Tonn Family Belongings after Fire

DateApril 10, 1927

MediumPhotographic image on paper

DimensionsOverall: 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" and Image: 2 1/16" x 3 3/16"

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Arlene Quick in memory of her parents, Albert J. and Ida W. Tonn

Object number2005.510.2

DescriptionA landscape-format photograph on paper showing household belongings scattered on a lawn, with trees in the background. A white-painted metal bed (headboard and footboard) are among the items strewn in the foreground. Seven people are shown in the middle ground, behind the mass of objects, and a team of harnessed horses stands behind the people. Cold weather is apparent from the leafless trees and heavily-coated figures. One side of a frame building (barn, as identified from other sources) is visible in the right distance.

Photographer unidentified.
Label TextArtist Steve Harley inherited the Mason County, Michigan, farmhouse that burned to the ground on April 10, 1927. This photograph, taken the day of the fire, shows household objects strewn over the foreground in an apparent effort to salvage as much as possible from the blazing structure.
InscribedThe photo is inscribed in blue ink in script on the reverse, "Day of the/fire/Tonn's/April 10/1927". Also on the reverse, stamped in blue ink, is "U78", apparently a photographic processing number.
ProvenanceAARFAM's donor, Arlene Quick, spent several years of her childhood in the house whose destruction is represented by this photograph. The Mason County, Michigan, house was inherited by artist Steve Harley but leased, then sold, to Quick's parents, Albert J. and Ida W. Tonn, who occupied it for several years. This photo apparently was given to Quick by her parents.