Charming 1910s Portrait of a Notable Couple

This image features Professor Henry Fairfield Osborn and his wife, capturing a moment between roughly 1915 and 1920. Osborn was a prominent American paleontologist and the president of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Known for his influential work in the field of vertebrate paleontology, he made significant contributions to our understanding of dinosaurs, including the discovery of the first dinosaur fossil in North America.

Taken by the Bain News Service, this glass negative showcases early 20th-century photography techniques. Glass negatives were widely used during this period due to their high detail and ability to produce large prints. They represent an important advancement in photographic technology, allowing for clearer and more vivid images that documented the lives of notable figures like Osborn and his contributions to science. The clarity and quality of this image offer us a window into a time when the study of natural history was expanding rapidly, and public interest in paleontology was on the rise.