The David Davidson Story

Blog Post #18

Probably the least talked about, but one of the most important employees of any of the early hand colored photography business, were the salesmen.

Some of these early 20th century businesses may have had only 1 or 2 salesmen. The smallest ones may have had their pictures sold by just the owner. In contrast, Wallace Nutting employed over 200 people. At one point Nutting employed over 100 colorists. But history seems to have remembered the names of many of the colorists, but not so much the names of the men who sold the product.

And then there is David Davidson, whose business fell far below Nuttings’, but larger than the others. Artifacts and information I’ve acquired has allowed me to shed further light on the subject of Davidsons salesmen over the years.

This clipboard full of Davidson Sales receipts shows dates, salesmen, customers and contents of sales. Notice that Davidson was always part of the sales force.

These sales receipts from the 1940’s and 1950’s show salesmen; H.A. Pinkham covering CT, and NY salesman Fred Allen handled Massachusets and Maine. Information I received from the Davidson family years ago, noted that during the 1930’s, Oscar Perry covered NH and Maine, and Bert Huff handled sales in NY state.

Davidson salesmen would call on accounts carrying with them a set of these tri-fold picture boards showing miniature hand colored photos with the index # of the picture. I have 6 of these tri-fold boards in my collection.

There were probably 10-12 of these tri-fold picture boards making up a set of the pictures available for sales.

Sales orders back in those days were delivered door to door from the Davidson studio on 57 Whitmarsh St in Providence. Heavy metal and leather carrying cases like these from my collection were used to deliver the hand colored photos to accounts.

I have actually used these cases for carrying photos and those of us who have moved any amount of frames pictures know that its exhausting work! Add to the challenges faced by these salesman, if you go back to 1907, the year Davidson went into business, you find that only some main roads in the largest cities were paved and horse and wagon was still the main means of transportation.

David Davidson, as we have seen from all that we’ve talked about in these blog posts, always seemed to be able to change the direction of his business to the changing times, add another iron to the fire, and in the case of selling the hand colored photographs, he created a sales relationship none of the other like business were able to do.

Back in blog post #6, we looked at these advertising photos that Davidson took at the Shepherd Store in Providence RI.

The largest department store chain in Boston and Providence, became the largest account of David Davidson Studios.

This is a picture from my collection taken of the Shepherd Store in Providence in 1908.

Both stores took the selling of David Davidson pictures to a level that I don’t believe any account for any of the hand colored photography businesses did. They created a Davidson Room within their stores displaying and selling a vast array of Davidson work.

The salesmen. The forgotten employee. Hopefully we shed a little light on who they were, how they worked and how they helped the hand colored photography industry flourish through its Hay Day.

Introducing… Davidson Picture Index! …a story for another day

Blog Post #17

The Corona

This pictures came to me maybe 10 years ago through a friend (Hi, Sharon!). The complete title of the picture is The Corona of R.I., Jan 1925. It has been on a shelf in my office, but when I decided to feature it, I thought I had better open it up to see if there was any further information on the inside; nothing! So this picture appears to be 1 of 1.

Looking at the picture, my first thought was that of Davidson focusing his camera and waiting for that millisecond to take that shot. One shot and it had to be perfect. After doing some online research, I now know that that moment was much more of a challenge to Davidson than I first realized. And if you are interested, the online information on this event is amazing!

The total solar eclipse, an event that lasted a total of 2 minutes and 32 seconds, was viewed at 9:30 on a sub zero temperature Saturday morning in January. There were many viewing spots for this eclipse in R.I. Vasa Park in Westbury, R.I. hosted an event that drew 5000 tourists for prime spot viewing.

Unfortunately we do not know exactly where in R.I. David Davidson was when his camera and talent captured this historic moment. But we now know that to have been able to take that exact picture with a perfect 100% ring of fire around the moon, he would have had to have been positioned along the southern edge of the state, possibly Watch Hill or Block Island.

Maybe the most perfect Davidson Moment.

Next Month…another picture of the month!

Blog Post #16

The 1930s presented its obstacles to the hand colored photography movement with the stock market crash of ’29 and the Great Depression following. But the ’30s also brought new opportunities for photographers and colorists to take advantage of.

By 1920 the garden club movement in our country became closely affiliated with historic preservation. This led to the start of the famous publication in 1924, Better Homes & Gardens. More and more cars fueled The Highway Beautification act through the 1920s. So by the 1930s you could say that flowers and garden clubs were in full bloom. Hand colored photography artist reacted by creating more colorful pictures and garden scenes. These are just a few of the many Davidson garden scenes from my collection. Jamaica, Pond and Emerald Necklace of parks in Boston became Davidson’s focal point to create many of these pictures.

