On eBay Now...1930 Photograph C.H. Stannard & Co Office Newark NY Typist & Deer Head For Sale
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
1930 Photograph C.H. Stannard & Co Office Newark NY Typist & Deer Head:
$19.99
This sepia-toned silver gelatin print captures an interior view of a bustling professional office, identified in white handwritten ink along the lower margin as the workspace of "C.H. Stannard & Co." in Newark, New York, dated September 4, 1930. The scene is arranged with the formal composition typical of occupational portraiture from the interwar period, featuring three individuals integrated into a dense environment of dark-stained wooden furniture and vertical paneling. On the left, an older gentleman wearing spectacles and a tie is seated in partial shadow behind a counter or roll-top desk, his posture suggesting a supervisory or proprietary role. At the center, a woman with light, curly hair sits at a large desk, facing the camera directly in a light-colored, short-sleeved blouse, while a younger man in a white collared shirt and dark tie sits to her right, offering a slight smile. The workspace is cluttered with the material culture of early twentieth-century commerce, including a rotary telephone, a manual typewriter on a lower stand, wire in-trays overflowing with paperwork, and a running electric fan, which implies a warm, late-summer atmosphere.The room’s decor reflects a blend of utilitarian function and domestic comfort, evidenced by the mounted taxidermy deer head on the upper right wall, a circular clock on the left, and various framed advertisements and certificates. A prominent framed poster featuring a woman’s face and a calendar grid hangs near the center, anchoring the timeline of the scene. The image possesses a rich, warm tonal range characteristic of vintage printing, with the handwritten notation on the negative or print itself providing precise provenance. The juxtaposition of the formal business attire against the casual inclusion of the taxidermy and the specific date creates a compelling documentary record of small-town American commercial life during the onset of the Great Depression, preserving the specific social dynamics and industrial design of a 1930s office environment.