Existing comment:
Cartes-de-visite:
Gaining popularity in the late 1850s, the carte-de-visite, an albumen photography mounted on a small card, was highly collectible. Family and friends shared portraits of themselves, but one could also purchase portraits of actors, musicians, politicians, authors, international royalty, and other notables.
(Left) Surgeon-in-Chief David W. Maull, about 1864
(right) Captain John W. Barney, about 1864
These two men served with Captain William P. Seville, the father of Smithsonian employee Marian Wells Seville (1878-1947). In 1931, Miss Seville donated a portrait collection gathered by her father to remember his wartime experiences. Eventually he published a history of the First Regiment of Delaware Volunteers. |