Weavers at work (LOC)
Byron (Firm : New York, N.Y.), photographer.
Weavers at work
[between ca. 1910 and ca. 1915]
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Notes:
On negative: Byron, N.Y.
Title from data provided by the Bain News Service on the negative.
Photo shows blind women weaving what appear to be rugs, with an
orchestrion (automatic instrument) in background. (Source: Flickr
Commons project, 2008)
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication.
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
General information about the Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Persistent URL: hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.09146
Call Number: LC-B2- 2191-8
Comments and faves
plasticdollhouse, sonolisto, Nora J S, guido_stein, and 58 other people added this photo to their favorites.
[ aboring ] (60 months ago | reply)
this is all SO very cool!!
neotoma73 (60 months ago | reply)
It looks like they're weaving rugs and coverlets on jack looms.
freezejeans (59 months ago | reply)
This is indeed awesome...like peering back through a time machine.
LANCERIKA (59 months ago | reply)
Beautiful vintage clothing*~*
byronphoto (59 months ago | reply)
This photo was taken by my Great Grandfather Percy Byron. The Byron Company NY has a large collection at mcny.org over 22,000 prints.
Sarah61489 (56 months ago | reply)
I agree...it does look like they are weaving rugs.
The Library of Congress (55 months ago | reply)
byronphoto: Thanks for making this good connection between Byron and Bain. We'll add Byron's name as the photographer along with his title for the image.
Here's the direct link to view the Byron Collection at Museum of the City of New York:museumofnyc.doetech.net/voyager.cfm (Includes about 200 more photos of the New York Blind Association.)
krseward (55 months ago | reply)
Any ideas about the cabinet at the far right?
My odd guess is an automatic music device that runs on a music roll (like a player piano or a Violano-Virtuoso).
It may not be such an odd guess as the NY Blind Assn. pics in the Byron Collection depicts music classes, dances and dance classes, plays. Maybe if this picture was at the NYBA, such a music machine would be a more likely thing. Maybe.
Anyone know?
The Library of Congress (50 months ago | reply)
Several images of a "violano virtuoso" just turned up in the Harris & Ewing Collection. The name appears on the instrument case, top right.
hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hec.04519
hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hec.04520
hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/hec.04521
banjoray555 (49 months ago | reply)
Lovely photo in black & white. To see how women have been the "backbone" of a young and vibrant Nation...America. Often relegated to be silent in the past....there were the foundations of great families and a great democratic Nation...You can't look at a photo like this without "thanking" these heroic women...and a prayer to Allmighty for forgiveness !!!
read360 (47 months ago | reply)
About the cabinet at the right - compare it to the Welte Cottage Orchestrion at the pianola institute website www.pianola.org/history/history_orchestrions. cfm
Welteboy (47 months ago | reply)
Most interesting photo. The instrument shown is an orchestrion by the German firm of M. Welte & Sons, dating from pre 1900. It is a Style #2 Cottage Orchestrion. From the little information seen in the image, it can be determined that this organ was weight operated and had a manual roll rewind system.
A similar Style #2 can be seen:
These organs were usually found in wealthy residences or commercial locations in the US, palaces and castles in Europe. It is surprising to see one in this situation. Perhaps a gift from a benefactor?
wackywalks (47 months ago | reply)
I cannot improve upon what Welteboy has written except to say good job everybody! You were on the right track identifying it as an automatic musical instrument, [bonus points to krseward for knowing what a Violano-Virtuoso is!] and I can supply a perfectly logical explanation (taken from a Peerless coin piano ad, circa 1912):
"Did you ever hear of the London tailor who noticed that when a street piano came under his window and played 'God Save the Queen' the machines of his operators slowed down to keep time with the music?
It took him just about a minute to size up the situation.
He Hired a man by the day to play good, rollicking, SWIFT [orig. italics] tunes, with the result that the work of his shoproom trebled itself. This was a natural, though unconscious, result, an instinctive compliance with the demand of the musical tempo.
Does your enterprise need a stimulant?
Give it some PEERLESS [orig. italics] tonic and watch it brace up. The PEERLESS [orig. italics] is a business booster of the Big Bull Moose variety. It will change the entire atmosphere of your establishment and put backbone into the most spineless employee. It will give YOU [orig. italics] an optimistic viewpoint that by natural attraction will induce patronage."
[etc. etc. and so on]
[note: when I write "orig. italics" in brackets, that means that the proceeding word, in the original ad, is in italics, however I can't do that in this text box so I have substituted all caps instead]
So, in layman's terms, the people in the weaving shop probably had the orchestrion there to keep people working quickly so they wouldn't fall asleep on the job! Welte orchestrions are not as quiet as a musical box, however they are also not loud enough to be annoying indoors if you are a music lover. I bet the people running the shop had many rolls of fast tunes to get one's blood going and give them the kick to keep working! (fast marches, galops, etc.) Maybe on occasion the boss would be nice and put on a waltz or something so they could work at a more lesiurely pace for a little while!