Wallace nutting in his final days created his series of still life floral pictures, many of which brought some of the highest prices of any of his works. These are some of the Nutting florals from my collection.

But Davidson captured the garden club and flower uprising in a way that none of the others did. He actually took pictures at flower shows focusing on the diverse array of garden club displays.

The flower show that was photographed by David Davidson took place at the Rhode Island auditorium on North Main St. in Providence. The Arena, as it was referred to, was built in 1925 and demolished in 1989. As far as the information I’ve been able to gather, Davidson photographed these events from 1934 to 1940. Fortunately, many of these pictures are dated as well as sign and titled.

This collection within my collection started years ago with this picture, which we’ve seen before back in block post #4: Sitting Pretty. The picture that I bought at auction years before I knew anything about the flower shows it was connected to:

Sitting Pretty

And this picture of a garden club display that I bought about 30 to 40 years ago at Brimfield antique show, not having any idea what the connection was.

Hillside Garden Club

The collection of pictures which I purchased almost 20 years ago, came to me in a box that looked as though it had been closed off from the light of day for maybe 70 years. Its contents, about 100 pictures as bright and colorful as the day they were taken.

For some reason, it seems that only a very few of these pictures have ever surfaced on the secondary market. Outside of what I own, I have only seen one of these flower show pictures.

But just last week as I was writing, this, something came to me that I had never thought of. None of these pictures are stamped with a copyright.   Which means that Davidson did not make these to be on the resale market. This was a private commission job, possibly made to sell to the garden club through the promoters of the shows. Lack of interest may have left Davidson to pack them up and store them away. This is all speculation on my part. If someone can shed further light on this, please contact me.

The Davidson flower show pictures. The most colorful flower garden pictures created by the hand colored photography industry. But so rare that almost no one has ever seen them.

The Salesman… A story for another day.

Blog Post #15

This is a new idea.  And it wasn’t my idea. It was my daughters. “Dad you have so many great pictures that stand alone. They are not part of a story. What if we feature a new one every month?” and she’s right so here we go. 

It’s July and we are celebrating our nation’s 250th birthday. I wanted to show a picture that represented our country‘s birthday. After walking around the house, over and over, and flipping through boxes and trunks for the right one, I kept coming back to this one.

This is a black-and-white that Davidson took a long time ago. He signed it, but unfortunately left no other identification. No title, no index number,  no copyright.  A one of one. I think he just thought the moment was worth capturing.

The picture appears to be a Fourth of July parade group probably resting after marching the parade route. Young and old black-and-white. Everyone in costume. Our flag probably represented. So I decided to take a closer look. 48 stars. So that places it at 1912 to 1959. If I had to guess, I would say close to 1912.  And any thoughts?  Let me know!

Everyone have a great celebration this Fourth of July!

Next month? Picture of the month number two!

This is the great thing about a blog vs. a book. I can make additions and corrections.

Digging through files looking for my next idea for a blog post, I came up with an answer to a question I posted a few blog posts ago.

What does the “L” stand for in young David Davidsons name. Not being able to find the answer is what caused me to raise the question in the first place.

David Lymen Davidson.

ALSO…

In the blog I showed the 3 very similar pictures with David L. in costume: The Connoisseur, The Butterfly, Grandpa’s Marguerites.

I walk down this hallway in my house probably 10 times a day. The other day I stopped to take a closer look.

Well, here is a 4th picture!

A Merry Blossom.

A correction today, a better story tomorrow…

Blog Post #14

This one is a little bit of a reach, but it does fall in line with what I’ve been referring to in previous blog post.

Davidson’s key to success was being able to keep many “irons in the fire”.  Being a small business man always determined to succeed and never at a loss to keep busy, David Davison became the conservator of several estates during the 1930s. One of these estates yielded a thriving little business, The Jewelry Polishing Co., established 1905 and located in Providence R.I. 

Davidson purchased Jewelers Polishing Company and successfully operated the business through the 1940s. The business ran its operation at a different location than Davidson Studios, and as far as I know, didn’t involve any of the Davidson staff.

The small case of Jennings Silver Soap has been part of my Davidson collection for many years. Given to me by the Davidson family, I’m sure this little bar of silver soap which sold for $.10 was not the only product sold by Jewelers Polishing Co.  Unfortunately, this is the only example I have of what they produced. 

Outside of myself and the Davidson family, I don’t think anyone else was aware of Davidson‘s other “irons in the fire”. 

It’s Spring – Time for Flowers!  The Flower Show Pictures….Story for another day.   

Blog post #13

Many of us who have taken apart a framed Davidson picture have seen this small  1 1/4“ x 3“ label.  

