Photography and Genealogy Research Page

Photography & Abraham Israel Kiek

The stamp on the back of the picture of Ulbe Jobs FABER indicates the picture was taken in the studio of A. I. Kiek.

Carla Divinsky writes: "A. I. Kiek is probably Abraham Israel Kiek. His father was a pioneer in photography in Leiden, the Netherlands. His sons followed in his footsteps but a few years after their father died the business was stopped in 1899. ABRAHAM KIEK was in Leeuwarden but ended up as a director in the Orphanage in Rotterdam."

Frans van Lieshout Hillegom

Hillegom writes: "I have just admired the ancient photo of Messrs. Kiek in Leeuwarden. I seem te remember a nice story about the name 'Kiek'. If memory serves me right, this old firm and their very popular photographs have enriched in their time Dutch language with a new word: 'kiekjes', i.e. small photo's, which is still a popular word nowadays.

In the building of the Algemeen Rijks Archief (ARA) in the Hague, just opposite of the Central Station, there is the Iconografisch Bureau, which specializes in old photo's and could tell you more about a number of Dutch photographers of the early years of Photography. Also there is the 'Prentenkabinet' in Leiden who have an enormous amount of expertise in the field of old photo's. It seems there exists a book which describes the way to analyze the aprox. date of the photo by looking at thickness of the paper and other such like parameters. It is one of those things I'll have to do myself with some 1860-photo's, made by the gggfather of my wife.

Btw, the presentation of the inscription on the front is not quite correct; it is 'overleden' (=deceased), not 'overladen'(=overloaded) :) I'm afraid aforementioned photoshop will be out of business in the meantime."