photographer:
Cramer
1001 south 5th
cor Chouteau Ave.
St Louis, MO
reverse of the card at the left
Gustav Adolph Cramer
(20 May 1838 - 16 Jul 1914)
Sources: mostly St Louis, MO, city directories
1838 May 20
Eschwege, Germany, Gustav Cramer is born to Emanuel and Dorthea Cramer
1859
Cramer arrives in the US works as apprentice to John A Scholten
1860
Carondelet, MO, Cramer opens first gallery but operates only for about
6 months and then enlists for three months with the Missouri
Volunteers of the Civil War
1861
Carondelet, MO, After the Battle of Carthage, 5 Jul 1861, Cramer
returns to find his gallery has closed
1863 May
Carondelet, MO, Cramer pays 15 dollar tax fee and registers as
photographer
1864
St Louis, MO, Cramer teams with portrait painter Julius Gross and
opens a gallery called Cramer and Gross
1865
St Louis, MO, city directory, 91 s Fourth as Hermann Gross; Cramer NOT
listed
1866
St Louis, MO, 333 s Fifth st as Cramer and Gross, photographers
1866
St Louis, MO, city directory (T A Holland) 1264 s Fourth st, as Cramer
and Gross, photographers (probably a miss-print)
1866
St Louis, MO, city directory (Missouri Version) fourth st, se cor
Herman Gross only; Cramer not listed
1867 - 1869
St Louis, MO, city directory 1264 s Fifth as Cramer and Gross, as
photographers
-- continued in next row --
1870 - 1875
St Louis, MO, city directory 1001 s Fifth as Cramer, Gross and Co,
photographers
1876
St Louis, MO, city directory 1001 s Fifth as Cramer G, successor to
Cramer, Gross and Co.
1877 - 1878
St Louis, MO, city directory 1001 s Fifth st as Cramer, Gross and Co.
(again); Gustav Cramer, Julian Gross and Henry Schoo, photographers
1879
St Louis, MO, city directory NOT AVAILABLE
1880
St Louis, MO, city directory, 1001 s Fifth as Gustave Cramer,
photographer; Herman Norden not listed in St Louis, MO, city directory
1881
St Louis, MO, city directory 1001 s Fifth as Gustave Cramer,
photographer in business pages; res pages show Herman Norden with
Cramer and Norden at 1001 s Fifth
1866
1882
St Louis, MO, city directory 1001 s Fifth as Gustave Cramer,
photographer in business pages; res pages show Herman Norden with
Cramer and Norden at 1001 s Fifth
1883
St Louis, MO, city directory 1001 s Fifth as Gustave Cramer,
photographer; Norden is in res pages as Photographer and Dry Plates
(note: not associated with Cramer); Business pages show Norden H as
Dry Plate mfgr at 827 Chouteau av.
1884 - 1887
St Louis, MO, city directory, 1001 s Fifth as Gustave Cramer,
photographer
1887
Cramer is president of the Photographer’s Association of America
1888
St Louis, MO, city directory NOT AVAILABLE
1889 - 1895
St Louis, MO, city directory, at Shenandoah ne cor Buena Vista as
Cramer G Dry Plate Works
1897 - 1901
St Louis, MO, city directory Lemp Av n cor Shenandoah as Cramer G Dry
Plate Co
1910
St Louis, MO, city directory 1821 Shenandoah as Cramer G Dry Plate
Co
1914 Jul 16
St Louis, MO, Gustav Cramer dies at age 76
The cabinet card in this collection has only the Cramer name on the
reverse. It appears the only time he worked alone at 1001 s Fifth was
briefly in 1876 and then again after 1879. Although Hermann Norden is
sometimes listed as a partner in the gallery, 1881 and 1882, city
directories list the studio only as Cramer Photography.
There is a fine bio on Gustav Cramer at
Historic Camera
And check this article that includes more information about Gustav Cramer in the
Maine Antique Digest
1867, 1868, 1869
Photographer Cramer
St Louis, MO
Source unknown
photographer: Cramer
St Louis, MO
Example found on auction site
Photographer: Cramer
St Louis MO
example found on pinterest, no source shown
This is a cdv credited to
Cramer, Gross and Co of St Louis, MO
image of reverse not available
example from auction site
slightly enhanced
photographer: Gustave Cramer
1001 South Fifth
St. Louis, MO
reverse of the CDV at the left
photographer: Gustave Cramer
1001 South Fifth
St. Louis, MO
Reverse of CDV at the left
photographer: Cramer and Gross and Company
1200 and 1264 South Fifth Street
St. Louis, MO
photographer: Gustave Cramer
1001 South Fifth
St. Louis, MO
reverse of CDV at the left
photographer: Gustave Cramer
1001 South Fifth
St. Louis, MO
reverse of CDV at the left
photographer: Cramer and Gross and Company
1200 and 1264 South Fifth Street
St. Louis, MO
photographer: Cramer
St Louis, MO
example from auction site
These examples are probably by Charles L Cramer.
