Identifying Ancestor Photos: Cartes de Visite

Genealogists often have old family photos in their possession or they find some in Great Aunt Matilda's attic. But how do we know when the photograph was taken? One method is to determine what type of photograph it is

Photography arrived in the United States in 1839 thanks to Samuel F. B. Morse, an American artist and inventor. The earliest type is the Daguerreotype. Ambrotypes followed, coming into use circa 1854. By 1860 Cartes de Visite (CDVs) were becoming popular.

Cartes de Visite

Cartes de Visite are photographs mounted on a small (4x2.5") cardboard card. They became extremely popular as a method of collecting photographs of friends and family members to place in elaborate albums. A CDV could be easily duplicated in contrast to the earlier daguerreotypes and ambrotypes.

Estimating Dates of a CDV

Early 1860s CDVs have square corners. By 1870 many had rounded corners. The thinner the cardboard backing, the earlier the Cartes de Visite. Photographers logos, found on the verso (back) of the CDV also began to change, becoming more elaborate in later years.

Examples of Cartes de Visite

 

1877 Cartes de Visite, round corners

1864 CDV

 

1872 CDV with round corners

  

CDV 1872

  

1871 CDV

 

Learn More about Cartes de Visite

Watch my video on Five Types of Early 19th Century Photographs

Read more about Cartes de Visite on my Lost Faces website

Identifying Ancestor Photos: Cartes de Visite

Genealogists often have old family photos in their possession or they find some in Great Aunt Matilda's attic. But how do we know when the photograph was taken? One method is to determine what type of photograph it is

Photography arrived in the United States in 1839 thanks to Samuel F. B. Morse, an American artist and inventor. The earliest type is the Daguerreotype. Ambrotypes followed, coming into use circa 1854. By 1860 Cartes de Visite (CDVs) were becoming popular.

Cartes de Visite

Cartes de Visite are photographs mounted on a small (4x2.5") cardboard card. They became extremely popular as a method of collecting photographs of friends and family members to place in elaborate albums. A CDV could be easily duplicated in contrast to the earlier daguerreotypes and ambrotypes.

Estimating Dates of a CDV

Early 1860s CDVs have square corners. By 1870 many had rounded corners. The thinner the cardboard backing, the earlier the Cartes de Visite. Photographers logos, found on the verso (back) of the CDV also began to change, becoming more elaborate in later years.

Examples of Cartes de Visite

 

1877 Cartes de Visite, round corners

1864 CDV

 

1872 CDV with round corners

  

CDV 1872

  

1871 CDV

 

Learn More about Cartes de Visite

Watch my video on Five Types of Early 19th Century Photographs

Read more about Cartes de Visite on Lost Faces website

Research team uncovers lost images from the 19th century

As many of my readers know, I'm an avid collector of 19th century photographs. My website Lost Faces has published images of my collection of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes, as well as the cartes de visite and cabinet cards that I rescue from antique stores and flea markets.

Many times I pass on purchasing an old photo because it is so badly damaged it is almost unrecognizable. But that might change!

A team of scientists led by Western University in London Ontario learned how to use light to see through degradation in daguerreotypes, a form of photography popular in the early 1800s. Daguerreotypes came into being in 1839 and were the earliest type of photography.

The team of scientists used two daguerreotypes from the 1850s that were damaged beyond recognition of the subjects. They could see one was a woman, the other a man but no details were visible.

The original Daguerreotype

The Daguerreotype after the process

Read more at Research team uncovers lost images from the 19th century

Philetus Sawyer Family Photo Album

8. May Eugenia Ellsworth
taken circa 1864-1866

The Philetus Sawyer Family Photo Album from the Civil War era is now online on my Lost Faces website. I rescued this album several years ago and am delighted to present it today for all to enjoy freely.

It consists of 50 gorgeous cartes de visite (CDVs) in the 1860s such as the beautiful child on the left.

Be sure to check out all the photos I have rescued at Lost Faces.

Preservation of a Lost Faces Album Part 4

Please see Part 1 , Part 2 and Part 3 for the start of this process of how I rescue, archive, and publish on Lost Faces antique photo albums I save from disappearing.

After I remove all the photos from the album, and notate on the verso (back) of each photo in pencil, it's time to scan and store them in acid-free containers.

My husband scans the front of each image. If he has time he also scans the verso so that I have a record of the photographers' logos and addresses. He works with a flatbed scanner in jpg format at a resolution suitable for publishing online. Resolution and format are important and the better quality image you require means you need higher resolution and a better file format. jpg is used when small file size is more important than maximum image quality such as my use on the Lost Faces website.

