A baptism and a brainteaser

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Even though photography was complicated, expensive and sporadic in the early years of the 20th century, there are still umpteen pictures like the one seen here. Most of them were made to commemorate a personal achievement, a family occasion or a special day out. This one is of good quality and shows what seems to be an important outing for this little clan. It seems a bit odd that the three ladies and the toddler pose for the photographer while the two men look away, but we’re sure they knew what they were doing. The man on the right has to be the driver, with his goggles resting on his hat. Could the man on the left be the child’s father?

There aren’t too many other features which might reveal anything about the occasion or the venue, but on closer inspection there’s one distinct irregularity. An abundant bouquet of flowers and branches is draped over the car’s bonnet, and a similar kind of decoration can be seen in the child’s dress, clearly not an everyday outfit in the first place. She’s the object of attention here. Our guess is that our little group is on its way to or from a baptism, and they’ve probably hired the car to get to the church.

That brings us with the vehicle itself, a medium-sized, wooden-wheeled, canvas-roofed contrivance. Are we to call it a wagonette, a shooting brake, or even a small charabanc? Whatever it is, it’s got plenty of room for taking a whole family out to a birthday party, baptism, bar mitzvah or whatever else. Is it American? Is it something built in large numbers, or something slightly bespoke? Please rack your brains hard and let us know what ideas you might have.

Words: Jeroen Booij, picture source unknown

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