Cabinet Card Photographers: February 2021

Saturday, February 27, 2021

Daniel Philip Sink

Photographer: D. P. Sink
South Main St.
Vernon, Texas

Photographer: D. P. Sink
Vernon, Texas

The right example was probably much later than the left example. Scalloped edges and pastel color mounting board did not become popular until around 1890-1900.

Daniel Philip Sink
(1846 - 1931)

1846 Sep 26
Davidson, NC, state records, Daniel Philip Sink is born to Philip and Mary Sink
1878
From “Find a Grave” bio, Sink and family move to Calvert, TX
1884 Jan 18
Vernon, TX, not all records agree on date, D P Sink and Mary M Smith are married
1888 Aug 09
Vernon, TX, state records, son Daniel Philip Sink JR is born
1889 March
From “Find a Grave” bio, Sink and family move to Vernon, TX; opens photography studio in a tent in center town
1891 Oct 31
Vernon, TX, state records, daughter Mary Constance Sink is born
1894 Jun 18
Vernon, TX, state records, daugher Marguerite Gilliand Sink is born

This page was updated 07 Apr 2019.

1896 Nov 25
Vernon, TX, state records, son Francis Jacob Sink is born
1898 Nov 04
Vernon, TX, state records, son Paul Burton Sink is born
1900 Jun 07
Vernon, TX, US census, D P Sink as photographer; res Marshall street
1918 Jul 12
Vernon (TX) Record news item says Sink sold South Main studio to R. B. Clifton
1918 Oct 08
Vernon (TX) Record news item says Sink and family moved to California, apparently does not go into business again
1930 Apr 04
Los Angeles, CA, US census, D P Sink no occupation given
1931 Jan 31
Los Angeles, CA, Find a Grave web site, Daniel Philip Sink dies

All data is from US Census, newspaper items. Find-A-Grave website and city directories

There is great coverage of this photograher at AMERICAN JOURNEYS

Vernon Record - 15 Feb 1918

Vernon (TX) Record - 19 Apr 1918

Vernon (TX) Record - 12 Jul 1918

Vernon (TX) Record - 02 May 1919

Vernon (TX) Record - 08 Oct 1918

Vernon (TX) Record - 04 Feb 1919

Vernon (TX) Record - 07 Feb 1919

photographer: D P Sink
Calvert, TX
example from auction site
This one would have been finished around 1878

photographer Sink
Vernon, TX
example from auction site
(Note the foot of a prop at the left
also appears in the next card)

photographer Sink
Vernon, TX
example from auction site

Not the one you were looking for? Here's the photographer's INDEX by name. All the Cabinet Card photographers of the 19th century found in LOST GALLERY are listed there.

This is a work always in progress.

Aditional information and new examples are always welcome. Any additional information will help narrow the time that these precious antiques were made.

All submissions should be free of glare and shadows.
Do not crop.
Leave a border around each card. The edges are sometimes an important clue to the age of the card.
Email to the address found in the profile at the bottom of this page.

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.

Rudolph H Goebel

photographe: R Goebel
St. Charles, MO.

Photographer: Goebel
St. Charles, Mo.
On the reverse Stamped
Gerard Bros.

photographer: R Goebel
St. Charles Mo.
on the reverse printed
Gerard Bros.

Rudolph H. Goebel
(20 Jan 1835 - 1923)

Goebel was active in St. Charles, MO, 1856 to around 1880, first with Daguerreotypes expanding to albumen prints as the technology became available. Throughout his career he worked increasingly with “Views” of the city and surrounding area.

The dark green card at the far left was probably done later in his career and the other two earlier.

A photograph of Goebel and Guerin (later on this same page) is at the Missouri History Museum.

Guerin, Benecke and Goebel.

At the left is a photograph of (left to right) Guerin, Benecke and Goebel. This card is the property of the Missouri Historical Society.

photographer Goebel
St Charles, MO
1856-1895
example from auction site

photographer Goebel
St Charles, MO
1856-1895
example from auction site
(note same chair as card on left)

photographer Goebel
St Charles, MO
1856-1895
example from auction site

photographer Goebel
St Charles, MO
example from auction site

photographer Goebel
Saint Charles, MO
example from auction site

photographer Goebel
Saint Charles, MO
1856
example from auction site

photographer: Gobel & Wentzel
Columbus, OH
example from auction site

Photographer: Launey & Goebel
Savanah, GA
example from auction site

These three are probably not the same Goebel. Nothing found in Rudolph Goebel's history says he ever left Missouri. More research pending.

