We are all familiar with the line drawing of W H Conley found in history works on Pittsburgh and reprinted in Wikipedia, Find a Grave and Separate Identity volume one.
But what happened to any originals? When Sarah Conley died in 1908 she left detailed instructions for the disposal of her possessions. These included gifts of five pictures (probably photographs rather than paintings) which included one of the two of them, William and Sarah, together. The relevant paragraph from the will is at the end of this piece.
What happened to these pictures? Do they still exist is some dusty attic, maybe uncaptioned and forgotten? So many pictures from the past are, alas, orphaned today by lack of information.
No comments:
Post a Comment