Internet Tag: Happy Baby Photo

This week the sharp-eyed Kathryn M. Doyle of the California Genealogical Society sent me a posting she spotted on the Genealogue blog about a baby photo. Chris (the Genealogue) threw out a comment that he’d love to see what I’d say about this smiling, barely dressed tyke.

The photo shows a toddler in a droopy diaper. I can’t copy the photo here, but you can see the original posting on the Swapatorium: A Journey Through Junkland blog. It’s an odd picture. The child’s stocking are dark; and the diaper, light-colored. He’s probably around 2 years old.

But it’s not his lack of attire that grabs the viewer. This kid’s an optimist. His diaper is falling down and he’s got to be uncomfortable, but he’s happy. It’s great to see a 19th-century picture of someone with a full grin—doesn’t happen very often.

The wicker chair and animal-fur rug date the picture to as early as the 1890s. Anyone want to help me out by researching the photographer, Bigelow of St. Joseph, Mo.?

Why pose him just in a diaper? There are two reasons: First, the mother is showing off her healthy kid. Second, believe it or not, it was the style in the late-19th century to pose in your undies. I’ve got one I’ll share sometime, a middle-age woman in a chemise.

Send me pictures of your smiling ancestors and I’ll post them in my new SmugMug album. It’s fun to see what’s in other people’s photo collections. SmugMug’s security settings let me watermark your images and prevent right-click copying.