“Snoozer,” carte de visite, E. T. Bowdle, photographer, Lima, Ohio, probably 1880s.
Meet Snoozer the pug puppy, who took a very appealing likeness at Elisha T. Bowdle’s photography studio, probably in the early 1880s. He is posed on what looks like a pedestal made of wood (a studio prop, I suppose), and his name seems to have been added to the negative prior to printing.
Reverse of Snoozer’s portrait.
Elisha T. Bowdle opened his photography studio in Lima, Ohio, in 1879. Here’s the notice that appeared in the Lima Times Democrat and one other local paper on 20 November 1879. Bowdle’s employees were called “operators,” and this photo was taken by one named C. J. Young, who I have not been able to trace. I am dating this photograph to the 1880s because the larger cabinet-sized cards seem to have been more popular by the 1890s.
E. T. Bowdle grew rather prosperous by the 1880s. He probably owned the building, “Bowdle’s Block,” advertised on the back of the photograph, and the Lima newspapers reported periodically on his businesses and his involvement founding the Good Templar Lodge in 1888. He also helped to found the Lima Y.M.C.A. that same year.
This is the only trace remaining of Snoozer, who was clearly prized by his owner or owners. The 1880s were the first years of a craze for pugs that was several decades long. Pugs show up all over the country, which is quite extraordinary when you think that they were really introduced to the entire country at the Centennial Exposition dog show in 1876. I hope he lived a long and happy life!