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.

Saturday, February 20, 2021

Joseph Judd Pennell

Photographer: Pennell
Junction City, Kansas
From LOST GALLERY collection

More examples at Kansas Historical Society

Joseph Judd Pennell

Source: The University of Kansas Libraries

BIOGRAPHY of Joseph Judd Pennell

The son of a confederate soldier, Joseph Judd Pennell was born March 9, 1866 in Kings Creek, North Carolina. When he was about 18, his father's business failed and the family could no longer afford the cost of private education in the North Carolina schools. A cousin returning from a trip to Kansas told of the good public schools in Kansas, so the decision was made to leave North Carolina and settle in Kansas.

In his first years in Kansas, Joseph Pennell worked as a carpenter making coffins for an Abilene undertaker.

His first venture into the business of photography began in March 1888, when he bought a half interest in a Junction City studio owned by L.A. Ramsour.

After a year of work in the studio he quit to travel through the countryside making photographs in his "photo car", probably a wagon with a darkroom set up in it. A year of touring the countryside gave him the desire for a more stable and permanent business, so he returned to Junciton City and entered a brief partnership with S.D. Hopkins.

At the end of a year, he opened a studio in partnership with Ed Zellner, whom he bought out two years later in 1893.

In 1898, he married Edith Stanley and their only child, Joseph Stanley Pennell was born in 1903.
As a photographer, Pennell was a success in both the business and the photographic world. His business grew enough for him to have a new studio built in 1907. The building is still in use in Junction City.

Along with his business success, Pennell achieved recognition and awards for his photography. His work was shown at the World's Fair in 1893 and at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. It was also published in photographic journals and in popular magazines of the time such as Munsey's and Ladies Home Journal.

Pennell was active in his community, serving on the Board of Education, the Chamber of Commerce and in organizations such as the Rotary Club and Knights of Columbus.

Pennell continued to operate his studio until his premature death by blood poisoning at the age of 56 on April 3, 1922. His widow, Edith, kept the studio running for about a year, after which the negatives went into storage. Subsequently, the negatives became the property of Pennell's son, Joseph Stanley Pennell, the author of two novels based on his family history and life in Junction City, The History of Rome Hanks and The History of Nora Beckham.

Over the years, many of Pennell's classic photographs have made their way into print and on television, including a shot of a Junction City bar that became part of the opening credits to NBC's comedy series, "Cheers," which was set in a Boston bar.

See also the Pennell Photograph Collection

See also Edward David Zellner

Bio found on the Find A Grave website:

Photographer. He was born in North Carolina in 1866, the son of a Confederate soldier. His family moved to Kansas in the 1880s to take advantage of the public school system.

As a young man Pennell went to work for a carpenter in Abilene, Kansas, but later became fascinated by the work of a traveling photographer. He worked with several different Junction City photographers while learning his craft, and eventually opened his own studio in the town in 1893. A new studio was built in 1907, and the building is still in use in Junction City.

Along with his business success, Pennell achieved wider recognition and awards for his photography. His work was shown at the World's Fair in 1893 and the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, and was published in photographic journals and in such popular magazines of the time as Munsey's and Ladies Home Journal. Pennell operated his studio until his death in 1922, and his wife continued it for a further year.

Junction City is a small town located near the geographical center of the continental United States. Most of the town's income came from supplying the area farmers and the nearby army post of Fort Riley.

Studio portraits of soldiers and townspeople made up the bulk of Pennell's work, but he was also hired to record activities and events throughout Junction City and Fort Riley He photographed school, church, and social functions, construction and town growth, the routines of the business and military worlds, disasters and celebrations - the triumphs and tribulations of a small town.

The Joseph J. Pennell Photograph Collection represents the life work of a Junction City, Kansas, photographer. It consists of 30,000 glass plate negatives made between 1891 and 1923, a period of great change in American life. The collection is part of the Kansas Collection, the regional history branch of the University of Kansas Libraries located in Lawrence, KS and open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday to Friday.

Assembling a timeline for Pennell seems nearly impossible. Hundreds of newspaper ads and items indicate he traveled almost daily making a circuit of small towns in eastern Kansas around Junction City, KS. To date no cabinet card examples have been found with locations imprinted other than Junction City, KS.

He was an active photographer with his own studio from about 1893 to his death in 1922. A large part of his work was on-location photographs of life in Kansas and the military post at Junction City.

Junction City (KS) Republican - 05 Nov 1879