Photo Caption:
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Vintage cabinet photograph of Race Point Lighthouse Station showing when the second and current light tower was painted brown. From left to right is the fog signal equipment building, the head lighthouse keeper’s house, three out buildings, the tower and the duplex that was the home for the 1st and 2nd assistant lighthouse keepers. This cabinet photo was part of a series of photos labeled Cape Cod Views and was taken by Irving Leopold Rosenthal (May 16, 1869 – November 11, 1933) who was one of the most brilliant Cape Cod photographers of his time. His photographs were sold at the Corner Gift Shop, next door to the Post Office in Provincetown, Massachusetts, which he jointly owned with William Nickerson, another noted Cape Cod photographer. His turn of the century portraits and street scenes of Provincetown are contained in nearly every book published on the history of Provincetown and Cape Cod. The Heritage Museum of Provincetown has a collection of 500 glass plate negatives of Rosenthal photographs, some of which have never been seen publicly. It is unknown if the two small children with the dog were children of Race Point Lighthouse keepers, visitors at the lighthouse, or if Rosenthal had the children pose for this photograph to capture the charm of the lighthouse and sell more photographs. This image is one of a number of his photos that he made into colorized post cards that were printed in Germany and widely distributed by Hugh C. Leighton, who owned a post card company out of Portland, Maine. (Lighthouse Digest archives.)
Back to the edition of: Jul/Aug 2016
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