Category: Photographs

  • Cabinet Cards

    Cabinet cards are photographs mounted on stiff pieces of cardboard. They were introduced in the 1860s and gradually superseded the smaller carte de visite format.The front of the card is usually printed or embossed with the photographer’s details, and the back of the cabinet card is often printed with elaborate designs Cabinet cards with scalloped…

  • Carte de Visite

    A carte de visite is a photograph mounted on a piece of card the size of a formal visiting card—hence the name. The format was patented by the French photographer Andre Adolphe Eugene Disdéri (1819–89) in 1854. Realising that there was a market for a process which could produce a large number of prints very…

  • Tintypes

    A tintype is a direct positive with a lacquered iron support, collodion binder layer, and silver image layer. Tintypes are most commonly found in the carte-de-visite size (approx. 2 ½” × 4″ to 4 ¼” ), although they were also produced in smaller sizes. Most tintypes can be thought of as an underexposed image having…

  • Alta Leet

    Sometimes serendipity plays a role in collections. Acquired this cabinet card. On the reverse is handwritten “Alta Leet”. The photographer information was JT Strouse, Ithaca MI. Some searching on genealogy sites found Alta Leet was born in Ithaca MI on 8/6/1884. She was married in 1901 and her husband died in 1904. She moved to…