Three CIVILIAN SCOUTS OR ARMY PACKERS

[Henry4440]

CIVILIAN SCOUTS OR ARMY PACKERS WITH SPENCERS CARBINES. Ca. 1870's. Three scouts sitting in studio all appear to be wearing scout garb, great hats, vests & Spencer Carbines. Photo by Mrs. M. Gainsford, Great Bend, Kansas

http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=679&Lot_No=72279

[Shotgun Franklin]

Pretty good scouts, they managed to find a photographers studio.

[Henry4440]

When i look at these hats, i asked myself, if we have the right hats.

[Shotgun Franklin]

Push your hat way back on your head, have a photo taken then compare. It's hard to tell with studio photos but looking over crowd photos at events it appears that it was very late in the Old West before the shaped hats became popular. Even then very many hats were just stuck on the head and not shaped.

[5judge]

I'm told hats tended to be pushed back in 19th Century photographs, and especially those taken in photographers' studios with skylights, so the face wouldn't be obscured by the hat brim's shade. I  tend to judge the true occupations of the stalwarts being photographed by presence or absence of a tan line. Outdoorsmen often exhibit weather-darkened faces and white foreheads. Look at some of the wartime photos of Robert E. Lee.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Pretty good scouts, they managed to find a photographers studio.