The photograph is titled “Senseless Souls: What fools these mortals be!” and it appears in the 1916 ‘Oak Leaves’ Meredith College yearbook. A poem accompanied the photo in the yearbook in which each stanza refers to the women pictured from left to right. | src State Archives of North Carolina on flickr
The J. C. Knowles Photograph Collection consists in a collection of glass plate negatives dating from ca. 1900 through the late 1910s, attributed to Wharton & Tyree Studio and Tyree Studio of Raleigh, NC. Based on the age of the negatives, where they were found initially, and a notation on one of the plates, it is likely they were all created by Wharton’s Gallery, 1886-1905, Wharton & Tyree Studio, 1905-1912, and Tyree Studio, 1912-1916 of Raleigh, North Carolina.
Cyrus P. Wharton (1852-1929) operated one of the best-equipped and largest photography studios in North Carolina beginning with Wharton’s Gallery on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh in 1886. In 1905 he partnered with Manly W. Tyree (1877-1916) and operated as the Wharton & Tyree Studio. Wharton appears to have retired in 1911, and Tyree continued on alone as the Tyree Studio until his death.
Negatives from J. C. Knowles collection attribution is as listed below:
1- Wharton’s gallery (1886- 1905)
2- Wharton & Tyree Studio (1905-1911)
3- Tyree Studio (1912-1916)
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