Clarence Nellis and wife, outdoor portrait, circa 1908

About this postcard

A young woman and a young man posed on a lawn in front of a plain frame house, bare trees behind them. She stands in a checked, high-collared bodice and long button-front skirt, one hand resting on the back of the chair where he sits in a dark suit and light shirt. The pigeon-breast blouse and buttoned skirt fit the everyday dress of the decade around 1910, when high collars and long waists were standard. A handwritten note on the card names the pair as Clarence Nellis and his wife. The setting is an ordinary dooryard rather than a studio backdrop, which points to a family or courtship photograph taken at home, the sort of picture that local photographers and amateur snapshooters were making more often as real-photo postcards spread.