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Past Lives - only the costumes change...

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ca. 1848-54, [daguerreotype portrait of Fulton, an early San Francisco actor] via the Online Archive of California, UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library, Zelda Mackay Pictorial Collection
ca. 1848-54, [daguerreotype portrait of Fulton, an early San Francisco actor]

ca. 1856-1910, [tintype portrait of a smiling and sharply dressed young lady] via Harvard College Fine Arts Library, Special Collections
ca. 1856-1910, [tintype portrait of a smiling and sharply dressed young lady]
I am often struck by the similarities between past and present. We are living in mythic times, we are walking in the histories of our ancestors and at the same time being guided by them into the future. You might want to have a look at the fascinating Historical Indulgences website featuring photographs from America in the mid-1800s. When I look at these faces I see such modern expressions and eyes full of stories looking back at me.

The soul lives forever, only the costumes change... 

ca. 1852, [daguerreotype portrait of an Iroquois man, probably Seneca, with applied hand-gilt detail] via Heritage Auctions
ca. 1852, [daguerreotype portrait of an Iroquois man, probably Seneca, with applied hand-gilt detail]
ca. 1870-80’s, [tintype portrait of two women admiring cabinet cards and carte de visites] via Ebay
ca. 1870-80’s, [tintype portrait of two women admiring cabinet cards
ca. 1860’s, [ambrotype portrait of a Confederate soldier wearing a plaid shirt and a holstered pistol. He carries a large bedroll, a percussion rifle and a kepi with the letters “4 SLG” for the 4th Sumter Light Guards] via Heritage Auctions
ca. 1860’s, ambrotype portrait of a Confederate soldier 
ca. 1860-80’s, [tintype portrait of a woman in unusual costume, possibly for a Wild West show, with a bow and arrow] via Ebay
ca. 1860-80’s, [tintype portrait of a woman in unusual costume, possibly for a Wild West show]
ca. 1860, [tintype portrait of a mother and her child] via Christie’s Auction
ca. 1860, [tintype portrait of a mother and her child]
ca. 1859, [daguerreotype portrait of a bespectacled gentleman, handwritten on verso: “Present from dear George”] via the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Photography Collection
ca. 1859, [daguerreotype portrait of a bespectacled gentleman,