McDonald Studio: the house of 1861, and its 165 years

1861–2026 — Albert J. McDonald, his son, and the Patnaudes

The founder: Albert J. McDonald was born in Rochester, New York, in 1841, came to South Bend at nineteen, and in 1861 purchased the photograph studio that carries his name still. The county biography of 1893 records that he "has followed the business ever since," and the record bears it out: the Indiana Photographers Project's harvested file catches him in directories and newspapers in 1861, 1863, 1864 and 1866, and across 1879 to 1895. In 1867 he advertised at Barrett's Building on Michigan Street, taking "pictures of every desired size and style at his new rooms"; by 1875 he stood at 107 and 109 Michigan Street, billed as successor to Paul Beckwith. He was a member of the National Photographic Association — the trade's national body carried his name in the Philadelphia Photographer of August 1870 — and he advertised like a man competing: "Having secured the services of one of the finest operators and retouchers in the west," his notice in the Tribune of 3 March 1886 runs, "I am better prepared than ever before to turn out fine work." His obituary in the South Bend News-Times of 14 June 1917 — he died at his summer home at Diamond Lake on the Tuesday night before, 12 June, "of old age" — counts forty-one years in the profession and names his successor: his son, E. C. McDonald, the Edwin McDonald of the later studio record.

The succession: The studio's course after the founder rests on the house's own tradition, recorded by the Indiana Photographers Project from a telephone conversation of 2 November 1993 with the studio's then owner, and it is printed here as that tradition, at that strength. Albert had the first ground-floor studio in the city, at the southwest corner of Michigan and Wayne; it was torn down about 1920. Mr. Rode, who had worked for McDonald, owned the studio from about 1910 to 1929; an owner whose name the notes do not legibly carry held it from 1929 to 1933; Thompsett owned it during the Second World War years; and the man giving the account bought it in 1946. A fire in 1959 ruined the studio's negatives — which is why the founding house's own early archive does not survive to be counted among the city's collections. The 1946 buyers were Raymond F. Patnaude and his wife Beulah. Their son David Patnaude and his wife Ann joined the business in 1975. In September 2026, David and Ann Patnaude announced their retirement, and on 5 October 2026 Representative Rudy Yakym III rose in the House to honor "McDonald Studio of South Bend, Indiana, the longest-operating photography studio in our state" — his words, printed here as his claim — noting the Patnaudes' eighty years of ownership and the studio's one hundred sixty-five. The Tribune had taken the founder's measure once before, in a retrospective of 16 May 1937 titled "The Old Family Album." A city that keeps a portrait studio for 165 years has, in effect, a single continuous witness; the 1959 fire means the witness's memory is the sitting books and the prints in family hands, not a negative archive.

Sources:

1. Pictorial and Biographical Memoirs of Elkhart and St. Joseph Counties (Goodspeed, 1893), pp. 394–395 — born Rochester, 1841; came at nineteen; purchased the studio in 1861; "followed the business ever since."
2. South Bend News-Times, 14 June 1917, p. 2 — the obituary: died Tuesday night at Diamond Lake; forty-one years in the profession; succeeded by his son E. C. McDonald.
3. Philadelphia Photographer, August 1870, p. 291 — McDonald's membership in the National Photographic Association.
4. South Bend Tribune, 3 March 1886, p. 1 — his advertisement ("one of the finest operators and retouchers in the west"); and Tribune, 16 May 1937, "The Old Family Album."
5. Indiana Album / Indiana Photographers Project, PersonData record for Albert J. McDonald (indianaalbum.com) — the directory and newspaper dates; the Barrett's Building and 107 & 109 Michigan addresses; and the notes of the 2 November 1993 telephone conversation with the studio's owner: the ground-floor studio at Michigan and Wayne, the Rode and Thompsett successions, the unnamed 1929–33 owner, the 1946 purchase, and the 1959 fire.
6. Congressional Record, vol. 172, no. 157, 5 October 2026 (govinfo.gov) — Hon. Rudy Yakym III, "Honoring 165 Years of McDonald Studio in South Bend": "the longest-operating photography studio in our state"; Raymond F. and Beulah Patnaude bought it in 1946; David and Ann joined in 1975; the September 2026 retirement announcement.