Here is a good explanation of types of file formats you can use when scanning, and the pros and cons of each. 

My storage boxes from pfile.com

Once my husband has scanned all the photos, I place them in acid-free "sleeves" and store them as a unit (an entire photo album) in acid-free boxes. I used to store them in acid-free binders for ease of looking through the photos but as my collection of rescued photographs grew, that system became too cumbersome. 

Using the boxes instead of binders has other positive effects. I can easily open a box and sort photos by years or fashion choices or hair styles or genres. Because I have the photo album number and photo number notated on the verso I will never lose the place where any particular photo belongs.

Last item is uploading and publishing these gorgeous rescued ancestral photographs online on Lost Faces.

 

So Many Goodies Coming to Lost Faces Photo Albums!

Look what arrived yesterday! Yep, another rescued antique photo album! Number 81.....and yes, it will be going online on my Lost Faces website ASAP.

I can't resist these beautiful albums with identified photos inside. They're never my ancestors but I still am driven to save them from being lost and forgotten.

I finally had a chance to unpack this album today and believe me, it was hard to wait. I'm like a kid at Christmas with these gorgeous albums chock full of family memories and treasures.

It's easy to picture what the album looked like when new. It would have been gleaming, clean and shiny. Imagine the family's excitement (or more likely the wife's excitement) when she bought it to put her treasured photos in.

Just look at this beauty! I am always so anxious to get going on the photgraphs - the CDVs, cabinet cards and tintypes, but I force myself to go slow. My first step is always to document the album and the order of photos inside, with camera pictures. That can help identify any photos that do not have names on them.

So I had a sneak peek and took a few camera photos to start the process. Let me share those with you.

 first page. It is empty but the name of the person whose photo was originally there is intact. That helps put together family groups and identify the family who may have originally owned the photo album. This empty page has the inscription  And the hunt is on! I'm so curious - who was Aunt Mariah? And was her husband's name really Whittier? It is difficult to read and I'm hoping that getting further into the album will reveal if I've managed to decipher it correctly.

The next page was just as intriguing. The photo slot was empty but written on the album page was "Aunt Hattie White's child" When oh when will I get to that ingriguing photo peeking out on the right? That was all I had time for today but tomorrow I will be back at the puzzle and continue with taking my camera photos and carefully documenting the album.

Please see Part 1 and Part 2 for the start of this process of how I rescue, archive, and publish on Lost Faces antique photo albums I save from disappearing.

Don't Miss My New Website Lost Faces!

Sarah (Page) Simpson 1840-1920

When I was about 11 years old, my grandmother gave me this photo of her grandmother (my great-great-grandmother), Sarah Simpson. Grandma told me it was taken in Ramsgate England sometime in the 1890s.

I was fascinated - she wore such a beautiful ornate hair piece! The gorgeous blouse or dress thrilled me with its ruffles and high collar. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that I had part of this fine lady in me, in my blood and my genes.

I learned a lot about Sarah - widowed at the young age of 34, and pregnant with her 5th child, she was forced to work as a charwoman to feed her children. 

Not only did that spur me on to delving deeper into my British side of my family, it also sparked an immediate love of antique photos of ancestors. I thought about their lives - were they happy? Did they enjoy the same things I enjoyed? Did they get angry, or cry at the loss of a family pet. Yes those are the odd things I thought about as a youngster.

This early fascination with ancestors and photographs that captured one brief moment in their lives led to my determination to rescue and preserve as many old photos as possible. Several years ago I began purchasing entire albums of named photographs (Cartes de Visite and tintypes mostly) from the Civil War era, and offering scans of the photos to interested descendants. My dream was to one day publish them all online for genealogists to freely copy for their own personal use.

A few of my rescued Ambrotypes & Daguerreotypes

I am excited to announce my dream has come to fruition. Several years ago I was able to purchase the domain name "Lost Faces" from a woman who no longer wanted it.

This year I completed scanning and uploading approximately half of the precious albums I have rescued over the years. Every album is online with a description, a list of names, and at least a few photos from the album.

 There are 81 albums online at this point, and approximately half are complete, meaning all the photos in the albums are online for visitors to enjoy. Most albums have 50 photographs so you can see that is a lot of photos for visitors to enjoy and hopefully find an ancestor or two!

