|
|
People of the Past in CdVs
The carte de visite (CdV or carte-de-visite) was a type of photograph made popular from the mid-1850s in Europe and from
1860 and on in America. Usually an albumen print, the carte de visite is a photograph measuring 2.125 x 3.5 inches mounted
on a card sized 2.5 x 4 inches. Each photograph was the size of a visiting card,
which became enormously popular and were traded among friends and visitors. The immense popularity of these photos-as-calling-cards led
to the publication and collection of photographs of prominent persons. Card mania spread throughout Europe and then quickly
to America. Albums for the collection and display of cards became a common fixture in Victorian parlors.
By the late 1860s, cartes de visite were supplanted by "cabinet cards," which were also usually albumen prints, but larger,
mounted on cardboard backs measuring 4.5 by 6.5 inches. These remained popular into the early twentieth century, when Kodak
introduced the Brownie camera and home snapshot photography became a mass phenomenon.
(Click to Enlarge Photos)
Do you have CDVs to submit?
If so please send as attachment to C.
Labath and I will be glad to add to these pages.
"Saml Smith
First Sheriff of Henry Co Iowa [16 years]
From 1839 to 1855
Compliments George W.
From Mrs. A. M. Van Allen"
Submitted by Pat Ryan White This CDV was found in the archives of the Mt. Pleasant News, and is being held in anticipation of displaying it the Henry County Museum!!! |
"To my highly esteemed friends Mr. and Mrs. John
Palm, the remembrance of whose College life & of their later
editorial labors, brings up many pleasing associations in this writers
thoughts.
Fraternally & Aff.
W. J. Spaulding
Mt. P. Ia. Jan 1st 1893."
See also Spaulding Bio Submitted by Pat Ryan White This CDV was found in the archives of the Mt. Pleasant News, and is being held in anticipation of displaying it the Henry County Museum!!! |
J.R. Leisenring
This CdV is thought to be of Joseph R. Leisenring,
though "J. [ames] R. Leisenring" is written on the
back. The CdV is currently in the files of the Mt. Pleasant
Public Library.
"There were six Leisenring sons that lived in Mt.
Pleasant. They all helped in the Mt. Pleasant Leisenring Studio
during the 1850s. Five of the boys went off to the Civil War.
All returned, but three died shortly after the war. The other
three made their living as professional photographers for most of
their lives. They were James B. Leisenring, W. Kase Leisenring,
and Joseph R. Leisenring. The latter two were the ones who had
the 'fashionable' studio in Mt. Pleasant."
--Paul Juhl, Photo Historian
Iowa City, IA
See also Joseph Leisenring Obit Submitted by Pat Ryan White
|