This Cramer has not yet been connected to the Cramer of St Louis,
MO.
Research pending.
photographer: Cramer
San Francisco, CA
photographer: Cramer
402 Kearmy Street, San Francisco, CA
example from auction site
photographer: Cramer
402 Kearmy Street, San Francisco, CA
example from auction site
(This card is owner dated 1888)
photographer: Cramer
402 Kearney Street, San Francisco, CA
example from pinerest
photographer: Cramer
402 Kearney Street, San Francisco, CA
example from pinerest
photographer: Cramer402 Kearney Street, San Francisco, CA
example from pinerest
Cherryvale, KS, is nearly four hundred miles from St Louis, MO. No
records have been found to show that Gustav Cramer ever worked beyond
Saint Louis, MO.
Note that this card also advertises: Headquarters for fine pianos and
organs on easy monthly payments
photographer: Cramer Brothers
over Post Office, Cherryvale, KS
example from auction site
photographer L F Cramer
Cherryvale, KS
example from auction site
These examples are probably by A L Cramer of Pennsylvania.
This Cramer has not yet been connected to the Cramer of St Louis,
MO.
Research pending.
photographer: Cramer
312 Main Street, Carbondale, PA
example from auction site
photographer: Cramer
Carbondale, PA
example from auction site
photographer: Cramer
312 Main Street, Carbondale, PA
example from auction site
These examples are probably by either John Cramer or Joseph Cramer.
Both worked in Wisconsin.
This Cramer has not yet been connected to the Cramer of St Louis,
MO.
Research pending.
photographer: Cramer
Grafton, WI
example from auction site
photographer: Cramer
Grafton, Wisconsin
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.
I have come across a book of Cramer and Gross cabinet cards. Interestingly, one of the cards indicates a studio at 333 S Fourth Street (not S Fifth Street) as indicated above.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for your comment. That is odd. I can find no evidence that they ever had a studio, one block away at 333 on Fourth Street, but that does not mean they didn’t. It appears Cramer and Gross were in transition that year from 333 S Fifth to 1264 S Fifth. I added clips to the page of the city directory and business directory for 1866. Note the 1866 business directory shows 1264 S Fourth and not Fifth. Then the 1867-1869 city directories show the address as 1264 S Fifth. Unfortunately, misprints are not uncommon in city directories but it would be very hard to imagine them misprinting their own cards. But, stranger things have happened. You have a rare card there, indeed! Maybe someone else will turn up a card with the South Fourth address.
DeleteGreat collection! Is there anyway to find the names of the people in the photographs?
ReplyDeleteI get this question a lot. In most all examples, the answer is no. Only in a rare case are the photographer’s records preserved by descendants or a historical society. (That is, if any records were kept at all.) Worse, the old fragile and combustible negatives are gone, from self-destruction. And, while some of the old photographers were serious business people, there were many that were little more than snake oil salesmen.
DeleteIn the case of an old family cabinet card identification might be assisted by knowing when and where the portrait was made. This is the advantage of a cabinet card where the photographer’s name and location are often imprinted on the card.
Hope this helps.
Hello, thanks for the great background on Gustav Cramer. You might be interested in this article from The Maine Antique Digest from 2018 that details much about his life:
ReplyDeletehttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1AJTeL_yqg4DBuGq_hk3fm9wE6UsosrKW/view?usp=drive_open
Scroll down to past the cover and title page to where the article "The Thrill of the Chase" begins.
Thanks for the kind words! And thanks for the link to the fine article. An interesting bit of history there! I will add the link to the page.
DeleteI bought an old photo album at an antique store and it has a lot of cabinet cards by Cramer and some other photographers in it. It is so cool and it is falling apart but the photos are preserved very nicely!
ReplyDeleteGreat! Some of those old albums did preserve the cards very well. Those cards would be approaching 150 years old..
DeleteHello, I had shared an image and image about Louis Thors a month or two ago. Your blog is so helpful - was searching for Cramer Bros. in Cherryvale. I did some research - there were two Cramer brother photographers there: LF Laurence Franklin and Fred E. Appears unrelated to Gustav. LF senior was a baker. LF moved to Joplin and sold pianos, Fred sold pianos too. Changed studio name several times. Some of my research is in a flickr album - will keep it there a bit. Feel free the download. The clippings are from newspapers.com. I have all the original PDFs. The subject seems to be James Gard Hughbanks born about 1885. Cheers, Steve
ReplyDeletehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/collageman/albums/72177720314033890
Thanks for the information. I will make this my next project. I am in the middle of a complicated one at the moment.
Delete