Cartes
de visite, miniature portraits used as calling cards, were extremely
popular during the American Civil War. These photographic calling
cards, approximately 2½ x 4 inches in size, had been invented in
France in the early 1850s, and their popularity quickly spread throughout
Europe and eventually to the United States, where the corollary
development of the photograph album spurred a collecting craze in
the 1860s that became known as Cartomania. In addition to assembling
albums of family photographs, the public sought to collect images
of celebrities and views of favorite places and sites. John Hay
(1838-1905), a personal secretary to President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
who later had a successful diplomatic and political career of his
own, is thought to have assembled the cards in this album. Many
of the two hundred individuals represented in Hay's album, including
numerous army and navy officers, politicians, and cultural figures,
were undoubtedly visitors to the Lincoln White House. Others, such
as Confederate president Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) and generals
Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) and James Longstreet (1821-1904), were
unlikely to have called at the Executive Mansion.
Most
of the portraits in Hay's album are signed, greatly increasing their
value. It was common practice during the war to acquire such portraits
through gift or purchase, mail them to the individuals represented,
and hope for their return--signed. Thus on the back of many of the
cartes are notes requesting that the sitter affix his signature
at the bottom of the carte, high enough to be seen when in an album.
It was also customary for many photographers, including both Mathew
B. Brady (1823-1896) and Alexander Gardner (1821-1882) whose work
is well documented in this album, to keep stocks of autographed
cartes for sale to souvenir album collectors. Hay was acquainted
with both Brady and Gardner and went to the latter's studio with
Lincoln for the president's sitting and separately to have his own
photograph taken. He could quite possibly have purchased cartes
from Gardner and others to supplement those he acquired directly
from the sitters.
Hay thoughtfully
arranged his collection of cartes in a decorative, leather-bound
album patented by Altemus & Company of Philadelphia on 21 July
1863. Like many such albums, this one has gold-stamped decoration
on the cover and spine, engraved circular ivory bosses at each corner
of the cover, and two brass foredge clasps. The text block consists
of a title page, a blank index page, twenty-five album pages, and
a back flyleaf. Each album page holds eight cartes--four on the
front and four on the back--inserted in recessed pockets. Since
the cartes were placed back-to-back in the album, sometimes the
ink instructions to one sitter bled from the back of one carte onto
the verso of another. The text block edges are gilt, as are the
edges of the openings for each photograph. The openings have been
numbered 1 through 200, possibly by the same hand who wrote on the
first page "Do not touch the pictures with the fingers." Of particular
interest to book conservators is the album's "hinged-back" spine,
ingeniously engineered to permit flexible movement of the heavy,
stiff-paged text block. The pages of the album are attached to the
spine by leather hinges that are slotted and have metal pins inserted.
Each pin alternately picks up hinges for the page in front of it
and in back of it, forming a continuous attachment of leaves. As
the pages are turned, they rotate on the pin.
This digital
reproduction of the album allows viewers the opportunity to page
through the cartes as if they were perusing the volume in Hay's
home. These "album page views" enable readers to consider Hay's
selection and arrangement of the photographs. For example, Hay began
the album with Lincoln followed by his vice presidents and members
of his Cabinet. Elsewhere in the album there are groupings of politicians
and military officers, with images of cultural and literary figures
toward the end of the book. By selecting the "View these cartes"
option from any of the album pages, readers may see the images as
they would appear outside the album. Both the front and verso of
each carte is fully displayed, revealing studio logos, addresses,
and other imprint information on the approximately twenty photographers
and/or photographic firms represented in the album. One especially
elaborate imprint is for Alexander Gardner's studios, which features
an image of the United States Capitol and its grounds, complete
with strolling figures on the esplanade.
Here is a list of all the people in this album.
