CARTE de VISTE &
CABINET CARD PHOTOGRAPHS
By Karen Utter
Jennings
These two types of
photographs come from the Victorian era or from about mid 19th
century to early 20th century and are easily recognizable.
The carte de viste (CdV) photographs are the size of calling
cards, which measure 2 1/2 x 4 inches. Because of their size, a series of
photographs could be produced on paper and then cut into eight individual
cards. The size may vary, however, because commercial suppliers began mass-producing
cards and the images had to be trimmed to fit the card size. Many were careless
in their trimming, so you may run across some CdVs that are angled or otherwise
varied.
People who went calling on their relatives or neighbors used
the carte de vistes. Before leaving, they would leave their CdV. They became popular in the 1860s and royalty,
politicians, actors, and other famous individuals had their image made into
these photographs and signed them. The Victorians prized carte de viste
photographs and collected them.
These photographs were popular during the Civil War.
President Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant had their photos taken this way. To
accommodate people’s collections, albums were made to hold the prized cards. It
would be fortunate indeed, for someone to have an album full of these beautiful
Victorian treasures among their family photograph collection!
To identify a carte de viste, first measure the size of the
photograph. The paper print will be mounted on a commercially produced card. Look
closely at the subject in the picture and notice their hairstyle and clothing. Carte
de vistes were produced into the very early 1900s. These small prints may
appear very faded and grainy.
Cabinet cards replaced the carte de vistes. They can measure
from small, 5 inches x 7 inches to larger ones, 5 inches x 10 inches. A customary
cabinet card is a photo mounted onto thicker card stock. There is extra space
around the photo and you will find the photographer’s studio imprint (if there
is one) at the bottom. These are albumen images and will have a yellow-brown or
purple-blue tone. But sometimes they may appear black and white. That is due to
the process in which they were developed. The last cabinet cards were produced
around 1925.
These photographs were named due to the Victorians displaying
them in their parlors, especially in cabinets. The cabinet card was an admired
type of photograph that displayed family groups. By this time, photographers
began to use props or complex scenes in studios using ironwork chairs, gates
and fences, fake trees and grass, or ornately constructed window and doorway
sets.
To identify cabinet cards, note their measurements and
observe the color of the paper image. Note if they have gilt and embossed decorative
borders and an imprint giving the photographer’s name & the location of the
studio. If the card stock is separating layers on the edges, they were probably
made after 1870.
The Victorians treasured all things, especially their
clothing and jewelry. Cabinet cards document their love of the elaborate. Children’s
pictures may show them poised with their dolls and toys or bicycles and wagons.
Look for women in fanciful hats and gorgeous gowns and men with pocket watches,
mustaches and their dapper dressing. Such as Robert Calvin Utter "Dock" & his wife, Matilda Roll Utter, shown below:
Notice there is no studio imprint at the bottom of this photo.
In the photo above, the studio imprint is on hte side of this old photograph. Taken in Monett, Missouri, before the turn of the century.
When Kodak introduced the Brownie Box Camera around 1900,
cabinet card photographs declined in popularity.
While researching these two types of photographs, I found a
lot of conflicting information. Writers, photographers, and collectors all
disagree on definite dates the carte de viste and the cabinet card photographs
were introduced and about how they were produced.
I love these types of photographs and in my collection,
there are cabinet card photos of babies, children posed with their pets, men sitting
beside their faithful dog, women in huge hats and family groups in various
settings. But, not all of them have the photography studio imprint.
Widow of Gettysburg is inspired from the research that Jocelyn Green did at the Adams County Historical Society archives in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. From the letters, diaries, and the first-person accounts of those people who lived through this historical period in American history, Ms. Green writes of the women behind the Gettysburg event. 
