Cabinet Cards (1860's - 1920's)
Physical Characteristics:
Photograph attached to a stiff card
measuring approximately 4.25” x 6.50”
Photographer’s imprint, elaborate
designs, and other studio information was printed or embossed on both the recto
and verso of the card to advertise services.
Photographs were most commonly
albumen prints, but some later examples are gelatin silver or carbon prints
 |
| Cabinet card, Young woman from Brooklyn, ca. 1890's, recto |
 |
| George J. Snook, Cabinet card verso, http://flic.kr/p/6Fgi4 |
History:
The 1850’s gave way to rapid
changes in the development of photographic processes. Most significantly, the collodion wet plate
negative, which gave photographers the ability to create paper copies of
photographs. Since these paper copies
were printed on thin paper, they had the tendency to curl, making it necessary
to attach to stiff boards. Albumen paper prints would eventually replace older photographic
processes such as, ambrotypes and tintypes, entirely.
Card photographs came in a variety
of formats and were all incredibly popular among the masses of the late
nineteenth-century. The term card photograph can be applied to any nineteenth-century
commercially formatted photographs mounted on standard-sized stiff board. The three most common and commercially successful were;
the carte-de-visite, the cabinet card, and the stereograph.
Cabinet cards were eventually
favored over the smaller, less-sturdy carte-de-visite. Like cartes de visite, cabinet
cards were one of the common photographic elements of a family’s personal
collection and were often kept in albums
proudly displayed on the Victorian parlor table. Subjects included family members, scenic
views, architectural views, celebrities, and statesmen. The preference of the
cabinet card over the smaller carte-de-visite could simply be attributed to the
fact that they were easier for a visitor to view in the parlor album or cabinet. Commercial photo album manufacturers
responded to the new demand of cabinet cards by producing albums that would fit
the larger format, but could also accommodate older formats such as cartes-de-visite
and tintypes. It would be a rare
occurrence to visit a Victorian home’s parlor and not find examples of card
photographs either on display or in an album.
 |
| Victorian photo album with carts-de-visite and cabinet card, ca. 1890 |
Decline of the cabinet card:
The decline of the popular cabinet card during the 1890’s is
due to the invention of and the increased popularity of picture postcards and
amateur “snapshots.” The introduction of
the gelatin emulsion, which employed the use of completely manufactured
ready-to-use sensitized paper or film, is what made amateur photography
possible. Those who could afford the
equipment and supplies could become instant photographers and could fill their
family albums with images more personal in nature than the standard studio
portrait. The development of faster
emulsions, as well as, photomechanical processes made picture postcards simple
and inexpensive to reproduce. The collecting and trading of picture postcards
was extremely popular at the turn of the century and is a major contributor to
the decline of the cabinet card.
 |
| Photo postcard, recto and verso, ca. 1900 |
 |
| Early snapshots pasted into album, 1896-98, loc.gov |
Dating a Cabinet Card:
Dating a cabinet card can be tricky. Although it may be possible to date a cabinet
card, using such physical characteristics as; type of card stock, color of card
stock, rounded or square corners, borders, lettering, other factors must be
taken into account. The photographer may
have been using old stock when assembling a sitter’s card. The card itself may be older than the
photograph attached. This is why format
should not solely be used as a means of dating a cabinet card and why it’s
critical for an archivist or librarian to have knowledge of late nineteenth
century photographic processes.
Bibliography
Baldwin, Gordon. 1991. Looking
at Photographs: a guide to technical terms. Malibu, Calif: J. Paul Getty
Museum in association with British Museum Press.
Lavédrine,
Bertrand, Jean-Paul Gandolfo, John McElhone, and Sibylle Monod. 2009. Photographs of the Past: process and
preservation. Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute.
Newhall, Beaumont. 1982. The
History of Photography: from 1839 to the present. New York: Museum of
Modern Art.
Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn, Diane Vogt-O'Connor, and Mary Lynn
Ritzenthaler. 2006. Photographs: archival
care and management. Chicago: Society of American Archivists.
No comments:
Post a Comment