College Student (c. 1908) with Home Phonograph?

[JayBurns]

I am the editor of Bates Magazine of Bates College, and am trying to flesh out the details of this image showing Bates College student George French posing for a self-portrait in his track outfit in his dorm room c. 1908. Questions:

• Is he learning against a home phonograph of some sort? If so, do you all know the make/model?
• Would it be a cylinder or album phonograph?
• Is the horn off to the right, with the hat on it?
• If it is a phonograph, I can see the crank, but what is the silver-color lever above the crank?
• There seems to be a metal rod/stand emerging from below his left hand, but is that part of the phonograph?
• Thank You!

 

[alang]

Great photograph! Let me try to answer some of your questions and I'm sure others will chime in as well.

• It is an Edison cylinder phonograph, I believe a Standard, but others may be able to specify the model based on specific characteristics. 
• Yes, that's an original Edison horn
• The silver colored lever above the crank is the lid lock. There would be one on each side.
• The metal rod is the horn crane, which will support the weight of the horn. The little foot at the bottom of it is supposed to keep the phonograph from tipping over from the weight of the horn. For playing, the lid of the phonograph would be removed, the crane turned into the direction where the student is standing, and the horn would be suspended from the crane and connected to the reproducer. A very nice setup, actually.

Hope that helps.

Andreas

[JayBurns]

13 minutes ago, alang said:

Great photograph!

Andreas, thank you so much!

[phonogfp]

Andreas nailed it.  It's hard to be sure from the angle at which the machine is sitting, but it's probably an Edison Standard rather than an Edison Home.

 

Edison machines began being equipped with these horns and cranes in October 1907.

 

George P.

[Analogous]

I love the witch's hat on the witch's hat!

 

John

[JayBurns]

1 hour ago, phonogfp said:

Edison machines began being equipped with these horns and cranes in October 1907.

 

 

This is a great help. He was Class of 1908, so perhaps he included it, proudly, because it was new to him.

Edited January 6, 2022 by JayBurns

[Roy1922]

Quite a photo, thank you for sharing and asking about it. It looks so contemporary and yet so old. Strangely we have forgotten the "old stuff" would, if cared for, or even hermetically sealed till 2022, still look "old" to many. The young college student looks like young men of  our era in 2022. That really hasn't changed, just our perspective.

[Valecnik]

What a great picture!  It's difficult to say for sure given the angle but it seems a bit too short for a Home.  I would say it's probably a Standard Model B, (possibly Home Model B) from 1907 or a bit earlier.  I say B Model because of the taller case and earlier style molding on the bottom.

[Bruce]

Speculating of course, but my guess is that this young man spent a good amount of time outdoors.  He has what we used to call a farmer's tan, from the elbows down and neck up.  Also I would also say he was posing in the Fraternity common room.  There is a couch against the wall, a book shelf and years of photos on the walls.  These photos are likely his predecessors which he likely took pride in joining on graduation.

 

 

[Valecnik]

2 hours ago, Bruce said:

Speculating of course, but my guess is that this young man spent a good amount of time outdoors.  He has what we used to call a farmer's tan, from the elbows down and neck up.  Also I would also say he was posing in the Fraternity common room.  There is a couch against the wall, a book shelf and years of photos on the walls.  These photos are likely his predecessors which he likely took pride in joining on graduation.

 

 

Having grown up on a farm I think you may be right Bruce bout the farmers tan.  Normally we'd wear long pants and long sleeved shirts even in summer.  Nobody messed around with sunscreen.  It just caused the dirt to stick to you.  Yep, he's a farm boy.

[JayBurns]

21 hours ago, Bruce said:

 Also I would also say he was posing in the Fraternity common room.  There is a couch against the wall, a book shelf and years of photos on the walls.  These photos are likely his predecessors which he likely took pride in joining on graduation.

 

 

Actually, Bates has never had fraternities or sororities. Coed from the start, it was founded, in 1855, to serve men and women, black and white, who might not otherwise have access to college, and fraternities and sororities were seen antithetical to that goal. Anyway, the student, George French, in his own dorm room. He became a professional photographer, and was already very much a photo enthusiast. So those photos are mostly his own, showing friends — guys and gals — and teammates.

[Mlund]

You can see that the photos are mounted to netting and not directly attached to the wall. This would make sense for the decoration of a photo enthusiasts dorm room.

[melvind]

Also, his suitcase is under the couch/bed in the picture. It is surely his room.

[Valecnik]

5 hours ago, JayBurns said:

Actually, Bates has never had fraternities or sororities. Coed from the start, it was founded, in 1855, to serve men and women, black and white, who might not otherwise have access to college, and fraternities and sororities were seen antithetical to that goal. Anyway, the student, George French, in his own dorm room. He became a professional photographer, and was already very much a photo enthusiast. So those photos are mostly his own, showing friends — guys and gals — and teammates.

Is there anything else that dates the photo to 1908?  1908 is certainly about right based on the phono on the pic but is there a date on the back of the pic or anything?

 

[JayBurns]

2 hours ago, melvind said:

Also, his suitcase is under the couch/bed in the picture. It is surely his room.

Good eyes!

[JayBurns]

2 hours ago, Mlund said:

You can see that the photos are mounted to netting and not directly attached to the wall. This would make sense for the decoration of a photo enthusiasts dorm room.

Thank you! A few photos of that era show photos attached to some kind of netting. His is the most ambitious however. I can't tell if the netting is tennis (which was huge) or fishing or other. 

[JayBurns]

3 hours ago, Valecnik said:

Is there anything else that dates the photo to 1908?  1908 is certainly about right based on the phono on the pic but is there a date on the back of the pic or anything?

 

No, there's nothing in the photo pegging it to 1908 or in the official record: https://digitalmaine.com/arc_george_french_photos_gp45/490/

By the quantity of Bates-related photos behind him — I can tell most are of Bates events and people — I would guess it's his junior year (1906–07) or senior (1907–08) year. I know he was very proud of his class track team, so a portrait in his senior year would make sense.

[Schlick]

Wedding ring... do we know when George French was married?