1900, thirty year-old Bertha, David’s neering young artist from Riverton exhibit- daughter living in the same house, was also ed children’s portraits at the Photographic a photographer. In 1905, she married Society of Philadelphia, became a success- Frederick W. Radell in Riverton, and by ful advertising photographer, published a the 1910 census had moved with him to Michael Robinson instigated technical pamphlet, and had a studio built Pennsylvania with her mother, suggesting this closer examination of expressly for taking pictures. The surprise? that David had died sometime between Lothrop Photography when he purchased this cabinet A woman named Bertha Lothrop accom- 1900 and 1910. card of an infant Charles plished all these feats. Horace Haines through an In late January 2013, RFL Director, Mr. online auction. Robinson A small item in Mrs. Betty B. Hahle long- Michael Robinson watched a PowerPoint observes that the Haines running signature “Yesterday” column that presentation about the recently digitized family has deep roots in once appeared in this newsletter informed local newspapers that included a small Burlington County. readers in 1984 that “Lothrop’s new Photo- Lothrop Photography newspaper ad from IMAGE CREDIT : Michael Robinson graphic Studio, at 4th & Main, boasted the (Palmyra) Weekly News, July 10, 1897, one of the finest skylights in the state, and the Lothrop photo at lower left. assuring the best and pleasant photos for its patrons.” In 2008, an English professor writing a book about antique photographs of people with their dogs contacted the Society requesting help in dating a cabinet card. HSR member and professional historian Paul W. Schopp responded with his customary thoroughness to her inquiry with With his curiosity clearly piqued about the an email listing five members of the prospect of a historic photography studio Lothrop household residing at 401 Main being within a stone’s throw from the Street according to the 1900 census and an Library, Mr. Robinson soon found an Lothrop Studio photograph account of the 60 year-old head-of- Unidentified subject. online auction for another Lothrop- household’s employment since 1880. stamped portrait. Mr. Robinson writes: Mr. Paul W. Schopp assisted Dr. Ann-Janine Morey of Given the Massachusetts native’s move- “On eBay recently I came across a stu- James Madison University in ments and a Philadelphia business address dio photograph of a magisterial looking dating this cabinet card to about 1890 for her forthcom- from 1863-1882, Mr. Schopp speculated baby named Charles Horace Haines... ing book, Romancing the that David Lothrop may have been “a bit of It was the name that caught my atten- Dog: American Vernacular an itinerant photographer” and that the tion (I know a local Charles Haines, Photography, 1860-1950. “Riverton studio may have been a part-time IMAGE CREDIT: Dr. A.J. Morey operation.” See LOTHROP on 2

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“Women “Women Photographers y collection of slides of Miss child Bertha studies M. by Lothrop of Miss Riverton… Lothrop's exhibit slides of figure work such as has rarely, constituted if an ever, been equaled at meetings of the Society, and showed that she possesses artistic feeling, children, rare and skill a admirable.” altogether in technical posing knowledge m IVERTON “…a “…a large audience was assembled to see a

now now 56 years old in 1896, or something his daughter, twenty Bertha, published in her field of photography and highly regard- ed by her peers? And from where in River- ton did Lothrop business? Photography conduct At this point, your News part of the course relay.research in this In and Their Work,” lineator, author Juan C. Abel explains that advertis- ers paid high prices for her because, when she was attending photographs the Acad- e determined to avoid the “stiff, conventional of day. portraits of the poses” delphia delphia meeting on November at which, 7, 1894, So who was here the master setts, New photographer Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, R

IMAGE CREDIT : http://www.piercevaubel.com/cam/index.htm

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ISTORICAL A History of Women Pho- H

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(Abbeville (Abbeville Press, various edi-

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that their overburdened maker claimed she had little time to join photographic societies or submit tions... in work any magazine one might find to exhibi- ‘at least a half dozen pictures which her [Lothrop’s] fertile brain has out. ...Her work was said to thought have com- manded comparatively high prices, but are actual unknown.” the figures example example demand the advertising for images by Bertha M. Lo- one throp, a Phila- delphian who made this a specialty, was so pressing ton County), but it was a Riverton con- nection that influenced me to buy the photograph. Charles at 5 propped up months in a is chair on a rug, white squinting at the camera and waving fur his right hand like a blessing. Pope issuing a and there are Haines all over Burling- “In “In 1901, for 1894, notice of a Photographic Society of Phila- Indoor Photographyies of ChildBooks). In and Subjects Copyright addition Flash Photographs” it to includes Lothrop’s Miss “Twenty observations on the challenges and rewards of working with children, her sources of inspiration, and technical information about lighting, exposure, flash pow- darkroom and chemicals, technique. der, Mr. Robinson follows up with this item in Photographic Times Next, Mr. Robinson found authored a by pamphlet Bertha Lothrop in 1896, an example advertising: in succeeding of women photographers Michael’s Michael’s online search turned up Rosenblum’s tographers tions), which cites Bertha Lothrop as

by Ber-by

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WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS THEIRAND WORK. particular work.” particular Co.York: Pub. Butterick Nov.), v.58:no.5 (1901: a young woman woman young a achieved has who... her in reputation a ware, lives Miss Miss lives ware, Lothrop, M. Bertha Philadelphia, at at Philadelphia, the on Riverton, Dela- the of banks The Delineator. Paris; New Paris; New TheDelineator.

