Feb 1, 2026
These days, “the cloud” holds our photographs, possibly forever. And for those of us still blessed or burdened with physical photos cluttering our physical spaces, there are apps that can scan and send them there. I sometimes imagine the amazement of our Medfield forbears if they could see this innovation, but they only stare back at me from their photos. One of our treasures is a massive photo album, bound in leather, with large brass hinges and a clasp on the side, which was once owned by William Smith Tilden (1830-1912) and his wife. Tilden was the first president of Medfield History Society and author of our “Bible,” The History of Medfield from 1650-1886. The album was designed to hold Cabinet Cards, which “were America’s main format for photographic portraiture throughout the last quarter of the nineteenth century. . . Inexpensive and sold by the dozen, they transformed getting one’s portrait made from a formal event taken up once or twice in a lifetime to a commonplace practice shared with friends (Pauwels).” These popular photographs, introduced in the 1870s, were albumen prints glued to cards standardized to 6 ½ by 4 ½ inches. This size was large enough to reveal extensive detail. People often incorporated elaborate or fancy backdrops, poses and props (Pauwels). The phenomenon spawned the manufacturing of special albums, which were often quite elaborate (see Figure 1).
We cannot be certain that the photos in the album belonged to the Tildens, for the album itself was donated to MHS around 1920 by Mrs. Edward P Tucker, and the photos were inserted by MHS volunteers (see Figure 2, Inscription).
The donor appears to have been Katie Phillips Fischer Tucker, wife of Edward Payson Tucker. The Tuckers are buried in Vine Lake Cemetery, but the relationship between the Tuckers and the Tildens is not entirely clear… yet; however, we can reasonably assume that the Tildens knew most or all of them. In fact, most or all these Medfielders probably knew each other.
Although Edward Payson Tucker died in 1917, Katie was a well-known woman of Medfield until her death in 1937. During my search to learn more about the people who owned this album, I uncovered a delightful tidbit about her: During the Great Depression, “Kate got her picture in the Traveller because she rode her bicycle everywhere when she was 64 years old—to visit people, to do her shopping, with a box fastened on the back where she put her bundles. No other woman at that age at that time would have thought of doing such a thing” (MHS). Click the link for a Portal article from 2021, titled Growing Up in Medfield in the 1920s and 30s.
As for the contents of the Tilden/Tucker album, here is a list of the people (mainly men, of course) whose portraits are included: Joseph Baker, Seth Maher, Bradford Curtis, Thomas Barney, Isaac Codding, Wilbur Johnson, Mary Johnson, Fred Bunker, William Hayward, Amos Shumway, Hannah Shumway, William and Sarah Forbes, Gustavus Bruce, John Pember, Waldo Fitts, George Fiske, Frank Bonney, George Morse, Mabel Morse, Carrie Blood, Lester Blood, Bracey Curtis, Moses Clark, John Hutson, Nathaniel Allen, John Monks, William Marshall, Mary Parker, Alonzo Parker, An Unnamed Woman, Stillman Spear, Haskell Searle. For a representative sample photo, see Figure 3.
These men and women were business owners, employees, teachers, school principals, town selectmen, state representatives, journalists, hatmakers, bankers, clergy, tradesmen, and artists, and together they represent the 19th Century in Medfield. Some, whose names contain links, have already been the subject of Portal articles; others will be featured in future articles as we continue our research, during this 375th Anniversary year.
——
Works Cited
Pauwels, Erin, Britt Salvesen, Fernanda Valverde. Acting Out: Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography, University of California Press, 2020. Google Books