100 years ago today – Baby Photographer

100 years ago today, regular readers of the Pomona, California newspapers would not have been surprised to see another ad for photographer Lily Wiltberger’s studio in newspaper. After all, Miss Wiltberger’s ads had been appearing regularly several times a week all throughout 1924:

Actually, Miss L. Wiltberger had been regularly running ads for her studio ever since she first opened her “Little White House Studio” in Pomona in the early 1900s. For example, here’s an ad from 1906:

Born in Kentucky in 1868, Lily Wiltberger in lived in Illinois until she was in her early 30s, living for the most part near Chicago. She started doing photography in Illinois, and didn’t move to California until 1903. For decades prior to that, she’d been alone with just her mother Lydia; Lily’s father, Egbert, died at only age 38 in 1876. Tragically, Lily’s older sister, Emma, died at only 17 years old just a year later.

But as an adult, Lily makes a living from photography. As I mentioned, she first gets notice in national publications when she’s still in Illinois; fittingly, the photos I found of her are of a young girl, as her advertising from the beginning promotes her as a specialist for “baby” photography:

But in 1903, Lily and her mother make the move to California, looking for a better climate, apparently. At least that seems to be why they moved, judging by her comments in this 1910 interview:

“My opinion of the Pomona valley climate as a resource,” says Miss Wilberger, the woman photographer who has for six years conducted the Little White House Studio at 543 North Gordon, in answer to the query of a Review representative, “is the very highest. I am from Chicago, but I would not go back for any consideration. One’s health and business are far better here than there. Here one can sleep out-of-doors, eat outof-doors, work out of doors. The glory of its climate counteracts all the other allurements of my old home.” – excerpt from article in The Pomona Daily Review, October 14, 1910

Miss Wiltberger was a big believer in the power of advertising. In 1924 alone, her ads appear frequently – more than once per week in some weeks. I have wondered if she got a great deal on buying a year’s worth of advertising, or something in 1924. While she mostlly her ads were simple (like the one that appeared on December 31, 1924), she occasionally used more complex ones. Here’s one of my favorites of those from 1924:

I also like this one from 1927:

As I mentioned, Lily Wiltberg advertised throughout her decades-long career, and they weren’t always as simple as the onlyeHere’s one from 1931 celebrating 26 years in business (though shouldn’t it have been celebrating more than 26 years, since according to the 1927 ad she open her studio in Pomona in 1903!).

I’m not exactly certain when Lily retires, since — surprisingly to me — there’s no mention of it in any newspaper I could find. However, Lily retires before the 1940 census is taken, since she doesn’t list any occupation for herself in the census that year. But, I think it is safe to say, since she stared doing photography some time in the 1890s, that by the time she retires she had probably been a professional photographer for about 40 years. Wow.

Lily Wiltberger died in California in 1946 at the age of 78, active to the very end with various church groups, according to the notices in the newspaper.

Anyway, getting back to 1924, that was the year that Lily Wiltberger was, at least impressionistically, the female photographer who most consistently advertised during the year. So, it seems somewhat fitting to mark the end of 2024 with an ad from Miss Wiltberg’s studio that appeared 100 years ago today.