Spring is the season of new life. At my house I have baby bunnies munching on my columbines, baby birds sitting on the feeder begging to be fed by their parents , baby dandelions sprouting, and a fresh new crop of mosquitos trying to get their first meal from ME. New arrivals in the human world are not limited to spring, but the abundance of youngsters of all species this month led me to search on the word “baby” in
Nebraska Memories to find out what would be revealed. People love babies and love taking their pictures, so it was not a surprise to find nearly 90 images. Many of them are studio portraits.
I confess to being guilty of taking a few “nearly naked” baby pictures of my own children, although not at a studio. Young
Rudolph Nuttelman of Rising City, clad only in his diaper, is at ease and smiling in this 1906 photo from the
Boston Studio Project. I am always amazed by the clarity of scanned images from glass plate negatives and can count each one of his toes. Perhaps a parent was standing behind the photographer doing something silly to make him smile.
This portrait of
Agnes Birkel, age 21 months when the photo was taken in 1908, is also from the Boston Studio Project. She and the puppy beside her are an adorable pair. Agnes is looking at someone who is making her smile, but the puppy looks rather sleepy to me. I hope they enjoyed growing up together!
Babies can be hard to get to sleep, but singing to them helps.
Croonings of the Winds is a collection of 12 “slumber songs” in the
Polley Music Library collection. This verse from
Summer Lullaby by Eudora S. Bumstead really evokes a Nebraska summer evening.
The sun has gone from the shining skies, Bye baby, bye
The dandelions have closed their eyes, Bye baby, bye
And stars are lighting their lamps to see
If babe and birdy and squir’l all three
Are sound asleep as they ought to be
Bye, baby, bye
Visit
Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials.
Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see
http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information, or contact
Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or
Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.
