This collection of 19th and early 20th-century photographs offers a rare and intimate window into the lives of the Anderson and Shrum families — ancestors whose stories are etched into these faded prints and timeworn portraits.

Captured in an era when photography was both an art and an event, these images preserve the quiet dignity, resilience, and daily realities of generations past. From stern-faced studio portraits in stiff collars and lace-trimmed dresses to candid glimpses of farm life, childhood, and community, each photograph holds a piece of family history and the broader American experience.

These photographs are more than relics — they are living memory. They remind us where we come from, and invite us to imagine the lives, loves, and legacies of those who came before.