- Agassiz, Louis, 1807-1873
- Ames, Oakes, 1804-1873
- Anderson, Robert, 1805-1871
- Arnold, Isaac Newton, 1815-1884
- Astor, John Jacob, 1822-1890
- Augur, Christopher Columbus, 1821-1898
- Averell, William Woods, 1832-1900
- Banks, Nathaniel Prentiss, 1818-1894
- Barlow, Francis C. (Francis Channing),
1834-1896
- Barnes, Joseph K., 1817-1883
- Barry, William F. (William Farquhar), 1818-1879
- Bates, Edward, 1793-1869
- Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893
- Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1887
- Bidwell, John, 1819-1900
- Bingham, John Armor, 1815-1900
- Blaine, James Gillespie, 1830-1893
- Blair, Frank P. (Frank Preston), 1821-1875
- Blair, Montgomery, 1813-1883
- Blow, Henry T. (Henry Taylor), 1817-1875
- Booth, Edwin, 1833-1893
- Botts, John Minor, 1802-1869
- Boutwell, George S. (George Sewall), 1818-1905
- Brooks, James, 1810-1873
- Broomall, John M. (John Martin), 1816-1894
- Brown, B. Gratz (Benjamin Gratz), 1826-1885
- Browning, Orville Hickman, 1806-1881
- Buckalew, Charles Rollin, 1821-1899
- Buell, Don Carlos, 1818-1898
- Bull, Ole, 1810-1880
- Burnside, Ambrose Everett, 1824-1881
- Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin),
1818-1893
- Butterfield, Daniel, 1831-1901
- Cameron, Simon, 1799-1889
- Carroll, Samuel Sprigg, 1832-1893
- Casey, Silas, 1807-1882
- Chandler, Zachariah, 1813-1879
- Chase, Salmon P. (Salmon Portland), 1808-1873
- Clark, Daniel, 1809-1891
- Clarke, Freeman, 1809-1887
- Clay, Brutus Junius, 1808-1878
- Cochrane, John, 1813-1898
- Colfax, Schuyler, 1823-1885
- Collamer, Jacob, 1791-1865
- Conkling, Roscoe, 1829-1888
- Conness, John, 1821-1909
- Couch, Darius Nash, 1822-1897
- Cox, Samuel Sullivan, 1824-1889
- Crawford, Samuel Wylie, 1829-1892
- Creswell, John A. J. (John Angel James),
1828-1891
- Curtin, Andrew Gregg, 1815-1894
- Custer, George Armstrong, 1839-1876
- Dahlgren, John Adolphus Bernard, 1809-1870
- Davis, Garrett, 1801-1872
- Davis, Henry Winter, 1817-1865
- Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889
- Dawes, Henry L. (Henry Laurens), 1816-1903
- Deming, Henry Champion, 1815-1872
- Dennison, William, 1815-1882
- Dix, John A. (John Adams), 1798-1879
- Doolittle, James R. (James Rood), 1815-1897
- Eliot, Thomas D. (Thomas Dawes), 1808-1870
- Farnsworth, J. F. (John Franklin), 1820-1897
- Farragut, David Glasgow, 1801-1870
- Fenton, Reuben E. (Reuben Eaton), 1819-1885
- Fessenden, William Pitt, 1806-1869
- Foot, Solomon, 1802-1866
- Forney, John W. (John Wien), 1817-1881
- Foster, Lafayette S. (Lafayette Sabine),
1806-1880
- Franklin, W. B. (William Buel), 1823-1903
- Fremont, John Charles, 1830-1890
- Fry, James B. (James Barnet), 1827-1894
- Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881
- Geary, John White, 1819-1873
- Gibbon, John, 1827-1896
- Gillmore, Quincy Adams, 1825-1888
- Gooch, Daniel W. (Daniel Wheelwright),
1820-1891
- Gordon, John Brown, 1832-1904
- Granger, Gordon, 1822-1876
- Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885
- Griffin, Charles, 1825-1867
- Grimes, James W. (James Wilson), 1816-1872
- Grinnell, Josiah Bushnell, 1821-1891
- Griswold, John A. (John Augustus), 1818-1872
- Hale, John P. (John Parker), 1806-1873
- Halleck, H. W. (Henry Wager), 1815-1872
- Hamlin, Hannibal, 1809-1891
- Hancock, Winfield Scott, 1824-1886
- Harlan, James, 1820-1899
- Heintzelman, Samuel Peter, 1805-1880
- Henderson, John B. (John Brooks), 1826-1913
- Hendricks, Thomas A. (Thomas Andrews),
1819-1885
- Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878
- Hitchcock, Ethan Allen, 1798-1870
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1841-1935
- Holt, Joseph, 1807-1894
- Hooker, Joseph, 1814-1879
- Hooper, Samuel, 1808-1875
- Howard, O. O. (Oliver Otis), 1830-1909
