Photograph album owned by Emily Howland

Manufactured by

James B. Smith & Co., American

Signed by

Lacy, Caroline N., American, 1838 - 1898

Received by

Howland, Emily, American, 1827 - 1929

Subject of

Tubman, Harriet, American, 1822 - 1913

Menard, John Willis, American, 1838 - 1893

Sumner, Charles, American, 1811 - 1874

Child, Lydia Maria, American, 1802 - 1880

Channing, William Henry, American, 1810 - 1884

Phillips, Wendell, American, 1811 - 1884

Freedmen's Bureau, American, 1865 - 1872

Date

1864

On View

Concourse 3, C3 053

Exhibition

Slavery and Freedom

Medium

leather, metal, and ink on paper

Dimensions

H x W x D (closed): 6 1/4 × 5 1/4 × 2 7/8 in. (15.9 × 13.3 × 7.3 cm)

H x W (open with clasps): 6 1/4 × 11 in. (15.9 × 27.9 cm)

H x W (open without clasps): 6 1/4 × 9 in. (15.9 × 22.9 cm)

H x W x D (Storage container): 5 7/8 × 11 1/4 × 11 7/16 in. (15 × 28.5 × 29 cm)

Caption

Caroline “Carrie” Nichols (later Carrie N. Lacy; see 2017.30.13) presented this carte-de-visite album to her friend and fellow teacher Emily Howland on January 1, 1864, at Camp Todd, a freedmen’s camp and school located in Arlington, Virginia. Emily Howland was an abolitionist, educator, philanthropist, and suffragist who founded, financially supported, and taught in numerous schools for African Americans for more than 70 years from 1857 until her death in 1929 at the age of 101.

Typical of a CDV album during this period, the Howland Album contains photographs of Howland’s family, friends, and colleagues, as well as souvenir images of notable abolitionists and famous figures during the 1860s and 1870s. Based on the photograph dates and later inscriptions, it is clear that Howland added photographs to the album as she collected them throughout the mid- to late 19th century.

Description

Black leather photograph album owned by Emily Howland containing photographs of friends, family, and celebrities. The album covers and binding are made from embossed black leather with gold gilt decorations on the covers and spine. Both covers are the same, with a scallop-edged diamond outlined in gold at the center and geometric borders surrounding it, ending in a thin gold gilt geometric border around the edges. Gilt text is stamped on the spine reading "PHOTOGRAPHS". The front and back interior covers have decorative paper with small gold repeating stylized dots on a white ground adhered to them. There are four (4) sheets of paper at the front of the album, followed by twenty-five (25) thicker pages that each feature a window for holding two (2) photographs per page, and one (1) sheet of paper at the back of the album. There is room for fifty (50) photographs, though the album contains only forty-seven (47) photographs plus one (1) loose photograph too large to fit into the windowed pages. Windows 20, 21, and 47 are empty. The windows are rectangular with rounded corners and are surrounded by a gold printed border. The front pages include a page with information about the album publisher and an Index page with two printed columns of numbered lines for identifying the photographs. The Index page is not filled out. There is an inscription written in black ink on the first page that reads "To / Emily Howland / From her friend / Carrie Nichols / Jan 1st, 1864 / Camp Todd / Virginia". All of the interior pages are edged in gilt with a design impressed into the top, right side, and bottom edges of the pages that creates a floral spray when the album is closed. The album fastens on the right side with two (2) metal hinged bars that are attached to the back cover and close over metal pins attached to the front cover. The bars are embellished with a three-dimensional metal design imitating a floral fabric looped through a metal buckle.

Place used

Camp Todd, Arlington County, Virginia, United States, North and Central America

Collection title

Emily Howland Photograph Album

Classification

Slavery and Freedom Objects

Media Arts-Photography

Movement

Anti-slavery movements

Abolitionist movement

Type

photograph albums

Topic

Antislavery

Education

Families

Feminism

Local and regional

Military

Photography

Politics

Reconstruction, U.S. History, 1865-1877

Religion

Social reform

U.S. History, Civil War, 1861-1865

United States Colored Troops

Credit Line

Collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture shared with the Library of Congress

Object number

2017.30

Restrictions & Rights

No Known Copyright Restrictions

Usage

CC0

GUID

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd5ce0a9252-41a1-451e-8201-f95fa8aaf1d8

Carte-de-visite portrait of Lydia Maria Child

Photograph by

Whipple, John Adams, American, 1822 - 1891

Subject of

Child, Lydia Maria, American, 1802 - 1880

Owned by

Howland, Emily, American, 1827 - 1929

Date

ca. 1865

Medium

albumen and silver on photographic paper on card mount

Dimensions

H x W (Image): 3 9/16 × 2 1/4 in. (9 × 5.7 cm)

H x W (Image and Mount): 4 1/8 × 2 7/16 in. (10.5 × 6.2 cm)

Description

Carte-de-visite of Lydia Maria Child shown in half portrait. Child is seated behind the corner of a white columned banister, possibly on a balcony outside a house with wooden siding next to a window with a lace curtain. Her left elbow is propped on the railing and her left hand rests on her chin. She holds a book in her right hand, which she is reading. Her hair is parted at the center and gathered into curls or braided above her ears, then pulled behind her head. She wears a dark colored bodice and skirt with dropped bell sleeves and white lace collar. There is a ring with a dark stone on her left hand ring finger.

The text "John A. Whipple / 297 Washington Street / Boston." is printed on the back of the photograph.

The photograph is housed in the album 2017.30. The album page has a triple-lined, gold border framing the print. Handwritten in graphite inside the bottom border of the printed frame of the album page is the text "L. M. Child". Handwritten in the lower left corner of the album page in graphite is the text "John A. Whipple / 247 WASH. St. Boston".

Place captured

Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America

Collection title

Emily Howland Photograph Album

Classification

Slavery and Freedom Objects

Media Arts-Photography

Movement

Abolitionist movement

Type

cartes-de-visite

albumen prints

portraits

Topic

Antislavery

Literature

Photography

Reconstruction, U.S. History, 1865-1877

U.S. History, Civil War, 1861-1865

Credit Line

Collection of the National Museum of African American History and Culture shared with the Library of Congress

Object number

2017.30.21

Restrictions & Rights

Public domain

Usage

CC0

GUID

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd510f1d07e-0562-46a1-9c39-03a89dd55cdc