Harper of Texas

Card #01 - Photographer: Harper
Corsicana, Bryan, Waxahachie,
Temple and Ennis

Card #02 - Photographer: Harper
Corsicana, Waxahachie, Calvert
Temple and Ennis

This page will serve as a catch-all for cabinet card photographs stamped Harper just to compare the cards. Individual histories of each of the THREE brothers Harper and Lucius Harper Senior and Junior can be reached through links on this page.

There is also a separate page for Lucius Harper and son.

Harper or “Harper and Co.” could have been any one of several photographers.

Dating a photograph by Harper or “Harper and Co.” will be difficult if not impossible. There is also the possibility that “Harper” is not the same photographer as “Harper and Co.”

Since the cabinet cards vary in the imprinted information perhaps there might be a way to discover which designs were used when. But quite likely the variations only designate WHERE they were produced.

Here are some variations of imprints on cabinet cards discovered thus far:
Harper - Corsicana, Texas
Harper - Corsicana, Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple and Ennis
Harper - Corsicana, Waxahachie, Calvert, Temple and Ennis
Harper - Ennis, Texas
Harper Galleries in Corsicana, Bryan, Temple, Navasota, Waxahachie,
        Calvert, & Ennis, Texas
Harper and Co. - Waco, Texas
Harper and Co. - Galveston and Austin, Texas
Harper and Co. - Houston, Texas
Harper and Co. - 507 1/2 Main Street. Houston, TX
Harper G. Co. - Galveston, Houston, & Dallas
Harper and Wisdom - Marshall, Texas

Some of these are obviously the same studio. The cards labeled Corsicana, Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple and Ennis are probably all the same photographer, or at least the same business. The cards stamped Galveston, Austin, Marshal, Houston and Dallas might be just branch offices or perhaps another Harper entirely.

Card # 03 - Photographer: Harper & Co.
Waco, Texas
And here is
ANOTHER PHOTOGRAPH
By Harper & Co. of Austin and Galveston

Card # 04 - Photographer: William L Harper, Ennis, Texas
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same
Note the same props were used in # 05

This card was sent to LOST GALLERY by a contributor in Ennis, Texas who says the gentleman in the photograph is an (as yet) unknown member of the family.
This card also has an initial crest with the letters W. L. H.

Here are some of the Harper photographers found:
Lucius William Harper, Senior and Junior, of Galveston and Dallas
William D. Harper Clarendon, TX. (Catching Shadows by David Haynes; Taming the Land, 1890’s)
Thomas J. Harper, Dallas, TX (husband/wife team US Census 1910)
William L. Harper of Ennis, Texas (Newspaper item, see below)
Emmet L. Harper of Ennis, Texas (US Census 1910)

The main common factor is that they were all active in Texas, about the same time, 1880 - 1910.

Fort Worth (TX) Gazette - 16 Oct 1891

Houston (TX) Post - 23 May 1898

This is a set of cabinet cards from the site called Slices of Time. Each is by a photographer named Harper.
Click on the card to see full details of each.

Note these are very low resolution scans so they are not shown full size here. The design of the card and the towns listed in the imprint might help date some other cards.

Card # 05 - Photographer: ???per (Probably "Harper"),
Corsicana, Texas, No date estimate
This one would probably be by William L Harper. (See #4 above)

Card # 06 - Photographer: Harper Galleries in Corsicana, Bryan, Temple, Navasota, Waxahachie, Calvert, & Ennis, Texas
Date estimate: circa 1890

Card # 07 - Photographer: William L Harper, Ennis, Texas
No date estimate
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same

Card # 08 - Photographer: William L Harper, Ennis, Texas
No date estimate
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same

Card # 09 - Photographer: Harper & Co., Galveston, Houston, & Dallas
(too blurry to read)
No date estimate

Card # 10 - Photographer: Harper & Co., Galveston, Houston, & Ennis, Texas
date calculation: May of 1900
(subject's DOB and age shown on card)

Card # 11 - Photographer: Harper, Ennis, Texas
(this would be William L Harper)
No date estimate

Card # 12 - Photographer: Harper, Bryan/Ennis/Temple/Waxahachie, Texas
(This is likely William L Harper)
Date estimate circa 1895

Card # 13 - Photographer: William L Harper, Ennis, Texas
No date estimate
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same

Card #14 - Photographer: T. J. Harper, Temple, Texas
No date estimate

Card # 15 - photographer: Harper, Ennis, TX
(This would be William L Harper)
contributed by G Groth
Business imprint on #04, 07, 08, 13, and 15 are the same

Until more is known about how many photographers are involved here, the research will concentrate on Thomas Jefferson Harper and brothers William L Harper and Emmett Leander Harper. They were living in Ennis, TX, during the cabinet card era. William and Emmett apparently stayed in and around Ennis, TX, for most of their lives. Thomas Jefferson Harper moved to the Galveston, Houston area just before 1900 and continued in the business of photography there.

update 13 Oct 2018
There are some clues that suggest that the cards stamped "Harper" were done by either W L Harper or E L Harper. The cards stamped "Harper and Co" were done by T J Harper.

As more information is found on these photographers a separate page with biography and timeline will be developed on each.

More to follow

photographer: Harper and Company
Galveston and Houston, TX
example from Ancestry.com

photographer: Harper and Company
2215 Market Street, Galveston, Tx
and
507 1/2 Main Street, Houston, TX
& Ennis, TX
example from Langdon Road

photographer: Harper and Company
2215 Market Street, Galveston, Tx
and
920 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX
example from M Snow

Note that the same rattan chair was used in the two baby pictures at the left. Both were possibly finished between 1896 and 1906 when there was a Harper studio at 2215 Market in Galveston, TX.

It can be shown that there was a Harper and Co. studio at 507 1/2 Main in Houston, TX, from 1899 to 1912. So the cabinet card stamped with both addresses must have been finished between 1899 and 1906.

No documents have been found yet to show when Harper had a studio in Austin, TX. Only a few Austin, TX, city directories are available.

photographer: Harper
Texarkana, TX
example from auction site

It is not known at this time which Harper had a studio in Texarkana, TX.

photographer: T J Harper
J M Willyard, operator
Bryan, TX
example from Charlie Perlitz

Probably finished around 1896 when Willyard was managing the Harper and Co Studio in Bryan, TX.

photographer: Harper (probably William L Harper)
branches at Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple, Calvert, Navasoto, Ennis and Corsicana, TX
example from auction site

photographer: Harper
Bryan, Waxahachie, Calvert
and Corsicana
example from genealogy villiage

photographer: Harper
Bryan, Waxahachie, Calvert, Corsicana,
and Ennis, TX
example from auction site

photographer: Harper
Bryan, Waxahachie, Calvert, Corsicana, Ennis, TX
example from auction site

photographer: Harper (probably William L Harper)
branches at Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple, Calvert, Navasoto, Ennis and Corsicana, TX
example from contributor

photographer: Harper (probably William L Harper)
branches at Bryan, Waxahachie, Temple, Calvert, Navasoto, Ennis and Corsicana, TX
example from contributor R McDaniel

photographer: Harper
Corsicana, Waxahachie, Calvert, Temple, Ennis
example from contributor

photographer: Harper
Corsicana, TX
branches in Tyler, Mexia, and Waxahachie example from Cabinet Card Gallery
(note the different imprint does not match any others on this page)

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.

Cabinet cards typically have the photographer’s name and address printed on the bottom edge or the reverse of the card. 19th century photographers moved around a lot. The basic idea here is to find WHEN a photographer was WHERE, which will help date an unidentified CABINET CARD from your family album.

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.