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Howard, William Alanson, 1813-1880
Howe, Timothy O. (Timothy Otis), 1816-1883
Humphreys, A. A. (Andrew Atkinson), 1810-1883
Hunter, David, 1802-1886
Ingalls, Rufus, 1818-1893
Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875
Johnson, Reverdy, 1796-1876
Johnston, Joseph E. (Joseph Eggleston), 1807-1891
Julian, George Washington, 1817-1899
Kasson, John A. (John Adam), 1822-1910
Kautz, August V. (Augustus Valentine), 1826-1896
Kelley, William D. (William Darrah), 1814-1890
Keyes, Erasmus D. (Erasmus Darwin), 1810-1895
Kilpatrick, Judson, 1836-1881
Lane, Henry Smith, 1811-1881
Lane, James Henry, 1814-1866
LeBlond, Francis Celeste, 1821-1902
Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882
Longstreet, James, 1821-1904
Maynard, Horace, 1814-1882
McClellan, Ellen Marcy, 1838-1907
McClellan, George Brinton, 1826-1885
McCulloch, Hugh, 1808-1895
McDougall, J. A. (James Alexander), 1817-1867
Meade, George Gordon, 1815-1872
Meigs, Montgomery C. (Montgomery Cunningham),
1816-1892
Merritt, Wesley, 1834-1910
Miles, Nelson Appleton, 1839-1925
Moorhead, J. K. (James Kennedy), 1806-1884
Morgan, Edwin D. (Edwin Denison), 1811-1883
Morrill, Justin S. (Justin Smith), 1810-1898
Morrill, Lot M. (Lot Myrick), 1812-1883
Morton, Oliver P. (Oliver Perry), 1823-1877
Murdoch, James Edward, 1811-1893
Myers, Leonard, 1827-1905
Nye, James W. (James Warren), 1814-1876
Odell, Moses Fowler, 1818-1866
Oglesby, Richard J. (Richard James), 1824-1899
Ord, Edward Otho Cresap, 1818-1883
Parke, John Grubb, 1827-1900
Patterson, James W. (James Willis), 1823-1893
Pendleton, George H. (George Hunt), 1825-1889
Pleasonton, Alfred, 1824-1897
Pomeroy, Samuel Clarke, 1816-1891
Pomeroy, Theodore Medad, 1824-1905
Pope, John, 1822-1892
Porter, David D. (David Dixon), 1813-1891
Porter, Fitz-John, 1822-1901
Pruyn, John VanSchaick Lansing, 1811-1877
Ramsey, Alexander, 1815-1903
Randall, Alexander Williams, 1819-1872
Rosecrans, William S. (William Starke), 1819-1898
Rousseau, Lovell Harrison, 1818-1869
Saulsbury, Willard, 1820-1892
Schenck, Robert Cumming, 1809-1890
Schofield, John McAllister, 1831-1906
Schurz, Carl, 1829-1906
Scofield, Glenni W. (Glenni William), 1817-1891
Scott, Winfield, 1786-1866
Seward, William Henry, 1801-1872
Shellabarger, Samuel, 1817-1896
Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888
Sherman, John, 1823-1900
Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891
Sickles, Daniel Edgar, 1825-1924
Sigel, Franz, 1824-1902
Slocum, Henry Warner, 1826-1894
Smith, Green Clay, 1826-1895
Smith, Joseph, 1790-1877
Spalding, Rufus P. (Rufus Paine), 1798-1886
Speed, James, 1812-1887
Spinner, Francis Elias, 1802-1890
Sprague, William, 1831-1915
Stanton, Edwin McMasters, 1814-1869
Stebbins, Henry G. (Henry George), 1811-1881
Stephens, Alexander Hamilton, 1812-1883
Stevens, Thaddeus, 1792-1868
Stoneman, George, 1822-1894
Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874
Terry, Alfred Howe, 1827-1890
Thomas, George Henry, 1816-1870
Trumbull, Lyman, 1813-1896
Usher, John Palmer, 1816-1889
Van Valkenburgh, R. B. (Robert Bruce), 1821-1888
Voorhees, Daniel W. (Daniel Wolsey), 1827-1897
Wade, B. F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1800-1878
Wadsworth, James S. (James Samuel), 1807-1864
Wallace, Lew, 1827-1905
Warren, Gouverneur Kemble, 1830-1882
Washburne, E. B. (Elihu Benjamin), 1816-1887
Webb, Alexander Stewart, 1835-1911
Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878
Wentworth, John, 1815-1888
Wilson, Henry, 1812-1875
Wilson, James F. (James Falconer), 1828-1895
Windom, William, 1827-1891
Wood, Fernando, 1812-1881
Worden, John Lorimer, 1818-1897
Wright, Horatio Gouverneur, 1820-1899
Yates, Richard, 1815-1873
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