History & local legend
At Williamsport's Thomas T. Taber Museum, a portrait of three-year-old Nellie Tallman carries a story of a father's loss and a painting that would not stay on the wall. Nellie was the daughter of artist John Tallman and his wife, Louisa. On December 5, 1870, she fell from the stool on which she was posing for her father and died from her injuries. John finished the portrait as a memorial.
According to the museum's account, the picture repeatedly fell from its place in the Tallman home and was eventually put away in an attic. The trouble was said to follow it to the museum. A car struck the building on the portrait's first night there, knocking it down. Later, staff reportedly found the painting on a sofa after leaving it hanging in the Victorian Parlor.
The museum eventually placed Nellie's portrait opposite a work by Severin Roesen, the painter who had taught her father. In the story told about the collection, that arrangement finally persuaded the picture to stay in place.
