Two large framed portraits from the Coogan family material have been sitting on a back shelf at the Downes building, the office and archives of the Mystic River Historical Society, for a while now.

When family member Bob Marshall was here for a visit, members of the historical society asked him if he could identify these ladies, but he wasn’t sure who they might be. I was taking pictures of the portraits when I suddenly discovered that one frame held two images, not one.

So we had three mystery ladies. Volunteer Cara Lopilatro was quickly able to match the newly revealed picture to a photo already in the collection of Lucy Arelia Holmes Crumb (1838 — 1915). The identity of the other two ladies is yet to be determined.

“Chicago Portrait Company” is stamped on the back of one portrait. This company produced images from 1893 through at least 1940. Typically, rural salesmen (sometimes referred to as “drummers”) fanned out across the countryside soliciting old photographs of revered ancestors to be made into impressive portraits suitable for framing. Portraits were available in pastel, crayon, or sepia and were executed on a heavy, curved card stock. They were offered at prices that were difficult to turn down. In fact, these impressive-looking portraits were bargain priced, because the salesmen knew the real money was in the frames.

Because the portraits were done on curved cardboard, the recipients could clearly see when they arrived that they would not be suitable for normal flat framing. What’s more, the anticipated portraits were always delivered in beautiful “tiger stripe wood” frames with curved “bubble” glass. The “wood” frames looked (and still look) expensive but they are painted plaster. These frames had to be rejected at the time of delivery if the customer didn’t want them. Given the choice between a beautiful frame or no frame at all, few people could resist paying quite a bit more (as much as three times what the picture cost) for a frame.

But, aha! Now maybe we know why there was another portrait on top of the picture of Lucy — it saved the price of buying an additional frame. Yankees are thrifty folks!

This article was reprinted with permission from the bimonthly Mystic River Historical Society newsletter, Portersville Press.

Dorrie Hanna is collections manager for the Mystic River Historical Society. To reach her, email info@mystichistory.org.