The label was sometimes glued to the back of a picture or sometimes to the back of a matt but most people don’t know what the label represents. If you look closely, you can see that the label has two emblems. One depicts David Davidson studio with a “DD” in the center.  The other emblem shows a pavilion with the words “International Exposition San Francisco”.  The label represents awards won by David Davidson at the exposition. 

The year was 1915. The Panama Canal had just been completed in 1914 and San Francisco was not yet 10 years in its recovery from the earthquake that decimated the city in 1906.   In February 1915, the Panama Pacific international exposition, a world fair, was opened in San Francisco, California.  

The fairs stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase the city’s recovery from the earthquake.   The fair showcased new technology.  If you can imagine the year being 1915, the new technology in the world was cars, planes and telephones.  

Awards and metals were given out for numerous categories including fine arts, photography and hand colored photography. Davidson offered samples of his work for consideration in the competition.  

My pursuit of the details as to who was Davidson‘s competition and what were the hand colored photos that were presented required a lot of digging.  What I was very surprised to find was my name and this blog noted as a resource to find information on Davidson.  As it turns out none of the specific works of any of the contestants were photographed or saved for posterity. I was so looking forward to finding out what specific pictures Davidson presented. What I did find out was that the contestants all offered a grouping of their work that represented different styles and categories.  

The exposition’s top prize in the field of hand colored photography was offered to a local artist; Willard Warden 1868-1946. 

Warden’s work was very localized to the San Francisco area. He specialized in art photos of seascapes and landscapes of Northern California and San Francisco, sometimes colored by hand with watercolor and oils.  Being a local artist he understood the city wanting to use the exposition to showcase the city’s recovery from the earthquake. His entry in the competition was a grouping of hand colored photos of the devastation and recovery of the 1906 earthquake.  

Until now I have never heard of Willard Warden. He was a self taught photographer.  The height of his career was the 1915 exposition.  Being from the West Coast that long ago, Warden did not have the influence of the great photographers of New England so what did his work look like? If someone wanted to pursue a new name in the field of hand colored photography, Willard Warden might be a very interesting choice. 

David Davidson‘s hand colored grouping of photos won him the bronze medal award at the Panama Pacific International Exposition in 1915.  The actual award is part of the Davidson family collection.

The family was good enough to send me a photo of the award, which still finds dedicated wall space after 110 years.  That small label that Davidson attached to the back of his pictures will occasionally show itself, reminding us of his accomplishment all those years ago.

Polishing Silver?

A story for another day…

Blog Post #12

When you are named after your father, you never know what nickname is gonna be attached to you. JR, junior, or like a close friend of mine who grew up being called Sonny. David Davidsons son David was simply referred to as “David L”. I never found out what the “L” stood for. Even in the Davidson Family Biography, written by David L., he refers to himself as David L. Next time I talk with the Davidson family, I’ll ask and report back!

So before I get too far off track…Let me reign myself in.

I’ve often referred to David Davidson Studio as a family business in previous blog posts. David and Louise’s first born became part of the “family affair” about 1913. Their eldest son, David L was born in 1910. So at about 3 years old David L became the costumed little girl in many of Davidsons pictures.

I became aware of this when the Davidson picture “The Butterfly” came up for bid at one of the first Wallace Nutting pictures auctions.

That picture became my first Davidson depicting David L in costume. As it turns out there were 3 pictures that Davidson took, all similar, at the same site. Years later I found all 3 in my collection, unframed, so I framed up all 3 together.

– Left to right: “The Connoisseur” “The Butterfly” and “Grandpa’s Marguerites”. As time went on, a few more pictures featuring David L as the little girl, found their way into my collection.

The Land O’Dreams not only features David L but also captured Louise in a white gown and Davids mother tending the fire.

By the time “Infant Cajolery” was taken, little David looked as though he had grown some. You might be thinking that at some point young David would start to give mom and dad a heard time about the “little girl” thing.

The last picture I found featuring young David as the little girl may have been the one in which he is the youngest and the picture “The Solitaire of the Coronet” is by far the rarest. We have never seen another copy of this picture.

So if you have any of these pictures in your collection, you can assume that they were taken roughly 1913-1916. By about 1916 David, now 6 years old, came to an agreement with mom and dad to trade in the dress for a pair of overalls and a straw hat.

The first picture I can remember owning featuring David L. in his overalls was “The Barefoot Boy”.

Other pictures featuring David L that are part of my collection are:

All of these pictures were probably taken between 1916 & 1917.

This next picture is one of the many magazine covers Davidson did. The one for Finishing Topics in May 1925 featured a picture David took many years earlier. Not only did it feature David L, but also his younger brother Donald, who almost never appeared in picture. And let me not forget their dog, a Boxer pup.

