Laura and Frank Brashsears, stereoscopic photo
Item
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Title
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Laura and Frank Brashsears, stereoscopic photo
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Description
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This glossy black and white photo reveals Laura and Frank Brashears with a caption: "under the shade of the old apple tree.” The photo was taken August 12, 1906 likely in or around Doylestown, PA.
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Laura is holding an old camera of the day. Frank is wearing a dress shirt and slacks, and Laura has on a fancy white dress. Her hair is pinned up. They are dressed typically for that era. Laura is around 31 years old and Frank is around 29 years old.
Laura (née Hickman) Brashears (1874-1959) of Virginia was a resident of Doylestown for over 50 years, a mother and grandmother, a quilter, and a member of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Doylestown (Find a Grave 2011; The Daily Intelligencer 1959). Frank Ellis Brashears (1877-1940) was a “widely known barber” in the Doylestown area (Find a Grave 2011; The Daily Intelligencer 1959).
The couple had three children: Frank Ellis Brashears Jr., Louise Leah Brashears, and Julia (née Brashears) Sharps (Find a Grave 2011; The Daily Intelligencer 1959). At the time of Laura’s death, she had four grandchildren (The Daily Intelligencer 1959).
Stereoscopic photography was popular from around the mid 1850s to the early 1900s (Gernsheim and Newhall 2025). The production process “entailed making two images of the same subject… and then mounting the positive prints side by side” (Gernsheim and Newhall 2025). Such mountings were thought to “create an illusion of three-dimensionality” (Gernsheim and Newhall 2025).
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Map to 43 North Pine Street in Doylestown, PA
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Discover a quilt attributed to Mrs. Laura Brashears
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Rights
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This work is not in copyright, but commercial uses of this digital representation are limited. For more information, contact the Mercer Museum Library and see http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/
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Spatial Coverage
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Doylestown, Bucks County, PA
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Contributor
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Mercer Museum/Bucks County Historical Society
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Identifier
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SC-29-20-08-P-007
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Date Created
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August 12, 1906
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Coverage
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Doylestown, Bucks County, PA
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Subject
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Doylestown (Pa.)
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African American barbers
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African American families
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Stereoscopic photography
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Apple trees
