The End Part 2

Blog Post #6

Davidson Facsimile Prints, that we had talked about in Part 1, were most likely the first alternative pictures he sold to compensate for times of declining sales. Wallace Nutting too made the same adjustments, selling his Processed Prints. These were also of some of his more popular hand-colored photos. But you have to realize, Davidsons’ business was very small in comparison to Nuttings. Davidsons payroll probably never topped 15 people. Nutting employed 220. So what has always been the case for someone running a small business? You survive by having “many irons in the fire”.

Private Commissions were always one of Davidsons many “irons”. Taking advertising photos for a business were quicker and easier than setting up a photo shoot, plus you got paid right away! Here are some of the private commission photos I’ve collected over the years:

These 4 photos are advertising pictures Davidson took for The Shepherd Store in Providence R.I. A Story for another day, but The Shepherds Store/Davidson relationship became a larger part of Davidsons business in New England.

These 2 pictures of furniture were most likely taken as part of a homeowners insurance policy. The back of these photos are marked with index numbers 967 and 971. So, they are part of the same commissions.

This is a simple advertising photo Davidson took for Wringer Brand Horseshoe Clothes Wringer Co. (can you imagine that this was once state of the art clothes drying?)

As far back as you can go in the David Davidson numerical index, missing numbers were a sign of pictures taken that were not sent out for copywriting. This was private commission work. Either in the form of advertising or pictures taken of private homes, as I mentioned in the first blog post. In the later years of David Davidson Studios, fewer index numbers were assigned to hand-colored photos and more were assigned to private commissions.

Facsimile prints and private commission work! The years of declining sales proved to be a challenge for Davidson. But possibly one of the advantages of being a small business was the ability to change and adapt. To add another iron to the fire.

Colonial Prints and Florals? A story for another day….

Coming up in “The End Part 3”