1916 Ramsgate England

As well as these wonderful album photographic treasures, Lost Faces contains dozens of single photos of groups - sports teams, class photos, and more. I also have vintage postcards for your enjoyment, and explanations of various early photograph types such as Cartes de Visite, Cabinet Cards, Tintypes, Ambrotypes, and Daguerreotypes. To top it all off I've added some brief tutorials on dating photographs through fashion, hairstyles, photographer marks and more.

Enjoy your visit to Lost Faces and feel free to download any photos for your own personal use. The only thing you cannot do is publish the photos anywhere else offline or online. Perhaps you'll find an ancestor in my rescues!

Finding Ancestors: A Beautiful 1862 Cartes de Visite

This beautiful photo is labelled "Mrs. Joseph Curtis ​1862". It is one of the Cartes de Visite in my Civil War Era Photo Album which is now online at my new Lost Faces website.

Her full sleeves and full skirt are typical of the Civil War era fashions for women, as is her center-parted hair. 

Mrs. Curtis' husband's photo is also in the album and I suspect it was taken the same day as hers - July 2, 1862.

As many of my readers know, I rescue antique photo albums that have the names of the people in the photos. My dream of one day putting them all online to be freely viewed has finally come true and I now have over 80 albums published on my new Lost Faces site.

I've also added vintage postcards, and individual group photos of sports teams, school classes, and military. There's much more to come but I wanted to share this photo today since it is one of my favourites.  Below you can see the front and back of the Cartes de Visite of Joseph Curtis.

  
Surnames in the album include: Fobes, Tucker, Curtis, Gilbert, Peabody, Spear, Blake, Mansfield, Bassett, Botton, Williston, Nilliston, Kimbal, Daniels, Sutherland, Schaffner, Keith, Towne, Low, Wilder, Holden, and Whitemore. Locations of photographers include Massachusetts, New York, Illinois

Could one of your ancestors be featured? 

How an antique Illinois Family Photo Album came to Canada via New Jersey

My good friend Illya of LiveRoots.com sent me a gift several years ago of an antique photo album. The Album has had a rough life, and needed a good home, so Illya bid on it at a New Jersey auction, won the album and shipped it to me here in Canada.

Bertha Timmerman Fichter

The album has slots for 64 cabinet cards, and one tintype. 2 Cabinet Cards are missing, for a total of 63 ancestor family photos in this album. 15 of the Cabinet Card photographs were identified with writing on the album pages.

With the identification of those 15 photos and the clues from the photographers who took the photographs, I was able to find the family in the census for Chicago Illinois and determine that this album belonged to the Timmerman Family.

The Timmerman Family Photo Album is full of beautiful photographs, most taken in the period 1890 - 1910. Most of the photos were taken by photographers in Chicago Illinois - Morrison, Jaeger, Hoffman Studios, Vahlteich and others. A few were taken in Omaha Nebraska.

I wondered how a Chicago Photo Album over 100 years old ended up at a New Jersey auction, but research found that one of the Timmerman daughters (Bertha Timmerman) married a man named George Fichtner and moved from Chicago to Boontown New Jersey sometime between 1910 and 1920. No doubt the album was cared for by this daughter and her descendants for many years.

Olive Tree Genealogy has scanned several of the photos and published them online for all descendants and interested researchers to enjoy. I will be scanning all the photos and placing them all online in hopes that genealogists will recognize an ancestor. I've also written up the genealogy research I did on the Timmerman family and published it online as well. Hopefully interested descendants will enjoy this look into the family photographs of more than 100 years ago.

There are 63 other antique family photo albums (mostly from the Civil War era) online on Lost Faces on Olive Tree Genealogy website. More are being added as I scan them.

Civil War Photo Album Fowler Merchant Families

This is one of my favourite CDVs (Cartes de Visite) from the Fowler Merchant Civil War era photo album in my personal collection. It was taken during the Civil War - if you look carefully you can see this young lady's snood - a netting worn over the hair at the back of the head. Her hair is carefully slicked down and parted in the center - another sign of 1860s women's hairstyles.

Her bolero jacket was also popular during this time. Also note the dropped shoulders, full sleeves narrowing at the wrist, and the full skirt, but loosely draped, not over a hoop.

The plain background and patterned floor are further clues to help date this photograph. You can see the full Fowler-Merchant Family Photo Album online at Lost Faces.

