Heritage et AL

One of the very human traits that is literally written all over our face, is our emotions. Be it happy or sad, scared or angry, this is usually immediately obvious by our facial expressions. Some people are able to hide their emotions well (they make great card players!) but most of us make our feelings pretty clear. Capturing these moments using a camera is a common practice and helps us to remember what was happening at the time, such as a family portrait. It is worth noting though, that people in the past viewed showing their emotions in photographs in a very different light. Have you ever noticed that people in early photographs never smile? There have been many theories regarding the reason for this - was it their bad teeth? This is unlikely since most people had bad teeth due to poor dental hygiene at the time. Ref: Herman Schmidt, Bullen family, Auckland, c. 1890s, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 31-68325 One very plausible theory, is that smiles were d...

From the heritage collections at Auckland Libraries, here is a visual tour through the weird and wonderful.You never know what you might find ... from strange fancy dress choices and the splendour of the natural world to animals with abnormalities and miniature furniture. Its a virtual cabinet of curiosity! People: Ref: AWNS-19140507-44-1, a radiograph of a child who had swallowed a toy bicycle, Sir George Grey Special Collections Ref: 1054-UN124, group in very strange fancy dress, 1910-1991, Sir George Grey Special Collections Ref: 4 -RIC117, Employees of W H Fenton and Company, hat manufacturer, in bizarre fancy dress and caricature hats advertising a sale, 1889 Sir George Grey Special Collections Ref: 31-58438, Mr Wilson dressed in a bear costume holding a bottle of wine & a biscuit, 1909, Sir George Grey Special Collections