The collection consists of one commercially produced photograph album, with 25 thick pages allowing two mounted photographs per page, each page with an instrinsic framing device. The photographs are chiefly portraits, mostly photographic prints but also including some commercially produced photographs from professional studios. Included are images of soldiers in uniform, and portraits of men, women, children and infants in period clothes, generally of the Civil War Era, 1860 through the 1870s; there is one fanciful print of George Washington surrounded by Freemasonry iconography. The album allows frames for 50 photographs, and 45 of the slots are filled. Commercial prints are identiified on the verso. Some of the photographs are dated; a few have two- or three-cents stamps affixed to the verso. A few of the images are tintypes, and a few cartes-de-visite . The album has a title page, Photograph album, and is bound in tooled leather with a pair of locking clasps with gilt title on spine.
In Historical Collections and Labor Archives, University Libraries, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (#HCLA 9612).
Source of Acquisition
Gift of Diana R. Dunn, 2014
Biographical or Historical Sketch
The American Civil War was a time of growing popularity for the developing art of photography. The process still required heavy equipment for taking the photograph and dangerous chemicals to develop the print, but the unprecedented realism of the medium held great appeal to the public and created a burgeoning market for prints. In addition to Civil War photographers, many working under the direction of Matthew Brady, studios opened in many towns, making it possible to produce portraits of family and friends, as well as offering prints of famous figures for sale.
