The Boat Lullabies

On behalf of the (100k+) silent majority, I'd like to say thanks. This sequence of photos has inspired me more than anything I've watched, read or listened to in the last couple of months.

I guess we live through so many years, it's kind of humbling to see a life reduced to twenty or so seconds.

How interesting it is to watch someone age like that in an instant. I did something similar recently with pictures of my grandmother from birth to 89, it was like looking at photographs morphing from age to age.

EEK! This is scary!

Have you heard of a book entitled Forensic Genealogy by Colleen Fitzpatrick? Seems like, using techniques described in the book, clues from the photos could be uncovered that would lead to the woman's identity.

Don't look at me. I've got plenty to do. But someone might take up the challenge.

It is weird that these are all solo pics. I love the one from your first post in which she snaps a self-portrait in a mirror.

We think of that as something someone would to today with a digital camera, not back in 1953.

Thanks for posting these. I enjoy your site.

Looking at the original post and these additional pics, it looks like she hit hard times somewhere near the end of the 70's or in the 80's, as there's such a rapid change. What an amazing find.

I still say they are fake.

Adam

I looked at the original posts some time ago, and these only add to the effect of a sort of time travel - she wasn't much younger than my parents, and some of the pics remind of our old family shots. She was quite cute, and obviously someone else thought so in some of the posed pictures. She seemed vivacious as a kid, and was especially lovely in the 1957 pics, altho she looked sad in the cossack blouse shot. Wonder why she went blonde all of a sudden? - lotta work to double-process the rest of your life. Must've spent some dough at the hairdresser's late in life to keep that up. You're right about the last shot, tho - it captures a bit of her youthful playfullness; a nice ending.

Simply an amazing find. And odd too, as you say, that there is no one else in the pictures. She seems to have been a loner all her life. This might answer why no one came forward to claim them and they ended up in a flea market. It might also be why no one in 100K hits recognized her.

Looking through the pictures I get the impression the pictures tell a story besides the one on the woman´s life. Possibly that of the person who picked out the snaps that together were going to be this collection. Or that of the person close to her who liked to take pictures of her? What if that is the same person all through her life? Perhaps a parent, or another close relative? If it was a parent that took the pictures, that could explain why the last pictures of her are from some years ago, perhaps at the time that that parent stopped taking pictures and or passed away?

Or did the woman herself make a compilation of flattering pictures from her life at one point, and lost it? Maybe she died, maybe it was stolen? Maybe she had no relatives to take care of her left-behind belongings? Maybe she moved on in her life and decided the vain exposure was no longer wanted or worth keeping?

So many possible thoughts and interpretations. What do you make of it? Most seem to think this is a random or complete collection of pictures. I think they are very carefully picked out, by someone. The question of who that might have been, and what their ambition is/was, is, I think, the most interesting.

Wouldn´t it be great if someone stepped forward and let us know who the woman in the pictures was/is?

This series is amazing. I never knew there was a whole demographic out there who enjoyed looking at photo's of perfect strangers and analyzing their lives and family dynamics. Thank you so much for sharing your finds. I recently found photo's documenting a single family going back well over 100 years. There is also memorabilia that correspond with the photographs. To make things more interesting, I knew the last person to own these things and they were given to me as a gift. I feel privileged to carry on his legacy and remember his family for him. I even know a lot of the stories that they tell, but some are a mystery to all.

Its kinda weird.. Its like a part of me fell in love with this total stranger only to lose her just as fast.. A very strange feeling.. But also very beautiful..

Thank you for posting these, and any more you post in the future.