Then and Now: Enjoying the Garden, Circa 1880

Here’s a cool photo from the 1880s showing a man in a garden. Specifically, the item is a cabinet card photographed by E.U. Gleason, who was at 23 Aborn Ave. in Wakefield back then.

So what is a cabinet card? It turns out to be basically a photograph that’s mounted on a card, apparently most popular from around the Civil War through the late 19th Century.

A quick search online for E.U. Gleason finds him also mentioned in passing in “Proceedings of the 250th Anniversary of the Ancient Town of Redding,” an 1894 text that can still be viewed on Google Books. From what I can tell, some of Gleason’s album views of Wakefield were displayed during that celebration.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Ke44AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA112&lpg=PA112&dq=e.u.+gleason+wakefield&source=bl&ots=CQaBjHsDLs&sig=8DZ9l7zHkyfr4uVMoQtx0frS0RA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=-Uv6UYqWMces4AOTwYCQCw&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=e.u.%20gleason%20wakefield&f=false

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wakefield-MA-Portrait-of-a-Man-in-Rose-Garden-by-Gleason-ca-1880s-Backstamp-/380654540303?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item58a0c7560f