Surnames: Fowler, Merchant, Keach, Houghton, Lovejoy, Hewitt, Maloney, Tanner, Whitcomb, Sladden, Frazier, Comstock, Gray, Moseley, Center, Lee, Alexander, Fisher, Williams, Cottrell, Burgess

Locations: Cambridge New York, Connecticut, Washington DC

Learn to Recognize 5 Types of 19th Century Photographs

Personal Collection L. McGinnis Schulze

Do you need help to date a treasured photo found in grandma's trunk or shoebox in the attic? Were you lucky enough to inherit great-grandma's antique photo album? Then the video I created is for you! 
 

My  video shows early 19th century photographs and explains how to recognize each one. You can watch it on Olive Tree Genealogy YouTube Channel.

In the  video I introduce five types of photographs from 1839 on - Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, CDVs (Cartes de Visite) and Cabinet Cards. In the video you will learn about the time periods in which these various photographic techniques were used and see examples from my personal collection. 

You can also visit Lost Faces for more information on 19th Century photos and examples from Civil War era Photo Albums. Lost Faces also contains over 1,500 CDVs, Tintypes and Cabinet Cards from my collection.

I plan to make more videos on Dating Photographs Using Fashion, Hairstyles, Revenue Stamps, Type of Photograph and Photographer's markings. 

If You Need Help Dating Early Photographs, You'll Want to Read This

From personal collection of L. Massey

I am fascinated by the customs and traditions that women followed during the time period of the Civil War. Their clothing, their hairstyle, jewelry and even their poses reflect the social nuances of the times. Children’s portraits of this time period also intrigue me, as during the Civil War era they were dressed as miniature adults.

All these fashion clues can help us to date an early photograph. 

One of my most unique finds is a CDV (Cartes de Visite) of a young child with his rocking horse. It is rare to find portraits of children with their toys or familiar objects, for they were expected to behave as adults and stand or sit very still during their sitting for the photographer. 

There are few casual photographs and people were most often posed formally for their photos. Often women hold an actual CDV Civil War album, or a book. But rarely is it a personal item with meaning to the individual

This is an early CDV (Cartes de Visite) of a young boy on his rocking horse. Even though he is in a dress we can tell he is a boy because of the side part in the hair. Girls' hair was parted in the middle. We can also estimate his age, since dresses and skirts were only put on boys who were not yet toilet trained. Training generally began around age 2.

If this were a photo of your ancestor and you knew the year it was taken you could estimate his year of birth from the clues above.

To date this CDV we could look at the edges. If it has square corners it is before 1872. Rounded corners were made after 1872. Sometimes a CDV has its corners cut to fit into an album slot and then it can be difficult to determine what the original shape was.

There are many ways to date an early Carte de visite and other photographs.  See Lost Faces page on dating early photographs for more help. Be sure to check out my YouTube Video Five Types of Early 19th Century Photographs
 

Children's Fashions in Civil War Era Photographs

CDVs (Cartes de Visite) arrived in the United States around 1859, on the eve of the Civil War (1861-1865). Demand for CDVs was high, as soldiers and their loved ones sought an affordable image of remembrance. Special photo albums were designed especially for cartes-de-visite.

Several years ago while prowling through a local antique store, I came upon a gorgeous leather photo album full of beautiful old portraits.  Most of the photos were identified with names in elaborate old handwriting and that also caught my eye. Holding a CDV in your hand is like holding a window to the past and I couldn’t walk away from that album. I wanted a better glimpse through that window.  That was the start of my collection of Civil War Era Photograph Albums. You can see many of them on my Lost Faces website. 

Children’s portraits of this time period  intrigue me, as during the Civil War era they were dressed as miniature adults. Young girls were dressed as miniature adults. Very young girls wore skirts and petticoats that were mid‐calf with pantaloons at ankle length. In 1862 three year old Mary Mermod wore a shorter scoop necked dress with pantaloons just below her knees.

Mary Mermod 1862. Private Collection L. Massey

In 1863 little Fanny Towne wore a scooped neckline which was no doubt identical to her mother’s evening or formal gown.

Fanny Towne July 1863. Private Collection L. Massey

As girls grew older and developed a bust, skirts and petticoats became ankle length or
longer, and pantaloons became shorter. The sisters Emily and Susie Fryer in 1863 have longer skirts and their pantaloons barely show.

Emily & Susie Fryer 1863. Private Collection L. Massey

Other clues for dating these lovely old photos is hairstyles. Young girls wore their hair in similar fashion to their mothers. Notice how these young girls have their hair parted in the middle (just as their mothers would have had) and at the height of the Civil War, had long ringlets added.

Who Doesn't Love Gone With the Wind Style Dresses?

