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Emerald Museum & Nobelius Heritage Park
From the collection of Emerald Museum & Nobelius Heritage Park
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Photograph - Photography of Ruby Nobelius on her 21st Birthday

  • Formal, studio black and white photograph depicting a young woman in a floor length white evening gown posing next to a black pedestal.

    Image of Photograph of Ruby Nobelius

  • Image depicts the inscription on the back of that photograph reading, "Ruby Nobelius. Taken on her 21st Birthday".

    Image of back side of photograph of Ruby Nobelius

  • Formal, studio black and white photograph depicting a young woman in a floor length white evening gown posing next to a black pedestal.
  • Image depicts the inscription on the back of that photograph reading, "Ruby Nobelius. Taken on her 21st Birthday".

Historical information

Ruby Nobelius, who is also known as Ethel Ruby Nobelius Hayes, was born in 1887, dating the photograph to 1908. She is wearing an Edwardian style dress with a rounded, soft updo popularised by the 'Gibson Girl' aesthetic of the 1910s.
Four years prior, Ruby was a bridesmaid in the wedding of her brother, Carl Oscar Nobelius, to Florence Prescott in 1904 at the age of 17.

Significance

This image captures the fashion style of lifestyle of wealthier Australian women in the 1910s. It also displays the social significance placed on 21st birthdays in the 1900s. As she is dressed in a gown and photographed in a studio, it indicates a momentous occasion deemed important enough to commemorate and document.

Physical description

A black and white photograph taken in a studio setting of Ruby Nobelius on her 21st Birthday. The contrast in the photograph is low and the quality is grain, resulting in a low resolution image with limited distinguishable detail.

Inscriptions & markings

Reverse, top left: " Ruby Nobelius on her 21st Birthday"

Subjects

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