Western Americana card photograph file

This collection consists of card photographs of various sizes and formats, as well as unmounted photographic prints. The collection documents a broad range of commercial photography between 1860 and 1910, mainly created by regional operators and traveling photographers. The collection also includes examples by renowned photographers, such as Frank Jay Haynes, William Henry Jackson, Alexander Martin, Isaiah West Taber, and Carleton E. Watkins.

The imagery provides diverse visual documentation of the natural and built environment, as well as portraits of the inhabitants of the American West during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Specific images include informal and studio portraits of American Indians and settlers, as well as views of cities and towns, mining and logging operations, railroads, military installations, agricultural activities, American Indian reservations, and natural scenery in and about the American West.

Image descriptions of photographic prints derive from inscriptions on the verso and recto of the item and from image analysis by the archivist. Descriptions of items in this finding aid include the dimensions of each photographic print in centimeters and the dimensions of its mount (when present) in centimeters. Descriptions usually include information about the working locations of photographer, and occasionally physical characteristics of items, such as image numbers applied by the photographer or inscriptions by a previous owner, as well as contextual information about the image.

Each folder contains a single photographic print, except when noted in the item description.

About Card Photographs

Most of the items in this collection are photographic prints mounted on cardboard, known as card photographs. During the nineteenth century, card photographs were a popular way to present photographic prints, especially carte-de-visite and cabinet photographs. The mounts for card photographs vary in format and dimensions, and the mounted photographic prints vary in technical processes. The photographic prints are usually albumen prints, but also include collodion prints, cyanotypes, gelatin silver prints, platinum prints, and salted paper prints.

Introduced in the United States in 1860, carte-de-visite photographs gain their name from French calling cards. The photographic prints, which usually measure 8.89 x 6.35 cm (2.125 × 3.5 in.), were mounted on cardboard 10 x 6 cm (2.5 X 4.5 in.). Carte-de-visite photographs remained a popular form in the United States into early 1870s, when they were largely replaced by cabinet photographs.

Cabinet photographs are larger than carte-de-visite photographs, usually 9.5 x 13.8 cm (3.5 x 5.5 in.), mounted on cardboard 10.5 x 16.4 cm (4.5 by 6.25 in.). Cabinet cards remained popular during the last two decades of the nineteenth century, as did other sized formats, including boudoir midget mounts, 5.1 x 8.6 cm (2 x 3.375 in.); victoria cards, 8.3 x 12.7 cm (3.25 x 5 in.); promenade photographs, 10.2 x 17.8 cm (4 x 7 in.); boudoir photographs, 13.3 x 21.6 cm (5.25 x 8.5 in.); imperial photographs, 17.5 x 25.1 cm (6.875 x 9.875 in.); and panel photographs, 29.5 x 10.2 cm (8.25 x 4 in.).

Card photograph mounts often have printed or embossed decorations conveying advertisements about the photographer, the studio, and location, as well as awards, areas of expertise, or prominent patrons. Photographers and other individuals, such as the subjects in the image or the collector of it, often wrote descriptive inscriptions about the photograph on the verso or recto of the cardboard mount.