E.R. Healy Ground Floor Gallery’s Portrait Photograph of Lily C. Gray Byce and her two sons, Malcolm Lyman Byce and Wilbur Elwood Byce
THE PHOTOGRAPHER/ PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO:
Photographers: Edwin Ruthven Healy (b. 1856 Moscow, Iowa; d. 1923) & Addie Gossage Healy (b. 1860, Petaluma, California; d.1923)
Photographic Studio: E. R. Healy Ground Floor Studio, Petaluma, California (in operation 1896-1908)
Biographical Note: By 1879, E. R. Healy was working as a painter in Petaluma. In 1880, he moved to Alameda, California, but returned to Petaluma in 1881 to marry Ada “Addie” Gossage, a native of Petaluma. They moved numerous times but returned to Petaluma by 1896 to open the Ground Floor Photography Studio at 816 ½ Main Street which was in operation between 1896 and 1908. They ran the studio together until 1905 when Edwin decided to start a mining company. Addie continued to run the studio until 1908 when they departed Petaluma for Berkeley, California. They were both buried in Cypress Hill Memorial Park, Petaluma.
Bibliography: Palmquist, Shadowcatchers, pgs. 111-112; Mautz, pg. 109; https://digital.sonomalibrary.org/about/photographers
THE SITTERS:
Names: Lily C. Gray Byce, Malcolm Lyman Byce, Wilbur Elwood Byce
Description: Lily C. Gray Byce is portrayed standing behind her two sons, Malcolm and Wilbur (known as“Elwood”). She is wearing a light-colored, printed, postpartum smock with extremely large, doubled-bell sleeves. Her shoulder caps and the edges of her sleeves are white lace, and around her neck and down both sides of her chest is a dark, wide, ribbon the function and identity of which is has not be identified. Her dark hair has been pulled to the back of her head and twisted tightly into an elongated, top-knot bun. To her right stands her elder son, Malcolm Lyman Byce (1890-1919). He is dressed in a dark suit and a white shirt with large, lace, cuffs and collar. Around his neck is an extremely large plaid bow. This manner of dressing little boys is often referred to as the “Little Lord Fauntleroy” style which was very fashionable at the time for the children of upper middle class families. With the affectionate gesture of an older brother, Malcolm touches the feet of his infant sibling, Wilbur, who is wearing a white gown and sitting on a blanket-covered studio prop.
Biographical Note: Lily C. Gray Byce was an officer of the Ladies’ Commandery Club; President of the Sonoma County Federation of Women’s Clubs, and long-time supporter of Petaluma’s International Order of the Rainbow for Girls, a Masonic youth service organization associated with the Order of the Eastern Star.
Family Affiliation: Lily C. Gray Byce was the wife of Lyman C. Byce (1852-1944) the founder and owner of the Petaluma Incubator Company. Lyman C. Byce, has been credited, along with Petaluma dentist Isaac Dias, with the creation of the Petaluma poultry incubator.
Bibliography:
THE PHOTOGRAPH:
Format / Size: cabinet card, approximately 20.5 x 27 cm
Medium: Gelatin or collodion on paper
Description, front: This is a beautifully composed portrait of a mother and her two children. Mrs. Byce and her elder son, Malcolm, are standing and the infant Wilbur “Elwood” is seated on a fabric covered table. Behind them is a faintly painted studio backdrop of a domestic interior. The photographer’s imprint is embossed along the bottom.
Description, back: Handwritten in cursive in pencil on the upper right is, “Mrs. Byce”, and to the right is written in brackets, “Malcolm” and “Elwood”. Handwritten in the center is, “Mrs. Lyman Byce” below which is written, “Sons Malcom and Elwood”.
Date: 1896 or 1897
Condition: On the front there is extensive foxing throughout and black spots on the middle left. On the back there are 8, small, square, spots on the perimeter of the card which are most probably remnants of the tape used originally to adhere the photo to an album page.
Owner: Petaluma Historical Library & Museum, 1994-60-03
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