This 6-1/2" x 4-1/2" black and white portrait photograph shows a bearded man in a suit with a white shirt and a woman in a black dress with a broach on the collar of her dress.
The families of Bess Streeter Aldrich's parents, James and Mary Streeter, were the inspiration for the characters in several of her fictional works. Aldrich wrote: "When she was in her eighties, (mother) once related some pioneer experiences about the snow sifting through the chinks of the cabin and making grotesque figures on the bed quilts. In a moment of sympathy I remarked that we daughters were sorry her life had been hard in her pioneering days, that it seemed unfair that we now should live in an easier era with all its modern conveniences. She looked at me with an odd little expression and said: 'Oh, save your pity. We had the best time in the world.'" Aldrich's desire to capture the spirit of such a woman with historical accuracy was the inspiration for the novel "A Lantern in Her Hand."
