November 12, 2010
Identifications sought for vintage Donohue Studios photographs
A photograph depicts the “Seven Mirrors” presented by the Catholic Theatre Guild. Readers are asked to identify the women on stage. (Photograph courtesy of Donahue Studios) Click for a larger version.
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
There are football team photos, basketball and volleyball too. There are crowds of people in churches. Parades. Knights of Columbus. Knights of St. John.
But many of the people in these historic photographs from Donahue Studios in Evansville are unidentified.
“The length of basketball shorts [and] girls’ dresses for bowling are a hoot,” said Ann Ennis of Evansville, who examined the sports photos from the 1940s through the 1970s, many of them from Mater Dei High School in Evansville.
Jim Donahue of Evansville is seeking the identifications for photos taken by his uncles.
“My uncles, Richard, Thomas and Patrick Donahue had a photography studio in Evansville from the 1940s to 1998,” he said. “They are deceased and I am cataloging the photographs. There are many Catholic church and school photographs in the Church Catalog.”
The cataloguing process is an enormous task, with some negative sleeves indicating only a location and the year the photograph was taken.
“So far, into the 1950s, except for St. Joe, Jasper, all photographs are Evansville parishes,” said Donahue. “As I get into more recent decades, parishes and St. Meinrad photos outside of Evansville will be available.”
Many photographs may be available for purchase, but the historic church images would be free of charge to the parishes and diocese, Donahue said. His website also includes an Excel file with a listing of the photos available.
See Vintage Evansville Photographs at www.DonahueStudios-Photographs.com.