This month while I was going through my pictures looking for ones with young David, what did I find? The companion picture Davidson took that went along with the magazine cover.

The signed glossy black and white featuring the same threesome, had no title but did have an index #1602 on the back. The title “A Bite”.

Finally going back to my opening statement about Davidson Studio being a family based business?

This picture of the entire working staff of David Davidson Studio taken on the front steps of “the shop” on 57 Whitmarsh in Providence 1917. Sitting front row center is David L in a new costume, working clothes. It was around that time when it seems that David Davidsons eldest son, David L ends his years posing for his dad’s pictures.

Many more stories to follow……but for another day.

Blog Post #11

You’ve read in the blog posts, mention of the connection between Brown University and David Davidson just a few times so far. But this connection to Brown University runs deep into the Davidson family, in the Davidson business and into many of the artifacts that I have in my collection.

The connection between David Davidson and his education started with his mother’s guidance, backed by her strong yankee determination to have her sons become men of good character. David, the youngest of 5, worked his way through Brown University.

Young Davids pursuit of his engineering degree from Brown actually began while he was still in high school. The 50+ architectural drawings I have in my collection, all signed and dated, go back to 1900. 1900 would have been the year David was a senior in high school, 1901 & 1902 Davids freshman and sophomore years at Brown.

In 1903, David Davidson entering into his junior year at Brown (if you remember reading back in blog post #1) was also building a photography studio in his parents attic. In 1904 at Brown, David was doing pictures for the upcoming 1905 yearbook. The photos of the John Carter Brown Library, and the photo of the Carrie Clocktower in the 1905 yearbook, were the work of David Davidson.

The original sepia tone photos that Davidson took to create the yearbook photos are part of my collection. Note that the back of the photos have his notes.

Davidson’s civil engineering degree was completed with his thesis paper, which I also have as part of my collection.

The yearbook photo with his classmates referring to him as “the mightyest of all photographers” continues to make that connection.

And last but not least, the Pembroke Girls College, part of Brown University Class of 1905. Graduates include this photo of Louse Whitcher, who in 2 years was to become Davids wife and partner in business.

Following college, I have a few pictures that continue the Brown University connection. Two are the snow pictures that we just looked at in the last blog post; Christmas Eve and Holy Night. Davidson took these around 1920 at Brown. This University reunion photo from my collection was take in 1935. David is back row, center.

“Where Am I At” is of David and his college buddies, probably taken after a class gathering 1930’s-1940’s. David is the last on the right.

The connection between Brown University and David Davidson seemed to continue through the years. I recently was informed by the Davidson family that David was secretary of his class and continued the position for decades, beyond 1905. Also brought to my attention was that both of David’s sons; David L. and Donald, received their college degrees from Brown.

As much as Davids career seemed to go in a completely different direction than civil engineering, that need for perfection that his education required and his mothers determination to have her son become a man of good character, had much to do with the success of David Davidson Studios.

Other Davidson connections? Stories for another day…

Blog Post #10

The first year of The David Davidson Story is coming to a close. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading the blog posts half as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them. Every time I dig into my archives to put together the next story, I come up with even more ideas. So the stories to follow are endless.

I thought I would end the year doing something holiday related and what do I stumble into? A holiday message from The Davidsons.

I’ve put it together with all of the Holiday, Christmas, and Thanksgiving, pictures and greeting cards I could find in my collection. Hope everyone enjoys it!

A Surprise for Santa

Thanksgiving Afternoon

December Greeting

Christmas Day – This is probably the most popular Davidson Christmas picture.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Eve – The lights in the windows behind the snow decorated trees, is Brown University.

Santas Nursery

Holy Night – This picture, I’m sure, was taken on the same evening as Christmas Eve at Brown University. I have never seen another copy of this picture. If you have, please let me know!

David Davidson Studios has a line of greeting cards. Creating these cards required all of the talents of everyone in the small family business. From the photography, and hand coloring, to the design work. Maybe most important of all was the poetic ability of Davidson’s wife Louise to create the appropriate poem to tie it all together. The most popular of these greeting cards were those to celebrate Christmas. These 2 page greeting cards came with a mini hand colored photo, mounted to a 5″ x 7″ mat.

Here I’ve put together what I’ve found in going through my greeting card collection…

A Good Old Fashioned Christmas with photo insert.

The Christmas Chimes with photo insert.

2025 was a great start for The David Davidson Story. Made some new friends and talked again to some old ones. And I’ve interested a few people in David Davidson who didn’t know who he was a year ago.

2026 will be exciting. So much to share with all of you!

Let me end with wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

And let me mention my daughter Jennie, who puts these all together so you can enjoy them.

Mike Pellegrino