weird…but i kinda want to do one.

That is so retarded…like u cant tell theres the mom under the blanket holding her baby…lol

the child standing up is probably a boy back then they dressed girls and boys in dresses

i cant understand why the mom didnt want to be in the photo

As a photographer, this is sometimes the easiest way for the child to sit nicely. I have used this technique since I started and still use it today. Sometimes even dad goes under the cover….

These pics are really spooky looking. Especially the 6th one. What I find really sad about them all is that not one child is smiling! To me that’s very sad.

How hysterical! We actually have a photo of my grandmother as a toddler where she was holding her mother’s hand. The photographer kept the mother (except her hand) out of the frame, then painted a bunch of violets over it so it looked like the baby was holding a bouquet. 1920s Photoshop.

haha i loved this. this past weekend we did our holiday photo shoot and at one point Aerie was in a sled with a blanket under her, i had my arm under part of the blanket to hide my arm and then to hide my body my husband was holding a fake christmas tree up against my body. I was like scrunched back in this corner with christmas tree poking my face and catching in my hair. It was incredibly awkward, but at least darth vader wasn’t in our photos ( ;

No one smiled in these photos because the photos take so long – it’s impossible to hold a posed smile for that long. We just had a family tintype photo taken (which is what most of these look like) and it takes FOREVER! They weren’t grumpy or sad, just holding still too long.

The judgmental nature of this article astounds me. These kids were all so well loved, and they are now somebody’s grandparents. Mocking these sweet families seems cruel. I am only glad that they were blessed enough to take any photos so that remaining generations of their families can now look back on them.

I have to admit I laughed out loud when I saw some of these! I think that we can both appreciate the hard work it took for these parents to take the photo and the fact that it is kind of funny! It remind me of all of the silly things I have done for my own kids to make them laugh or to have them behave in photo shoot.

When I saw this article I was excited to look at the old photographs. I would have enjoyed this a lot more if the childish comments were left out. We can all see that the Moms, Nannies, or whoever are in the photo. Some do look creepy (only because we are not used to seeing photos like this). But why are you being so rude as to insult these people? That was how they did it back then (and often still do now, but just more hidden). And making fun of their clothes? Babies are still dressed in similar attire for church ceremonies. I am sure getting your photo taken was quite expensive and they went to a lot of hassle to get it the way they wanted. Who cares if you see their shape or their legs? They matted the photos and they looked real nice after that. Your comments were unprofessional. It almost seems as if you went out of your way to ruin this glance into the past. Did it make you feel good to mock them? It makes you sound like a snob who looks down on everyone else. However your ignorance shines through your snide remarks and only you look bad.

I also found it odd that a very interesting historical slideshow was negatively impacted by mocking comments from the author. Was she resentful that she was assigned to this piece? The pictures themselves are fascinating, and show that kids are kids through the ages! I don’t think these are memento mori photos of the deceased, though- those are usually relatively easy to spot.

I thought that the captions were funny. Some people need to just chill and be VERY GLAD I was not captioning. It would be much “worse” and offensive I suppose. Good job, MEREDITH CARROLL.

Anyone else notice the mom in the first picture was wearing very modern-looking pants?

I have studied antique photos for years. Yes, some of them are awkward, but I don’t think they are as ridiculous as you are making them seem. Things were different back then. We didn’t have the camera capabilities as we have today–it took a long time for that shutter to capture the photo without it being blurry.

I also do not believe these are dead children as the painted eyes that were common do not look so much like eyes.

For me it was enjoyable to take a glimpse into the past and not focus on the ignorance that some of you are displaying eagerly.

Oh, and the Darth Vader captions are just plain stupid.

Wow these remind of that death book in the movie, The Others. So creepy…

My grandmother had one of those pictures, where the mother was hidden. The pictures look awkward, but I don’t think they were creepy, they were just trying to get a good picture of the baby. There was also a picture of my grandfathers’ baby sister who was deceased, early 1880s. There were no painted eyes, she just looked asleep.
Remember, the Kodak Box Camera didn’t even exist then, all photography was by professionals, most people had very few photographs taken.