No pupperazzi, please!
The return to school comes with annual picture day for students across the country. As part of being onboarded at the bank, employees had their own picture day. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, new hires of the bank were photographed in the studio of William Notman. These photographs have been preserved in albums, which have been digitized, and are available for viewing on our Collections page. The tradition of personnel photographs has evolved today in the form of ID badges. As resident Barkivist, it only makes scents that I have a photo ID of my own, though I’m not the first bank dog to be commemorated in this way.
What a treat to make this discovery. With the exception of the occasional cane or book, bankers were seldom featured with any props (or anyone!) in Notman photographs. It’s for this reason that this photograph of Lyndon Smith is all the more special. It’s easy to miss at first glance, but that’s a Yorkshire terrier seated comfortably on Lyndon’s lap. Good thing I have a trained nose for sniffing out fellow terriers!