THE BORDER COLLIE MUSEUM
Above, a photograph from 1911 of a boy with two Border Collie pups.
We can only go by written descriptions and paintings, both of which are highly subjective, to know that dogs like the Border Collie exhisted centuries ago. When photography became a reality in the early 19th century, photographers began to document everyday rural life, possibly because of the premonition that this life was rapidly disappearing or at least irrevicably changing. Also once people had access to photography, they posed with their pets, their farm animals, their working dogs, much the same as we do today. Some of these photographs, from the mid-19th through the mid-20th centuries, give us the most vivid picture we have of what sheepdogs of the past were like, how varied they were, and how they, too, were changing as working dogs were becoming more and more obsolete and show dogs were becoming more and more fashionable. Here we mean to present a variety of old photographs, most of which are anonymous and undated, but all of which come to us from the mid-to-late 19th century to the mid-20th century. Where we have a date for a photo, we will give it.
The pups in the two photos above appear to be the same puppies.
The photo at the left, above, is Hungarian, and may date to 1911.
Above, three old "cabinet cards" dating to about 1865, and below, a studio photograph
probably dating from the same era.
Here's another pair, above, of posed (and tinted) photos where the dog is the same in both.
The photo on the right dates to 1909.
We thought this photo of "Our Joe"
a touching tribute to ordinary dogs
whose owners think they are
as worthy and beautiful as any show dog.
This photo, left, of a black-and-tan elderly collie dates from 1893, "Dear Old Jack"
is from 1905, and the one on the right also dates from 1893.
The photo on the left, above, dates from 1909.
The photo on the left, below, dates from 1927.
This is Rex. We had so many photos of
this dog we thought he deserved his own page.
These photos were sent by Barbara and Phillip Hanno from Petersham, Massachusetts, via Allison Bryant, a volunteer for New England Border Collie Rescue. The Hannos both come from farming families that had collies, and they are continuing the tradition, having adopted Gem, a Border Collie, from Allison. The photo at left if of Barbara's grandparents, Joe and Elsie Founds, on their farm in Ohio. A collie pup can be seen in the foreground. Barbara's uncle still lives on this farm and owns a collie.
In the photos below, are Richard, or Dick, Hanno, Phillip's father, on his family farm in Lisbon, New Hampshire. Dick was about 6 years old in the photos. The dog's name was Rex and the pony was Ned. Rex once saved Dick's life. One winter, Dick slid down the bank of Hanno Pond, a pond that is still on this property, and slid under the ice. Rex helped pull him out, and Dick walked home with frozen pants.
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