Anyway, if you are interested in seeing the original Peerless ad, complete with a nice illustration of an early Peerless Elite coin piano with "spade" style art glass, it is reproduced on page 23 of the book "Put Another Nickel In" by Q. David Bowers. (Bonanza Books, 1966).
I highly recommend this book as a great history of coin-pianos and orchestrions in America (with some mention of Europe, and a heavy emphasis on Wurlitzer products), and also of the mechanical music collecting scene, circa 1960s.
For a larger treatise on the subject, I recommend Mr. Bowers' "Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments" (Vestal Press, 1972), and for a lavish and fantastic book on the modern-day high-end collecting scene, with lots of color photos, technical information, and a history of the collecting scene plus vivid descriptions of the original places of use of these instruments, I recommend Art Reblitz's "Golden Age of Automatic Musical Instruments" (Mechanical Music Press, 2001).
Thank you all for turning me on to this great photo! I just search "orchestrion" and BOOM! there it is!
Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (47 months ago | reply)
I added an entry for Joseph Byron to Wikipedia and will add one on his son Percy Byron later:
Percy Claude Byron (1847 - May 28, 1923), was a London born photographer in Manhattan who created the Byron Company. He was born in London in 1847, his father was a photographer. He received a commission from the British government to photograph the conditions in English coal mines. He then emigrated to the United States. In 1888 he opened a commercial studio in Manhattan. His son was the photographer Percy Byron. Percy was "the premier maritime photography of his generation". Joseph Byron worked for the New York Times in the 1890s. He died on May 28, 1923 in Manhattan.
Website: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Byron
Percy Byron (1878 - July 10, 1959), was a New York City born photographer at the Byron Company. Percy was "the premier maritime photography of his generation".
His father, Joseph Byron was born in London in 1847 and opened the Byron Company in Manhattan in 1881. Percy was born in 1878 in Manhattan.[1] Since 1917 he specialized in maritime photography.[3] He died in 1959 in Manhattan.
Website: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Byron
pennylrichardsca (45 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Disability History, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
ecaraway (44 months ago | reply)
This really is a good depiction of how women really were involved in the workforce and in large part are what made our country so successful.
ecaraway (44 months ago | reply)
It's so unique that they are blind, it really captures two unseen aspects of hardships in America.
Rob Ketcherside (42 months ago | reply)
Some oddities... why is this the only Byron photo from the four photos of blind people -- maybe LOC has more?... why is this photo numbered 2191-8 and the stenographer is numbered 2191-6, but there aren't others from the set -- maybe LOC has more? 2191-6, as well as the other two blind photos of Overbrook gymnasts, are dated 4/27/1911 -- is this photo from the same time? why are there no photos in the Museum of NYC collection by Byron of the Lighthouse from this period -- but many earlier and later?
I see two possibilities for the timing of this photo (when it was printed -- could have been captured earlier). First, the same as the other three, is the Blind Workers' Exhibition, April 26-28, 1911. This could be at the exhibition, or at the home of the Lighthouse for the Blind. A New York Times article on page 14, 4/30/1911, described that building as being 17 foot wide and 74 foot long. This photo looks like it could have been taken in a 17 foot wide room.
The second possibility is that this was run in 1912 around the time that the Bourne Workshop for the Blind was opened -- described in the 1911 article as well as on page 8 of 10/12/1912 when it was dedicated. The photo would then be a picture at the Lighthouse, portraying the cramped conditions that the Bourne center would alleviate.
I set out to try and determine who might have given the Welte to the NY Association for the Blind, aka Lighthouse for the Blind. No luck yet.
luie.davis (40 months ago | reply)
Notice how straight they all sit.It's not because of good proper behavior.Ever see those Corsets they wore? OMG....Steel and leather,it was almost like armor.Those poor lady's!
PINTOR DE SOÑOS (36 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called FLICKR PARA LA HISTORIA , and we'd love to have this added to the group!
James~Quinn (34 months ago | reply)
I wouldn't put much stock in the idea that the Organ Roll is there to make them work faster. If I were blind, I think I would appreciate having beautiful music to compensate for the lack of any other aesthetic elements I would otherwise perceive in the workplace.
❀Patti-Jo (33 months ago | reply)
Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Weaving Looms, and we'd love to have this added to the group!
Cassies grandma (31 months ago | reply)
We lived in the town where the Iowa school for the blind is for over 20 yrs. (the one Mary Wilder attended) Not long after we moved there in the early '70's they sold a bunch of equipment no longer used. Amongst all the stuff was a loom for making rugs. Also there was broom making equipment. I seem to remember when I was growing up having a toy broom that said made by the blind. And mom have some throw rugs with the same tags.
As for the music that would be nice but I wonder how much noise the looms made? Or was it just sort of a whooshing sound?
This photo was invited and added to the Man @ work group.
venice mask (10 months ago | reply)
Please be the first to join my new group and add this picture
About 'Its a job'
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nufail22 (5 weeks ago | reply)
Good info