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Cathy Wurzer
St. Paul, Minn.

Minnesota history: Women photographers in the 19th century

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L. V. Bean Photography Studio
During the late 19th century, Sioux Falls' L. V. Bean Photography Studio was one of many around the country that featured women photographers. Sarah Full Bean was one of them. She is pictured here in 1885 holding baby Elura Full. In the upstairs window is Julia Moran Full and L. V. Bean (with beard on sidewalk) is second from left.
Photo Courtesy of the Siouxland Heritage Museums, Sioux Falls, S.D.

Photography studios popped up all over the country in the late 19th century, and a surprising number of the photographers were women.

"You wouldn't know their names. No one would know their names. They're not the kind of people who really stood out as amazing artists. They were workaday women who made a living taking photographs," historian Annette Atkins said.

Atkins teaches at St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict in Collegeville. She told MPR's Cathy Wurzer why photography was an attractive line of work for women during that era.

Gallery
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Heighstedt family
Heighstedt family, left to right: Carl Johan, Gustaf, Andrew, Anna and Ida. Photographer: Anna G. Oleson
Photo courtesy MNHS
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L. V. Bean Photography Studio
During the late 19th century, Sioux Falls' L. V. Bean Photography Studio was one of many around the country that featured women photographers. Sarah Full Bean was one of them. She is pictured here in 1885 holding baby Elura Full. In the upstairs window is Julia Moran Full and L. V. Bean (with beard on sidewalk) is second from left.
Photo Courtesy of the Siouxland Heritage Museums, Sioux Falls, S.D.
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Family portrait
Photographer Sarah Full Bean took this family portrait at the Falls of South Dakota's Big Sioux River ca. 1885. A hand-written inscription on the back of the picture identifies the people (left to right) as "Uncle Geo Varney, Carrie Allen, Aunt Emma Tibbetts , W. J. Full, Julia Morgan Full."
Photo Courtesy of the Siouxland Heritage Museums, Sioux Falls, S.D.