When I published the photograph of Ray Strolowitz Adler several days ago, my cousin Jean emailed me to say that she was struck by the similarity between that photograph and one she had sent me months ago of her grandmother Leah Strolowitz Adler, Ray’s younger sister. Looking at both photographs more carefully, you can see that they were taken at the same studio with Leah and Ray standing in similar poses. You can definitely see the family resemblance between the two sisters.
Leah Strolowitz Adler
Ray Strolowitz Adler
In rescanning the photo of Leah, Jean took it out of the frame and found this inscription on the back.
If both photos were in fact taken at the same time in 1918, this would have been after Ray was married and a few years before Leah married.
I wonder if all the siblings had these portraits done. Unfortunately, the others may have been lost forever. It always surprises me when I see studio portraits of the recent immigrants who could not have had a lot of extra money to spend on luxuries, yet so many of them did have these photographs done. I am so glad they did, and I am so lucky that their descendants were willing to share these two with me.
Brotmanblog: A Family Journey 
Gorgeous portraits, and yes, the resemblance between the sisters is striking.
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Hard for me to get my head around the fact that these were my grandfather’s first cousins.
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And amazing to me that we have reunited these 2 sisters, 2nd cousin Linda and our grandmothers, through photos almost 100 years old! So curious if the photos were for a special event and how many more there may be from that Sept 22, 1918 day. If it wasn’t a family celebration wonder if there is any correlation to the Jewish new year. Do you have a calendar you can check? I will see if I can make out name of the photo studio.
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I didn’t find any family event around then. Will check into the holidays that year. I bet the others were photographed also. It is so amazing to see the two sisters together like that. More later.
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Amy, beautiful clothing! You say recent immigrants but they had money for these lovely and stylish outfits (with furs). Their poses are also stylish, so they were women of fashion, to some extent.
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I think photographers supplied clothes and props. These two women had been in the US for just ten years. They worked in sweatshops. No way they owned furs in 1918! I am doing more research on this.
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Wow, that is fascinating to know. I do not think that happened quite like that in Kalamazoo, and I am guessing that photographers would have been more apt to do that in a large city?
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Like I said, that’s what I think. I read it somewhere. I need to research it further! 🙂
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I think it makes sense. Keep us posted!
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Will do!
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