Hidden Treasures in the Civil War Era Photo Album

Continental Ferrotype Company

 Still working on my wonderful Civil War Era Photo Album which I've labeled as SUTTON

After the CDVs and tintypes were removed from the album I  found some very early photographer logos (that's another passion of mine - the artwork and design changes in photographer's logos over the years),  CDVs with dated revenue stamps and best of all - a photographer's double sided advertisement paper glued to the back of the CDV. 

I've never seen a double-sided paper advertisement on a CDV before. The photographer has his details on the left, and he's apparently accepted money from other establishments to place their ads on the right side.

This photographer lists himself as the Continental Ferrotype Company on Church Street in Burlington Vermont.  Ferrotypes are commonly referred to as tintypes and they were introduced in the United States in 1855.  I haven't researched this company yet but I will.

After the photographs have been removed, I scan each one, front and back. I like to use my Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner for this stage because it's fast and easy.

Eventually my husband scans all the photos on his HP Scanjet 8300 scanner at a very high resolution (600)  in .tif format so that we can offer best quality reproductions to those who want a copy.

But for my immediate purpose (publishing the photos online) the Flip-Pal Mobile Scanner does a great job and thus works well for me.

After scanning I'm ready to start researching the family and study the photos. This is the stage I love most - seeing the women in their beautiful elaborate gowns, imagining their daily lives, and placing family members together is magical.

This is one of the hidden CDVs that was tucked between two others. Since it was between the first and second CDVs in the album I gave it the designation SUT-1a

The photographer is identified as MOULTHROP and his business is located in the Phoenix Building on Chapel St. in New Haven Connecticut.


 This is where I start to get side-tracked. I like to search these photographers. It helps to date a photograph by finding out when the photographer was in business. Besides, I'm just curious!


A search for Moulthrop reveals that he was known as Major Moulthrop and was (1805-1890) Born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1805, dying there in 1890. Before becoming a photographer, he was a landscape and portrait painter. He had a photography business in New Haven his entire life.




Finding one identified person in a census record almost always links several identified photos together. Entire families are revealed! I don't need to be related to the families to gain great pleasure from seeing their faces and understanding who was married to who, who the family groups are and so on.

SUT-1a

After all my fun in studying every little detail of the photos, and researching the families is done, I  place the photos in archival storage sheets in archival binders and add the scans to my Lost Faces website. Hopefully descendants will find my site and enjoy discovering an ancestor or two. My fun might be over but the real fun is just starting!

I'll list the names and locations for each photo in this Civil War era photo album in my next blog post.