This is a photo of the interior of the Hammell residence at 122 N. Sherman St. It appears to be a companion of the one in this post. but taken from the opposite side of the room. Like its companion, it appears to have had a somewhat hard life. The original print is extremely faded, on top of being scratched and dirty. I’m glad we have the technology to turn it into a reasonably viewable image, even if still scratched and dirty.

I presume this photo was taken by (Great Grandpa) John Hammell. Perhaps he was experimenting with low light photography in these photos. He does seem to have set up some kind of light (shining from behind the camera in this photo, which is from the side in its companion).

Because of the different angle and field of view we can now clearly see that the book on the right, on the piano is a book of cornet music. This makes sense since there is a cornet sitting on top of the piano.

The photos on top of the piano are clearer in this photo also. Of the three photos we can see, I recognize two of them. I do not recognize the one on the left. The one in the middle appears to be Grandpa and Grandma (Arthur and Addie) McClain’s wedding photo (shown in this previous post). The photo on the right appears to be the photo of Mom (Florence) at three months (shown in this previous post). That there is this photo of Mom on the piano tells us that this photo of the Hammell parlor must have been taken after September 1910.

As with the companion photo, Great Grandma Hammell is sitting in a chair on the right. It isn’t obvious in this photo, but from the companion, we know it is a rocking chair.

It’s interesting. I confess that I don’t normally think of a brickmason as a particularly artistic person. That is probably a false idea, anyway. When I stop to think about it, laying bricks is probably a pretty artistic endeavor. But be that as it may, Great Grandpa Hammell seems to have been a fairly artistic person. He was a respectable photographer, as we have seen in other photos here. He apparently played the cornet. Dorothy, I think, has a songbook of his that suggests that he also sang. I’d be interested in comments about this from those of you who actually knew him.