Wallace Nutting advertised this picture for sale in his 1915 Expansible Sales catalog on page 478. A hard-to-find picture in original, as intended condition. Let me explain. This picture is almost identical to, The Coming Out of Rosa, studio # 2530. The only difference is in the posture of the two models. If you look closely at the two close-up views below you will notice that when you compare the close-up of "Wavering Footsteps" on the left, to the close-up of, "The Coming Out of Rosa" on the right, the right foot of little Rosa is positioned to take a step forward. Presumably, why Nutting titled this picture, "Wavering Footsteps." Other minor differences is the position of little Rosa in relationship to the door jamb behind her, the lowered left arm of little Rosa and the positioning of the shawl at the waist of the woman model.

Above, I said "Wavering Footsteps" was a hard-to-find picture in "original, as intended condition." What I mean to say is that if you have this picture mounted on a signed mat with the title "Wavering Footsteps" you have a hard-to-find piece that serious collectors would love to add to their collection. But what I have found several times is that the picture, "Wavering Footsteps" was mounted on a signed mat with the title "The Coming Out of Rosa." In fact, Wallace Nutting illustrated this picture in the second edition of 'Massachusetts Beautiful' on page 96 with the title, "The Coming Out Of Rosa." This has baffled me for years. How, or why, would Wallace Nutting make this mistake. Was the confusion between the two photographs so widespread that even Wallace Nutting failed to notice when he illustrated "Wavering Footsteps" in Massachusetts Beautiful," second edition.

This mix up could be explained in any one of several ways. One explanation could be that the dark room technician working in the Nutting Studio retrieved the wrong master plate, (Wavering Footsteps, #2531, and "The Coming Out of Rosa," #2530, would have been next to each other on the storage rack). Or it's possible the head colorist failed to recognize the difference between the two pictures and applied the title, "The Coming Out of Rosa" to almost all that passed her desk. Either scenerio is plausible.

In my opinion, to have a "Wavering Footsteps" photograph mounted on a mat titled "The Coming Out of Rosa" would not necessarily be rare but more of a novelty item. This is still the most popular series Wallace Nutting produced.

Other photographs from this series are:

"The Red Shawl, #2503" The lady is wearing a red shawl over her shoulders.
"Roses And A Bud, #2529" The lady and young Rosa are at the lower left of the picture walking towards the steps.
The Coming Out of Rosa, #2530 Rosa and her mother are standing on the porch.
"Watching For Papa, #2532" This picture shows Rosa and the lady walking away from the porch.
"Childhood Wiles, #2535" This is identical to "Watching for Papa" #2532 except that it shows Rosa standing off to the left facing the lady, who has her back to the camera.
"Posing, #2536" Young Rosa is sitting on a chair under the arch or roses.

Wallace Nutting also made two unpublished photographs and a portrait of Ms Codding that have descended in her family with the red shawl and dress that she wore.

A great deal is now known about this very popular series of "Rosa" pictures thanks to the efforts of Justine and George Monro, founders of the Wallace Nutting Collectors Club. Their interest in this picture led them, along with Louis MacKeil of the Saugus Historical Society, to the house which still stands in North Attleboro, MA. The child was two-year old Elizabeth Sturdy Blackington, who lived in this house and died a year after this picture was taken. The woman is Mildred Codding, who was selected as a subject by Wallace Nutting because of her dark hair.