Portret van Corry Mak van Waay-Zulver en Wilhelmina van Zijll de Jong met een hond 1930 - 1935

This anonymous black and white photograph depicts Corry Mak van Waay-Zulver and Wilhelmina van Zijll de Jong with a dog. This image is ripe with social and cultural historical information. Given the fashions worn by the women, and the typical garden setting, we might speculate that this photograph was taken in the Netherlands sometime in the 1920s or 30s. The women's matching outfits point to the social conditions of the time. What do we know about their social standing? Were they wealthy? Did they work? Were they in a relationship? The answers to these questions would provide a richer understanding of the image. Careful archival research could reveal not just the sitters’ identities, but also their politics, and the specific conditions in which the picture was produced. This is how the apparently mute image becomes a revealing historical document.