Here is one of my favorite photos from my collection of Civil War era CDVs (Cartes de Visite)

Mrs. Joseph Curtis taken 1862

Mrs. Joseph Curtis is wearing a typical gown of the early 1860s. Full Pagoda sleeves dropped from the shoulder, with an undersleeve, create the illusion of the sought after tiny waist. Her bodice has a natural waistline and removable collar. Her hair follows the typical hair fashion of this early period. It covers her ears and is parted in the middle and pulled back to a roll at the nape of her neck. The extreme fullness of her skirt is very apparent in this photo.

This beautiful album is one of my rescued treasures. You can view the thumbnails of other photos from the album in my Lost Faces section of my Olive Tree Genealogy website.

Surnames in the album are Fobes, Tucker, Curtis, Gilbert, Peabody, Spear, Blake, Mansfield, Bassett, Botton, Williston, Nilliston, Kimbal, Daniels, Sutherland, Schaffner, Keith, Towne, Low, Wilder, Holden, Whitemore

Locations of photographers: Massachusetts, New York, Illinois

Bridgeport Connecticut Photos Rescued

Recently I purchased 35 loose Cabinet Cards and CDVs (Cartes de Visite) that had been removed from an old photo album and were up for sale. Every photo except one was clearly identified and I had a bit of fun yesterday scanning the photos and researching the family.

 This is one of the photos. It's a really lovely photograph of two children, almost certainly brother and sister. They are labelled in period handwriting "Edmon & Fannie". This is the only identified photo that does not include a surname.

Because little Edmon is wearing a dress, we know he is a toddler and not toilet-trained, so probably around 2 years of age. 

The photo is a CDV with rounded corners and this can help date it. Rounded corners on CDVs did not begin until 1872.

Studying the photographer's mark on the verso of this CDV and finding out when M. Smith was in business, as well as studying the clothing styles, children's hair and other clues would allow this photo to be dated with some precision.

From my research yesterday it appears the photos may all connected through family relationships. For example there are 5 photos of brothers and sisters of the Williams family of Bridgeport Connecticut. This became evident as I searched census records on Ancestry.com . I believe, but have not yet proven. that 2 other Williams photos are of wives of two of the brothers.

The Williams family consisted of Benjamin Williams and his wife Elizabeth Goss. Benjamin was born in Maine and Elizabeth in New Brunswick Canada. All the children were born in New Brunswick. The photos I have are of the siblings Simeon, Orlo, Hartley, Eva and Samuel. 

There are photos of the Deniger family, also of Bridgeport. Joseph Henry Deniger and his sister Gertrude are two that I have found so far. Interestingly, their father Joseph Deniger Sr. was born in Canada and their mother Harriet was a Chatfield before her marriage. In the group of photos is one labelled "Uncle Lew Chatfield" and I found 21 year old Lewis Chatfield living with Joseph Deniger Sr in 1860 in Bridgeport.

I hope to have these lovely photos scanned, researched and online on Lost Faces soon. Meantime here is a list of the surnames written on the photos:

Williams, Jackson, Henderson, Morgan, Wells, Deniger, Night, Curtis, Dumbull, Marley, Carpenter, Ferry, Chatfield, Rider, Bowen, Smith, Diott, Polk

Locations of photographic studios were: New York, Bridgeport Conneticut, Danbury Connecticut, Boston Massachusetts, Norwalk Connecticut, Kingston Ontario, Gananoque Ontario, Davis New York, Poughkeepsie New York, Chicago Illinois, Detroit Michigan, and Lynn (Massachusetts?)

Sixteen of the photos were taken in Bridgeport Connecticut.

Organizing Family Photos - Creating a Plan

Today I decided the time has come to sort, scan and organize my physical photographs. I have thousands. Some are older family photos going back to 1900 from my mother, her sister, my aunt and my mother's cousin. Some are my family photos from when I was a child, and others are from my life since 1970. 

I also have my personal collection of CDVs, Cabinet Cards, tintypes, ambrotypes and daguerreotypes. I  estimated I have over 3,000 of those. 

To start with I am concentrating on my family photos. You can see most of what I have in the photo on the left.  

As you can see currently they are tossed into plastic tubs but I want to store them in archival quality boxes.

The first thing I did this morning was take a look to see what sizes of photographs I need to store. That allows me to determine the size of boxes I need and make an estimate as to how many will be required.

