Photo Art Gallery

photographer: Photo Art Gallery
example from LOST GALLERY

The family names were assembled on an Ancestry site tree and searched until a family tree matched the names.

Hand-written in blue ink:
“Father, Abe, Etta, Emma. Mother
William, Viola
The Warrick Family – about 1895”

From he Ancestry Tree we now know that the family lived in Cheney, Kansas.

They are (in the same order):
(Father) George Washington Warrick, Abraham, Marietta, Emma, (Mother)
Elizabeth Virgina Fry, William Arthur and Jennie Mae Warrick

So now we know that the photographer for “Photo Art Gallery” was probably in Kansas at one time.

“William”, the youngest in the photograph, was born in 1890. The original card owner dated the card 1895 which would be about right as that was the year “William” would have been five years old.

The lack of identification of the photographer probably only means it was a traveling photographer, based perhaps in Wichita, KS, just about 30 miles east. The small community of Cheney, KS, would not have been big enough to support a full time photographer for very long.

The photographer probably was using generic, pre-imprinted cards that could be used in any town where the photographer happened to be working.

Below are the photographers as listed in the 1894 and 1896 Wichita, KS, city directories. (No 1895 available.) The photographer for this card was possibly one of these.

King City (MO) Tri County News - 15 Nov 1935

Below are several photographer sections from city directories of the time and area.

Highlighted are the four photographers that were listed both years, and so were likely there in 1895 also.

Wichita, Kansas - City Directory listings for photographers 1894

Wichita, Kansas - City Directory listings for photographers 1896

Most likely choice would be an itinerant photographer. The generic imprint on the card, with no location shown, could be used in any location, thus avoiding the need to print new cards for each location.

See the newspaper ads below.

Wellington, KS, city directory - 1886

Harper, KS, city directory - 1887

Kingman, KS, city directory - 1887

Hutchinson, KS, city directory - 1900

Here are some area newspaper advertisements from the period.

Cheney (KS) Journal - 13 Jun 1885

Cheney (KS) Weekly Blade - 28 Sep 1888

Cheney (KS) Weekly Blade - 12 Oct 1888

Cheney (KS) Weekly Blade - 25 Jan 1889

Cheney (KS) Weekly Blade - 25 Jan 1889

Cheney (KS) Sentinel - 16 Nov 1899

Cheney (KS) sentinel - 12 Apr 1900

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.

Additional 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.