On the way home from work yesterday, I showed a friend of mine the name on the back of the photo, and he was so insistent that it was “Fred L. Farmer” that he spent the rest of the evening sending me links about the man.
 
According to various sources (with screenshots in the image below), Fred L. Farmer was born in 1878, which means that he was a professional photographer at the age of 18 (his age is confirmed by a listing in an 1897 Duluth High School Yearbook). Or he may have been an amateur photographer who bought a stamp with his name and address (a professional may have made other choices that would have led to a sharper and better lit photograph). 
 
Mr. Farmer seems to have gone on to become a prominent Duluth business man, including being one of the three founders of the company that built Duluth’s Holland Hotel:

I originally thought it would be impossible to identify the baby in the photo, but if the writing on the left is indeed 5 weeks and 6 days, and the writing in the middle is Oct-4-96, we know the birthday of the baby: August 24, 1896. And if that is a gown, how many baby girls were born on August 24, 1896 in Duluth? At least one - Elizabeth L. Hewins.
 
There's no way to be certain, but a brief search on the internet suggests that she came from a wealthy family that would most likely have lived in a house with well made furniture and had the money to pay for all the photographs in the background.

I acknowledge that whether the baby is a boy or a girl can’t be determined from the photo -- and it seems as though there was at least one other baby born in Duluth on Aug. 24, 1896 (Ethel P. Roff), but an at least plausible circumstantial case exists for the baby in the photo being Elizabeth Hewins.
 
Her father was Parke Woodbury Hewins, still known today as the composer of "America the Beautiful." He was also a Harvard graduate and medical doctor. In an alumni update in 1901, he wrote about his time in Duluth:
 
"In 1894 I was occupied as in 1893, until the 20th of October, when I took up my residence in Duluth, Minn. In 1895 I came east, and was married June 6 to Miss Jessie Maria Warner, at Union Church, Columbus Avenue, Boston, by the Rev. Nehemiah Boynton. In order to look after business interests in the Northwest, we settled in Duluth, Minn., where we lived till June, 1898. August 24, 1896, in Duluth, a daughter, Elizabeth Lottie Hewins, was born, who is still living. 
 
"In 1897 and 1898 I had opportunities to inspect the whole northern region of the State of Minnesota ; visited the mining towns of Tower, Ely, McKinley, Ribbing, Virginia City, all in the Lake Vermillion district and on the Mesaba Range ; also made a few interesting hunting and fishing trips to camps at Deerwood, Minn., and Gordon, Wis. Four years' life in Duluth had its many lessons and experiences: mercantile, religious, political, and ethnological. My business took me to St. Paul and Minneapolis, and occasionally as far south as Sioux City, la., where our company still has large interests. In 1899 I again resumed my residence in the East, satisfied to remain in New England, although my relations with the western country were very pleasant and profitable."
 
Elizabeth Hewins never married and passed away in 1987 in Massachusetts. Her estate made a donation to the local historical society consisting mainly of a large collection of photographs, including photos of the Congdon family from the time her father lived in Duluth. 
 
Collection of Hewins Estate Materials Wellesley Historical Society 
 
So Parke Hewins was a medical doctor (who would be likely to have access to a scale designed specifically for weighing babies) with an extensive photography collection and a child born on the exact date that seems to be indicated by the photograph. He had connections to the most prominent of Duluth families and the photo in question was taken by the son of a Duluth pioneer. 
 
I may not be entirely convinced myself, but this photo having been a part of the Hewins photography collection seems like a pretty likely possibility.