By Elizabeth J. Normen
(c) Connecticut Explored Inc. Winter 2017-2018
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These baby pictures were selected from Connecticuthistoryillustrated.org, an online digital library of historic images from more than a dozen Connecticut organizations’ collections.
Two images were taken by Everett Augustus Scholfield, who, according to Mystic Seaport’s website, began working as a studio photographer right after his return from serving in the Civil War. Born in 1843, he learned photography from his father Edwin, who opened a photography studio in Westerly, Rhode Island in the 1850s.
Apparently a bit of a rolling stone or perhaps in search of a promising location for his business, Scholfield set up successive studios over the next 15 years—at times with and without partners—in Wakefield, Rhode Island and then in Norwich, Stonington, Putnam, and Mystic, Connecticut. During that time he also made sojourns to St. Croix and Honduras. In 1879 he set up shop with his two brothers in Westerly. In 1885 he left Scholfield Brothers and opened a studio in New London. He retired in 1912 and died in 1930 at the age of 86.
Elizabeth J. Normen is publisher of Connecticut Explored.
Read “First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage,” a photo essay of wedding photos through the ages, Winter 2018-2018