Mittlebeeler Family Photographs

Collection Items

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  Ben Wiemeyer with dog, circa 1890

  This cabinet card of a young man and his dog was found in the Mittlebeeler family photo collection. On the back the image is the inscription “Ben Wiemeier [sic] Aunt Lizzie's Boyfriend.”
  
  Elizabeth “Lizzie” Moorman (1879-1945) was born to a German immigrant family in Louisville. She grew up on East Jackson Street in the Shelby Park neighborhood and later moved to Oak Street. In 1890 Lizzie succumbed to Typhoid Fever. Lizzie supported herself as a seamstress and remained single all her life, but this photograph provides a clue into an early romance.
  
  A Ben Wiemeyer is listed in City Directories from the 1880s and 1900s as living on East Chestnut Street, only a half-mile away from where Lizzie lived. He was also from a German family. Although Lizzie and Ben never married, they must have dated when they were teens. Ben went on to marry and became a machinist.
  
  Learn more about German photographer Paul Günter in this online exhibit: https://filsonhistorical.omeka.net/exhibits/show/gunter-photography/life-of-gunter
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  Going to the Dogs

  Poster for the Kentucky Art & Craft Foundation featuring a poodle in sunglasses. Photography by Albert Leggett and Design by Julius Friedman. Julius Friedman (1943-2017) was an artist and graphic designer. He was considered Louisville’s beloved and renowned image maker and cultural advocate. Throughout his 50-year career, Friedman embraced a vast range of media and methods to delight viewers with his visual artistry. Friedman also had a rescue dog named Mr. Brown. Albert Leggett is a Louisville native who began his career under the commercial photographer Lyn Caufield before opening his own company in 1984. He worked with Friedman on various projects.