There were a number of photographers named Miller in Kansas during
the late 19th century. E W Miller of Overbrook, J H Miller of Rock
Creek, P A Miller of Arkansas City, J B Miller of Great Bend, G H
Miller of Iola and E E Miller of Sylvan Grove for example.
Traveling the small towns and setting up a temporary studio for a day
or a week would have been an easy routine for a photographer. One
small town would not produce enough business so canvassing several
small communities would be necessary to make a living income. Adding
the town name in the corner of a pre-printed cabinet card blank would
have been a simple enough task. When there is a city named on the
card, it doesn’t necessarily mean the photographer ever actually lived
there.
They could even be caught in a census if they happened to be there on
the day of enumeration.
There are many small towns around Cherokee, Ks. This Miller could have
been working out of Joplin, MO, which is only 25 miles southeast.
Is this the same Miller? Maybe not. Blue Rapids, KS, is more than 250
miles from Cherokee, KS. But if the two towns were both on a rail
line, it's quite possible.
Also note that the chair is the same in two of the photographs.
The example at the left would be from P A Miller of Arkansas City, KS
Not the one you were looking for? Here's the photographer's
INDEX by name. Listed here are all the Cabinet Card photographers of the 19th
century found in LOST GALLERY. This is a work in progress. For a look
at the original postings go to
LOST GALLERY.
Some examples on this page have been enhanced or restored for clarity
and presentation here.
This page is free for educational and research purposes only but, as
always, if the original owner of any of these examples objects to the
use on this page, just let me know and they will be immediately
removed.
I have a cabinet card taken from a studio operating in both Pittsburg and Cherokee KN from "Millers' Art Studios" On the card in impressed gold cursive writing it reads: "Millers' Art Studios Pittsburg and Cherokee, KN" Could this be the same Miller photographer as the one who took the Cherokee KN photos?
ReplyDeleteThat’s probably a sure thing. Pittsburg, KS, is less than 10 miles from Cherokee, KS, and it WAS, in the late 1800’s, connected by a rail line.
DeleteThanks for the nudge; I’ll look at the Millers again to see if I can find anything new.