numbers Mr Davis had difficulty making a living from photography and took on other roles – being elected to the Municipal Board of Apia in December 1879 , becoming supervisor of the board in February 1880 , and Inspector of Police and Nuisances in April . Ironically , there are no known photographs of Davis ( and only three or four of Tattersall ).
In 1885 Davis branched out into postal operations , becoming the postmaster of the Apia Municipality , and then from December 1886 Postmaster of Samoa , upon appointment by King Malietoa . The employment of Alfred Tattersall , who arrived from Auckland at the end of 1886 , was no doubt made necessary by Davis ’ concentration thereafter on his postal work . It is probable that the greater part of the photography that issued from the Davis Studio from then until Davis ’ death in 1903 was taken by Tattersall .
One of the photographic trends that enabled Apia to support a fulltime photographic studio was the boom in the popularity of postcards , a postal innovation which originated in Germany in the 1890 ’ s .
ingredients of novelty to recipients in the more westernised world .
According to philatelist Don Mee , postal auctions show evidence of cards being sent from Samoa from the mid-1890 ’ s . Printers in Luxembourg and Germany dominated the production of postcards for Samoa in the first few decades , and after 1903 these were often produced under contract for Mr Tattersall . Even when his brand was missing from Samoan postcards issued in this period more often than not it was his photographs that featured on them , even if uncredited .
Alfred purchased the business from the Davis estate at the start of 1904 , changed its name , and pushed it vigorously into the booming postcard trade . He appears to have arranged for production of his cards in Dresden and Berlin , and they were often printed with German language advertisements and branding on them .
Florence Rasmussen Funck Collection , Photographer Alfred Tattersall
The more exotic the locale the more enthusiastic were tourists to scoop up cards at ports of call and post them to friends and family at home . Not just the scenes but the rare postage stamps provided
Blanche Tattersall and her sons Herbert ‘ Bert ’ Tattersall ( left ) and Ralph Tattersall , circa 1910 .
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