Photograph by

Beardsley, Jefferson, American, 1833 - 1895

Subject of

Irvine, Julia Josephine, American, 1848 - 1930

Owned by

Howland, Emily, American, 1827 - 1929

Medium

albumen and silver on photographic paper on card mount

Dimensions

H x W (Image): 3 13/16 × 2 3/8 in. (9.7 × 6 cm)

H x W (Image and Mount): 4 3/16 × 2 1/2 in. (10.6 × 6.3 cm)

Type

cartes-de-visite

albumen prints

portraits

Place depicted

Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York, United States, North and Central America

Date

ca. 1875

Description

Carte-de-visite of Miss Julia J. Thomas shown in quarter portrait. Thomas is facing the camera, but her head is turned one quarter to her right and she looks off camera. Her naturally curly hair is loosely gathered behind her back. She wears a heavily embellished dark colored bodice with a white ruffled standing collar and a dark lace bow tied at the front of her neck. The bottom portion of the image is purposefully faded in the popular style of the time. There is a border printed in gold ink surrounding the outside edges of the card mount.

Handwritten in ink on the back of the photograph is the text, "Julia J. Thomas / First Scholar in Greek / at Cornell. / Graduate June 1875." Below the handwritten text is Beardsley's mark.

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 "Miss Julia J. Thomas". Handwritten in graphite at the lower left corner of the album page is the text "1st GREEK SCHOLAR IN GREEK / at CORNELL Grad. June 1875".

Topic

African American

Antislavery

Education

Photography

Credit Line

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

Object number

2017.30.12

Restrictions & Rights

Public domain

See more items in

National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection

Collection title

Emily Howland Photograph Album

Classification

Slavery and Freedom Objects

Media Arts-Photography

Data Source

National Museum of African American History and Culture