Google Books.Google IMAGE CREDITGoogle :Books ies of Child the Lothrop. tha View entire Subjects 40 scanned Title page of raphy and Flash - “Nine miles out of of out miles “Nine and census hold and records may the keys to the mysteries of home’s history. your PHOTO CREDIT : JMc Adrienne Carlos and Rogers Fourth Street.at 501 Old maps, accounts,newspaper census listedcensus as the Lothrop residence. it,Behind where studiothe photography once rests stood, of now the home Iris live Richard and Gaughan thatin the the home 1900

②

http://books.google.com/books?id=ESwyAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF RIVERTON ③ absolute termination date for the photog- : CREDIT IMAGE raphy studio in Riverton as sometime

between 1900 and 1910 and, more closely,

FOURTH STREET FOURTH

sometime between 1905 and 1910, given http://library.princeton.edu/libraries/firestone/rbsc/aids/sanborn/burlington/riverton.html the date of Bertha’s marriage. Drilling into the recently digitized local

newspaper files available on the HSR website and some more research in the ar- chives of genealogybank.com yielded a few more clues regarding our renowned Miss No doubt, Evening Prayer, Pillow Fight, and Playmates Bertha, Lothrop Photographers, and her MAIN STREET typify the innovative flash-light studies of child subjects by husband-to-be. This detail from a 1905 Miss Bertha Lothrop of whom the Photographic Society of Sanborn Insurance Map, Philadelphia found to possess “...artistic feeling, rare skill N ewspa per corner of Fourth & Main, in posing children, and a technical knowledge altogether social and shows the Lothrop residence admirable.” IMAGE CREDIT : The Delineator, November 1901 and Indoor Photography and Flash-Light Studies of Child Subjects gossip col- at 401 Main and adjacent umns of the photography studio.

This she tried with great success and then day often re- took up stereoscopic, or 3D, photography. ported on the One maker of pictures for the stereoscope activities of

bought practically all she could make. Ber- people within tha Lothrop, “realizing their sub- sufficient to build herself “Riverton.” The Philadelphia Inquirer, scribers’ area, STREET FOURTH a comfortable little studio 27 August 1899: Volume: 141 Issue: so reporting 58, Section: Sunday Magazine, p. 9. out at her home,” could on Miss Ber- “...barely keep pace with tha Lothrop’s comings and goings was not

the orders” for her calen- unusual. In 1897, she had just returned dar and advertising work. from two weeks’ visit in Lancaster, in August 1899 she was in Ocean City, and in If the present-day home at 401 Main was MAIN STREET April 1900 she was off visiting friends in the Lothrop residence, what became of the New York City. Think of them as the Face- By 1911, owners added to “comfortable little studio”? 401 Main, but the lot where book status updates of their era. Bertha the photography studio once Historian Paul Schopp used a succession turned 30 in 1900, apparently an accom- stood was vacant. of Sanborn Insurance maps to explain what plished independent career woman. happened. The residence at 401 Main In April 1905, The Philadelphia Inquirer Street and a separate smaller structure reported that a Mr. Frederick W. Radell of labeled “PHOTO” are apparent on the 1896 Bank and Howard Street had just lost his Sanborn map. The 1900 map shows both 23 year-old wife, presumably as a result of the corner residence and the photo studio complications from childbirth, since she STREET FOURTH at the rear of the property receiving left a two-week-old infant. additions, and each expanding again by 1905. But the lot behind 401 Main Street is The course of one’s life can certainly turn vacant for the 1911 map, and a new dwell- on a dime, and that is about to be the case ing at 501 Fourth Street first appears on the for the subject of this essay. 1919 map. Eight months later the widower, Mr. MAIN STREET In other words, the Lothrop residence still Radell, married Bertha, now 35, here in Riverton on December 6, 1905, and some- The 1919 Riverton Sanborn stands, but Bertha’s photography studio Insurance map shows a new disappeared sometime between 1905-1911. time before the 1910 census they moved to home at 501 Fourth Street. Abington Township, Pennsylvania. Further research may hold The disappearance of the photo studio answers to what events corresponds with Paul’s estimate for the See LOTHROP on 4 ended Lothrop Photography.

④ THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF RIVERTON What became of the talented The 1932 Bucks County Intelli- The name “Bertha L. Radell, Glen- former Miss Lothrop, now Mrs. gencer Obituary Index has an entry side, Pa.” appears in the Bulletin of Bertha L. Radell? Did she give up that reads, “Bertha L., wife of Fred- Photography as an exhibitor at the her passion for capturing photo- erick W. Radell, died on Tuesday, 32nd Annual Photographers Asso- graphic images for domestic life in Dec. 6, at their home on York ciation of America Convention in Montgomery County, PA? For now, road, above Hartsville, after a five Philadelphia on July 22-27, 1912. week’s illness. Her husband and 2 the record reveals few details of Our account ends here, but this is da…” The rest is cut off, but in all Mrs. Radell’s remaining years. where the networking potential of likelihood it refers to a husband E p w o r t h the Internet holds some promise and two surviving daughters. M e t h o d i s t and another contributor may C h u r c h One final clue emerged that Bertha anchor this long-distance research Cemetery in Radell may have continued the relay and complete the course start- P a l m y r a pursuit of her photographic art ed by Mrs. Hahle in 1984. even after leaving Riverton. holds the If anyone reading this can forward L o t h r o p to us originals or scans of addition- Lothrop family burial plot, family burial Epworth Methodist Church al Lothrop photographs, references plot for Ber- Cemetery PHOTO CREDIT : JMc to Lothrop Photography in any me- tha’s mother, dia not already seen here, anecdo- Lucy Lothrop, and her sister, Flor- tal information about Lothrop Pho- ence, but not Bertha. And although tography, or anything else pertinent a metal marker identifies the owner to this theme, then we can enlarge as David Lothrop, the headstone for Bulletin of Photography, Volume 11 edited on this topic at a later date. Bertha’s father is absent. by John Bartlett, Frank V. Chambers, Francis Contributors: Betty B. Hahle, John McCormick, Stapleton Chambers, page 199. Michael Robinson, Paul W. Schopp

This summer, take the HSR website with you as you travel and show off your hometown. Go to http://rivertonhistory.com/ for event updates, Gaslight News back issues, historical newspapers, 100s of vintage images (shore points, too), video clips, our blog, and more.

Readers: This issue is THE HISTORICAL uring our entirely devoted to an SOCIETY OF RIVERTON s u m m e r hiatus visit the SALUTES ITS VETERANS unfinished subject— Historical Lothrop Photography. Sunday, April 26, 2013. Society of Perhaps fresh eyes can The distinguished Honor Roll of military Riverton’s website at complete the last lap. rivertonhistory.com. veterans listed on the Riverton War Memorial and see what is developing in your old grew by ten names during a Memorial Day hometown. ceremony directed by Mayor Bill Brown and How many times have you read of someone’s Robert Smyth, Chairman of Riverton’s Mili- story in the Gaslight News or seen an image on Gaslight News the HSR website that evoked a memory that is is a publication of the Historical Society of Riverton tary & Veterans Affairs Committee part of your own unique Riverton experience? and is published four or five times per year. Uniformed members of VFW Post 3020 and Telling your story is part of your legacy to your family and community. If you don’t tell it, then  American Legion Post 146, both of Riverside, who will? THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF RIVERTON lent solemnity to the occasion with a display We invite submissions of essays, poems, photo- Post Office Box # 112 of colors, a wreath laying, and rifle salute. graphs, articles, suggestions for topics, correc- Riverton, NJ 08077 tions and additions to articles, and other such 856-786-6961 A respectful crowd applauded for each of the contributions from our readers. ten names Robert Smyth read aloud. Mayor Yesterday’s advertising matter, maps, photos, Gerald Weaber, Jr. President Brown explained that new wood plaques with newspapers, audio and video recordings, cata- Phyllis Rodgers Vice President logs, invoices and bills, home movies, magazines, metal nameplates will eventually replace the postcards, and many such commonplace items Paul Daly Treasurer memorial’s original lists that date from 1945. of everyday living have become the antiques of Susan Dechnik Publicity today, so please keep the Society in mind before Nancy Hall Membership Richard N. Buckalew Theresa Buckalew you dispose of any such items of local historical interest. Charlotte Lippincott Secretary James Hamlin William A. Kupper Jr. Help us prepare for the day when we will have a John McCormick Editor, Archivist, Website George J. Mack Jr. Elliot Richardson III real home in which to make Riverton artifacts and information available for public use. E-mail/Web: [email protected] Robert E. Richardson Frank Siefert rivertonhistory.com/ - JMC Herman R. Trout Jr. Samuel Wargny