CDV, Ella Hill

No photographer's studio mark on the back of this nineteenth century carte de visite, just the name "Ella Hill" written in pencil. To see other CDV's and read a brief overview of the history of the carte de visite, click on CDV or carte de visite in the labels section.

Another CDV From C. C. Shadle

Most of the carte de visites I own were purchased when I first started collecting photographs and most are from my home state of Pennsylvania. C.C. Shadle was born in 1817 and learned photography at the age of 45, around 1862. After working as an engineer for three years, he opened a photography studio in Apollo, Pennsylvania, (My home town.) around about 1865, the year that the Civil War ended. He then set up a studio in Tarentum, PA, and then moved to Kittanning, (The town where I was born.) in 1869. For more detailed information on the life of C. C. Shadle go to www.freepages.geneology.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~treasures/pa/.../ccshadle.pdf Written on the back, "Nancy's Grand Pa." Stamped on the back, "C. C. SHADLE, Photographer, TARENTUM, Penna."

Another Frazier Carte de Visite

I'm running low on the cache of CDVs and I may have to start keeping an eye open for some other interesting ones for the blog. This one should have gone with an earlier post of carte de visites of the Frazier family (Posted 9/17/10) , but when going through things I missed the connection. Written on the back, "Ann and Amos Bonner who took Harry Frazier when he was 3 months old and raised him until he was 8 years old." Ann is bigger than Amos, not just more volume, but taller, and she has a somewhat masculine face. They must have been an interesting couple.

Pace Krider, Carte de Visite

Written on the back, in pencil, "Yours Truly Pace Krider 1875." Carte de visites were often given as calling cards, as the name implies. With the greeting and date, this gent, no doubt a veteran of the civil war, very likely left this CDV as a calling card. For more information on the history of the carte de visite, click on CDV or carte de visite in the label section. Stamped on the back, "FROM ROSHON & RICHIE'S GALLERY, SELLINGSGROVE, PA. The negative from which this Picture was printed will be preserved. Duplicate copies can be had at any time, at $1.00 per half dozen." One of these days, I'm going to find an intact archive of glass negatives shot to size for contact prints used to make carte de visites. There could be thousands all boxed up in some body's attic just waiting to be discovered.

Carte de Visite, From Peru, Iowa

I'm getting through the cache of old carte de visites that I recently found in an old box in the closet. This one is from the studios of B. C. Daily of Peru, Iowa, and probably dates from around the Civil War to the 1870s. Peru is an unincorporated community in Madison County, Iowa. The town had a post office that opened on April 18, 1853 that closed for good on September 14, 1903. A sure sign of a town in decline, when the post office closes.

A Masonic CDV

I haven't suddenly gone crazy for the carte de visite. It's just that, in sorting through some old boxes, I found a cache of them and almost all of them are from my early days of collecting from when I was living in Pennsylvania, and when I first started collecting I put too much emphasis on age. I liked this one because of the Masonic symbols on the back of the card.

A Third Creighton?

In the last two posts, I've put up CDVs of Kate Creighton, who I think is the mother of Louise Creighton, featured in the second of the two Creighton collections. Is this a third Creighton? This portrait is labeled "Kate Creighton" but the hair is straight and a different color. I thought it might have been mislabeled, but the chin shape differs from Louise and is much closer to Kate. There is a third possibility. While it is far more common for sons to named after fathers, it's not unheard of to name a daughter for a mother. The one thing that I'm curious about is that this young lady has pierced ears. Nothing decorative about the photographers stamp on this one, so I didn't bother to scan it in. "JOHN P. ORR. Photographer, 4 doors East of Lowery House, Jefferson Street, BUTLER, PA"

Louise Creighton, the Daughter

In my last post, I put up a CDV of Kate Creighton, a young woman who I think was very likely the mother of Louise Creighton, the subject of this post. Kate had her picture taken in Philadelphia, PA, while Louise had hers done in western Pennsylvania. The oval photograph with the water stains along the edges was taken at the Mammoth Gallery, McIntire & Co. studio from Butler, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. The clean oval, and what seems to be the middle image in age range, was from Triece's in Blairsville, PA, east of Pittsburgh. And finally, H. Bishop from Pittsburgh, itself. And no, it's not a misprint. There was a time in the 19th century when Pittsburgh lost the H.

Kate Creighton, the Mother

I have five images of the Creighton family, this one of the mother and three more of the daughter which will be posted within the next couple of days, and a wild card mystery image. This carte de visite was taken by a photographer in Philadelphia. The child, taken at three different ages was taken by three different photographers in three different communities in western Pennsylvania.

Carte de Visite, CDV With Hat

This CDV was rather crudely made. I used the scanner to square up the image, but the actual picture, an albumen print, was trimmed out with a very ragged edge, and then pasted, off center, on the card. Unlike the Daguerreotype and ambrotype, carte de visites were cheap to produce, and made it possible for lower income people to have their picture taken and for a young man on the make to get into a non labor profession for a small up front investment. The high collar makes the subject look very statue like, at least to me.

The Fraziers

I've found a number old carte de visites in my boxes, and here are some more. Written in pencil on the back of these CDVs, "Margret Ellen Frazier," and "Uncle Phil Frazier." Stamped on the back of the Margret Ellen portrait, "LAWYER'S GALLERY 21 Fifth Street, Pittsburgh. Duplicates can be had of this for one year No. 8148 SPECIALTY: Pictures enlarged and colored in Oil." Got to be from the Civil War era. My guess is that the woman is holding a book, maybe a Bible.

Another Carte de Visite

In my last post, I went into the history of the carte de visite, and if interested, scroll back one. No fancy calligraphy on the back, so I won't scan it in, but there is a photographer's mark, LINGO, UNIONTOWN, PENNA." My guess is that these two young boys are either professional entertainers or that they are wearing some sort of ethnic costume.

Carte de Visite, CDV, C.C. Shadle

In the first half of the nineteenth century, it was considered good manners to arrive with a visiting card, made of a heavy stock, with the visitors name printed out in a decorative script. But, that all changed in 1854 when French photographer, Andre Adolphe Disderi patented the carte de visite, an albumen print pasted on a heavy card stock sized to 4.5x6.5 inches. The size was chosen to be that of the visiting card, and it soon became the accepted thing to do to go with a photographic visiting card rather than one with fancy calligraphy. Soon a craze in Europe, by 1860, the first year of the Civil War, it had spread to the United States. With the war and the mass movement of people across the battle field, carte de visites became a way of sending photos home and to receive photos of family and friends in return. Unlike the daguerreotype or the ambrotype, which were printed on glass, the carte de visite could be sent through the mail without danger of breakage. Soon photo studios were selling carte de visites of celebrities. Both Lincoln and prominent actor John Wilkes Booth were big sellers. Since the carte was a standard size, it also became popular as an album photo. Collectors anywhere in the world could put carte de visites of family, friends, and famous in easily purchased albums designed with slots for the carte's standard size. While the carte de visite would remain in use for over two decades, it's popularity would be eclipsed in the early 1870s by the larger cabinet card. Also an albumen print pasted on heavy card stock. These two images are of the same young man, taken at the C. C. Shadle studio in Kittaning, PA.