Bachrach Studios

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Bachrach's 1922 portrait of Thomas Edison (restored version) Thomas Edison2.jpg
Bachrach's 1922 portrait of Thomas Edison (restored version)

Bachrach Studios is an American photographic studio, believed to be one of the oldest continuously operating photography studios in the world. [1]

Contents

History

It was founded in Baltimore in 1868 by David Bachrach, Jr. [1]

The studio's founder, David Bachrach, took the only photo of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. The studio has photographed every US Head of State since then, its founder having made it a goal to photograph all the important people he could. He sought and received permission to photograph such notables as Charles Lindbergh and Calvin Coolidge. The studio went on to produce portraits of Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Eleanor Roosevelt, Douglas Dobson, and Muhammad Ali, among others.

In 1919, the company hired Paul Gittings, who opened and managed Bachrach Studios in Texas. Crete Hutchinson was managing the Washington, D.C. studio in the 1920s. [2] [3] Bachrach Studio had forty-eight locations throughout the United States at its height in 1929. [1] During the Great Depression, Bachrach scaled down the company and sold the Texas studios to Gittings.

Bachrach Studios remains a family business as of 2024. [4]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Margalit Fox (2010-03-01). "Fabian Bachrach, 92, Portraitist Who Photographed Kennedy, Dies". The New York Times . Retrieved 2010-03-11. Mr. Bachrach belonged to a dynasty of commercial portrait photographers that stretches back more than 140 years and is now in its fourth generation. Widely believed to be the oldest continuously operating photo studio in the world, Bachrach Photography has routinely photographed luminaries in the arts, sports, business and politics, including nearly every American president from Abraham Lincoln on, along with a bevy of brides, grooms and graduates.
  2. "HUTCHINSON, Crete Pauline (Mrs.)". Who's who in the Nation's Capital. Consolidated Publishing Company. 1926. p. 304. Retrieved 12 December 2024.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  3. "40 'Cleopatra' Aspirants Chosen". Times Herald. 19 May 1923. p. 5. Retrieved 12 December 2024 via Newspapers.com.PD-icon.svg This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
  4. Marquard, Bryan (2010-03-02). "Louis Fabian Bachrach Jr., 92, photographer of famous". Boston Globe . Retrieved 2010-03-11.

Further reading