Then I started making my plan. First - I decided what my goal was for these photos - what is the final outcome I want? I know I want to eventually scan them all so I need one box for unscanned photos. Some have been scanned already and those are already sorted into tubs so that will be fairly quick to get into archival boxes when they arrive.

Any plan for organizing photos will depend on how you want to store them - by family groups? By time periods? By names of the person you are going to give them to? The choice is personal. I want to give some of mine to my adult children as soon as possible, others I want to keep for my grandchildren when they are older and some I want to hang on to myself.

I decided I needed 8 boxes to hold 4x6 photos, 1 box for 8x10 and 1 box for 11x14. With the 4x6 boxes I will have one box for photographs for each of my grown children, one for recent photographs I don't want to part with yet, one box for my life as a child growing up with my parents, one box for my maternal grandmother's family and one for my maternal grandfather's family. 

When my boxes arrive I will sort the photos I have already scanned and get them put away. Scanning the photos not yet scanned will be something I do in bits and pieces over the coming months.

Next week I will create an organizational plan for my personal collection of mid 19th century photos and share that. I still have to create a plan for my digitized and scanned photos so I will work on that later this week and share it here on Olive Tree Genealogy blog.

Looking for Photos of Early Black Families and Individuals in Ontario

This is a request for anyone who has, or knows of, 19th century photographs of black families living in Ontario. 

Schumacker Family of Salem Ontario

I've been approached by a historian at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) asking for help finding appropriate photos for a project.  

The historian is looking for early studio photos (ambrotypes, Daguereotypes, CDVs, tintypes, Cabinet Cards) as well as vernacular (candid and not posed) photos of more recent years.

The only resource I know of online is the Alvin McCurdy Collection at the Archives of ONtario. She is already using those in her study. I have sent her copies of the few that I have.

Copies of originals are acceptable for study or she is willing to purchase originals that might be for sale. Family albums are also of interest to her. If you have any photographs of Ontario black families that you would be willing to share or sell, please direct responses to me (Lorine) at olivetreegenealogy@gmail.com 

This sounds like a wonderful research project!

Identifyiing Old Photographs Part 3

The following article was originally written by Lorine McGinnis Schulze and published on Olive Tree Genealogy at http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/photos/photo-types.shtml

It may not be reproduced in any way without my written consent.

Carte de Visite or CDVs (ca 1859)

CDV stands for carte de visite, a photographic calling card. The CDV process, which began in France in 1854, involved a special camera that produced eight poses on one negative. The CDV quickly replaced the old glass images of the ambrotypes, producing a card the size of the then standard calling card, around 2.5 by 4".

The CDV’s albumen process produced a negative from which any number of prints could be made - and on early CDVs it was important for the photographer to note that more prints were always available.

CDVs arrived in the United States around 1859, on the eve of the Civil War (1861-1865) during which demand skyrocketed as soldiers and their loved ones sought an affordable image remembrance. Many people began collecting portraits of political figures, actors and actresses, Civil War generals, as well as family and friends. Special photo albums were designed especially for cartes-de-visite.

In the United States, the carte-de-visite played second fiddle to cheaper variations on the daguerreotype theme. Thus the early CDVs are rather uncommon. CDV with square corners pre 1872  CDV with rounded corners after 1872. Jemima Van Slyke< CDV with corners cut to fit album. You must use fashion clues, revenue stamps or photographer logo or name to date the photograph 

Next  I will talk about  Cabinet Cards. Also see my YouTube Video Five Types of Early 19th Century Photographs 

Orphan Album: Swiss Photo Album with Chimney Sweeps

Recently Alice H. wrote to me about an antique photo album  she purchased many years ago.

I have a very old photo album that I purchased at an antique store many years ago & have been looking for a place to send it. if you would like to have them just send me an address & they will be yours.. I hate to see them waste away.

 Alice went on to add that she bought the album many years ago in Glendale Arizona but that no one in the store knew anything about where they came from originally. The photos are from Switzerland with a few from Germany and none of the individuals are identified by name.

I plan to scan and publish the photos on Lost Faces in hopes someone might recognize an ancestor. All the photos are CDVs (Cartes de Visite) and appear to be from 1860s-1880s.

CDV Chimney Sweeps

Here is one that really interested me. It appears to be a photo of three Chimney Sweeps. Note their ladder and brooms and traditional Chimney Sweep top hats. All of them are wearing small shovels used to rake out ashes. I do not know if these shovels on their lapels are an insignia or actual working tools.

Chimney Sweeps Verso
J. ZURKIRCH RHEINECK und ALTSTAEDTEN
1885