Doc Holliday New Photo

Doc Holliday New Photo

The following paragraphs, in reference to the “maybe” Doc Holliday New Photo were taken directly from the email sent by True West Magazine asking readers and all comers, if they think the photograph is actually Doc.
(to above the next photo)
{All added comments or FYI’s from Doc Boyle in everything below}

“The Doc Holliday photo shown here was found near St. Louis, Missouri, by professional photographer Donald J. McKenna, the albumen print, measuring 3 7⁄8 inches by 5½ inches, is mounted on a plain, unmarked, cream-colored card. No provenance links the photo directly to the dentist, but detailed anatomical comparison suggests a match between the known image (the 1872 photo) and the unauthenticated one.”
– Courtesy Donald J. McKenna
“Nothing in or about the photo itself suggests a date later than the mid-1880s. It was part of a large collection of 19th-century photographs purchased at an estate sale held at an elegant old home in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri.” {from the TWM email}

“A man in his middle 30s sits in a pushchair, its wheels and his lap covered by a blanket. He is emaciated. His neck is wrapped to conceal infected lymph nodes. His hands are limp, and his eyes have the thousand-yard stare characteristic of late-stage tuberculosis.
Compare this image to one of young dentist John Henry Holliday, taken at the age of 20 for his 1872 graduation from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery (Photo below)—one of two adult photos of him.”
{the other is a signed photo of him taken in Prescott, Arizona, in 1879 – available on the Doc Photos page}
“In both photos, notice the man’s sharply arched brows, the deep-set eyes, the jug ears. The noses are both straight, with a slight upward tilt at the tip. The cheekbones are wide and slightly depressed, relative to the lower jaws. The lengths of the jawlines are similar, as are the broad chins and the overall shapes of the faces. Those characteristics don’t change much with age and are used by modern facial recognition software to indicate a match between photos.
“The older man’s mustache is more filled out, but not heavy. His hairline is equally high above a broad forehead, combed back instead of parted. Could this newfound photo be of Doc Holliday?
“The honest answer is, we’ll never know, but this is how we would expect Holliday to look 15 years after his graduation from dental school and shortly before his death from tuberculosis.
“Whether this is Holliday himself or some other poor soul dying of tuberculosis in the 1880s, perhaps this is how Holliday should be remembered: frail, but dignified; calm in the face of his death.
“One last detail. Holliday was always careful about his clothing. The older man is wearing a soft cotton shirt, with sleeves that have been ironed to a knife-edge crease.”

Mary Dorla Russell, author of acclaimed novels Doc (Random House, 2011) and Epitaph (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2015), she holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology; she taught head and neck anatomy at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine.” {from the TWM email} Photo: U.S. PD – Mary Dorla Russell, from her media kit.

John Henry Holliday’s 1872 graduation photo.
Authenticated by the Holliday family.
The original is in the collection of Robert G. McCubbin.
see also: Doc Photos

Doc Holliday New Photo

Again, the Doc Holliday New Photo: U.S. PD pre – 11/08/1887
IF, it is actually Doc.
Courtesy of Donald J. McKenna.

True West Magazine had a popular poll on FaceBook asking the opinion of all about the Doc Holliday New Photo. (September 2015). Opinions vary. At first, I had doubts about the photo being Doc because the window in the New Photo does not match the windows in the Hotel Glenwood where Doc died. (He was here May until he died,  Nov 8, 1887, but likely in the hotel by late August or early September) Here is a photo of the Hotel Glenwood from Doc’s time, see for yourself. However, subsequent investigations lead me to believe that it might have been taken in Glenwood Springs, the trick is to determine just where?

Hotel Photo: U.S. PD c. 1887 courtesy Frontier Historical Museum
Glenwood Springs, CO

Re: previous claim of ID of the location via the window & brick wall…

Frontier Historical Society in Glenwood Springs, Colorado: We have located examples of this window in several buildings of the correct vintage (1887) in the downtown area, including the one I have used here (1885). (We have yet to see its interior sill.) Now, we have several viable candidates all within close proximity to the location of the Hotel Glenwood (all within about a two block radius). Access by wheelchair would have possible for all of them. It also turns out that there are several variations of this window in these old buildings: we have now located both a six pane and an eight pane version.

I think the New Photo might be Doc. Perhaps some facial recognition software would be beneficial here. There is also the matter of the charcoal drawing now hanging in the museum. There is a strong resemblance there as well.* Old West Daily Reader contributor Alkali Burns suggests that perhaps the cloth around the subject’s neck might also coverer a device used in the times to hold a person’s head steady for the long exposures require for photographs. It might have been the very thing to hold up a weak man’s head during a wheelchair ride or perhaps a dead man’s head for a photograph. Postmortem photos were common in the times and this might well be one, though it seem unlikely. This window pic is a placeholder until this sorts out. Photo: 09/29/2015, Doc Boyle.
see:
*Doc Photos

NEW Perspective on the Doc Holliday New Photo
A gentleman from Sweden offers this analysis…

“…I ran the photo through some imaging software and there are mirrorized letters and a structure clearly visible in the window. The upper left corner has the letters LENW also there is some sort of pilar running upwards from the mans head.  And there might even be a balcony railing. …I’m quite sure the letters are from the name Glenwood with a stylized W on a sunshade and there is a pillar outside the window.” – Daniel P. (10/07/2016)

Mr. McKenna, True West Magazine
and the staff at the Glenwood Springs Historical Museum
are, each independently, following up on this new insight…

I will continue to post information on these photos as it becomes available. – Doc

For those who would like to see more photos of other Western Notables,
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Photo Gallery Index – Lawmen Photos (80+)
Photo Gallery Index – Outlaw Photos (100+)
References – Dictionary – Photography in the Old West
Seven more “Maybe Shots” from Mr. B’s collection.

End: Doc Holliday New Photo