Photographer Finds 120-Year-Old Cat Photos After Developing Film Found in a Time Capsule

[packman]

The intriguing lore of secret time capsules inspired French photographer, filmmaker, and YouTuber Mathieu Stern to discover a time capsule, hidden in the basement of his old family home. The intricately designed antique box, which dated back to the year 1900, contained some particularly charming items—including a paper doll, coins, a compass, a sea shell, and a letter—that were all precious remnants belonging to a young girl of the 1900s. The box also included something particularly fascinating and mesmerizing to Stern: two glass plate negatives. Hot on the trail of unlocking this mystery, Stern decided to develop them utilizing an old photographic printing method known as cyanotype.

Full story:

https://mymodernmet.com/cyanotype-time-capsule-cat-photos/

[Blue Owl]

1. They'z been hazzing cheezeburgers for over a century!

[CatWoman]

14. LOL!!!!

[gristy]

2. Beautiful. So touchingly beautiful.

Here's the youtube vid of him colorizing the first photo.

&ab_channel=MathieuStern

[MustLoveBeagles]

6. Interesting

Thank you for sharing

[Fla Dem]

3. Wow, almost made me tear up. Not sure why, just touched me.

[Dem2theMax]

8. I did cry! The human connection. 120 years later,

we are looking at the pictures of a cat that some little girl absolutely adored. I do genealogy research. And I have found lots of photos of ancestors. I don't remember ever seeing one of a pet. This was absolutely precious to me.

[Raine]

28. Me too. I cried tears, something about it

just really touched me.

[StarryNite]

29. Me too.

Very touching. While so much has changed in 120 years, somethings have stayed the same.

[ChazII]

24. It touched me as well and I

am a dog person.

[StClone]

27. As am I, is the dog in the image

Appear to be a black long-haired Dachshund? So fond of that breed it made me well up too. The connection with life of distant past, so animated in the image, was evocative of all the life I have found in my Max, Janz, Dutch and Derby.

[lastlib]

37. Becuz kittehs. n/t

[niyad]

4. Just beautiful. And good to know that our fascination with kittens is ongoing.

[MustLoveBeagles]

5. K&R

Thank you for sharing. Is that a dog in the second photo by the kitten?

[tblue37]

16. Yes, a pretty black dog. nt

[Tess49]

19. Yes, it is.

[AllaN01Bear]

7. i twat i taw a puddy tat. i did , i did taw a puddy tat .

ohm myyy.

[samplegirl]

9. Good story

Cats rule!

[Karadeniz]

10. So....cat pictures have been popular FOREVER!!!...as they should have been!❤

[tiredtoo]

11. This is the stuff we all strive for

So happy to see this. Thinking of a little girl in 1900 putting this in a time capsule is heart warming. Thank you for sharing.

[malaise]

12. How lovely

Thank you

[tblue37]

13. Cat pics owned the internet before the internet was even invented. nt

[dexdah]

15. Wonderful and Amazing

Someone loved her special cat. Thank you for posting!

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Awwwww .. sweet kitty returning to be worshipped by humans after 120 years.

Obviously very dear to someone's heart, to go to such lengths.

[byronius]

18. Excellent.

[CloudWatcher]

20. Developing Film Found in a Time Capsule? ... well, no, not exactly :)

He didn't develop "film" ... the glass plates were already developed. He knew immediately what the images were by looking at the negative images on the plates. You can even get a positive image reflection off of negatives if you hold them just right (at an angle). So it's not like he found 120 year old undeveloped plates whose content was a mystery

Yeah I know, picky picky. But I've spent way too much time huddled over foul smelling chemicals in darkrooms to let it pass without comment!

But still, very cool. Loved the video and thanks for posting!

[4dog]

25. "Printing negatives" or "Developing prints from old negatives" would be better.

Using the cyanotype method, which is appropriate to the age of the negatives.

[reACTIONary]

39. Thanks... I doubt ..

.... exposed, undeveloped glass plates would survive 120 years.

[crickets]

21. What a sweet time capsule.

It was fascinating to see the pictures come to life. I'm so glad to have watched the video before seeing the pictures - that was so neat! It was touching to see a couple of moments in time from a child who lived over 100 years ago and loved her cat so much. Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing that, packman.

[burrowowl]

22. Thanks for thread and link!

[soldierant]

23. Some anthromorphizing here ...

From the Ancient Egyptian Society "Cats in Ancient Egypt"

[Wednesdays]

36. That cat's a lefty. nt

[soldierant]

45. But of course.

You wouldn't expect a smart cat to be a Republican, would you?

[Historic NY]

26. I have several file boxes of glass plate negatives..

normally I can run then on my scanner using the appropriate negative holder. They are too large for my scanner. A lot of them were never printed when I went through archives. I am trying to come up with process. Some interesting staged shots/ animals and people.

A local print shop says their digital scanner can handle them.

[Montelimar]

35. Animals/Kids:

those fetch the highest prices in the old photograph/postcard collecting world.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

30. May her sweet

Cat live forever and ever and not be forgotten.
May they be together forever and ever. Bonded by love.

I went to a school on it's opening year,the William S James school.
We had an assignment,to put something in the time capsule of the school.

I put a picture of my cat Rikki Rikki Tavi in it,a pic my mom took of me holding him on a summer day in my backyard.

And wrote about him it was a short story.
I put it inside a tourqoise envelope that I drew cats all over and put that into a ziplock bag. It went into the time capsule. I hope Rikki is never forgotten too.
This is why it made me cry,to have so much love for a cat you want him to be remembered..forever.

[Raine]

31. So touching (sniff sniff) kitties and doggie been gone a long time but

the love ❤ that was given to them is preserved for us see and know all about ... THANKS so much for posting this!

[reACTIONary]

40. You are such a...

... contrarian.

[kcr]

33. So sweet. Thank you for posting this

It was interesting to watch how he developed the plates, too.

[Meowmee]

34. wonderful... thanks for posting

I know how much she loved them... I wonder why they were not developed.

[hunter]

38. My great aunt lived more than a century and I have some of her stuff.

She was a wild thing in the 'twenties just as I was a wild thing in the 'seventies.

Privileged to know many wonderful animals.

[aidbo]

41. Wow, that's an old cat!

[bucolic_frolic]

42. A very French cat

with strong features - large, firm and pointed ears, a whisker array that would be any cat's envy, sleek physique, and large, bulbous, well-proportioned toes.

Makes me think - many generations of cats since these photos were taken, this haut couture feline must be just a bit different genetically than most modern tabbies.

[kimmylavin]

43. That was beautiful!

All the care and love, from the negatives carefully wrapped over a hundred years ago, to the gentle treatment by the modern photographer.
And the sweet little kitty who was obviously adored.

Thank you for sharing that!

[cwydro]

44. Very cool.

Thanks for posting.

[denbot]

46. That was such a sweet post.

I don't know quite why, but I all but misted up thinking about a little girl and the cat she loved so much she wished it her best shot at it's and it's kitten's immortality.

The artist is offering prints and regardless of his motivations, I think this world is slightly a more tolerable place thinking a long ago little girl got her wish, likely in orders of magnitude greater than what even a child's imagination might reach for, and in a manner inconceivable to her or any of her contemporaries.

R.I.P. to a little girl, and her kitty.