Background: My father recently presented this album to my wife, Traci. My family has a similar, smaller album, with a number of names written beneath the old photographs. Unfortunately, such is not the case with this album. There are a number of back stamps on the CDVs, and one stamp on the back of a ferrotype image. The back stamps read as follows:

W.C. Foote, Photographer, Cor. Saginaw and Union Sts., Flint, MICH.	J.M. LeClear's Gallery of Art, In the new Block , opposite of the Western Hotel, Batavia, N.Y.
G.W. Tallman, Photographer, 80 & 82 Main Street Opposite Washburn House, Batavia, N.Y.	Buell, Photographer, Batavia, N.Y.
Knight & Eales, Union Gallery, Batavia, N.Y.	Q.P. Knight, Photographer, Batavia, N.Y.
Powelson, Photographer, 58 State Street, Rochester, New York	Union Picture Gallery, No 114 Genesee Street, Auburn, N.Y. 8. Hall Morris.
T.L. Philo's Art Gallery, 80 and 82 Main Street, Batavia, N.Y.	Langdon & Tallman, Opposite Washburn House, Batavia, N.Y.

The only name in the Album is Sarah Southworth, written in pencil under an image.

The album itself is in poor condition, so I had to take great care not to damage the album further. Dad managed to partially repair the spine, but it is only a temporary fix, until he can perform more permanent repairs on the album's leather and spine (it pays to have a parent who happens to be a hand bookbinder).

Although the album has deteriorated, the photographs themselves seem to have weathered the decades well. Bill Christen provided me with some tips on 19th century albums that allowed me to safely remove the images for scanning. Because of this, I have added a number of scans to these pages, including back stamps, when they are present. I did not scan every single back stamp; some bore identical stamps, and I used a single image to represent the stamp on others bearing the same type, image, etc. Bill and Linda Trent were kind enough to provide me with some information on some of the photos. They were working without the benefit of the back stamps on the photos. The recent addition of the stamps might allow for a more accurate means of establishing approximate dates fir photographs.

Purpose: Photographs are useful tools in identifying and studying fashions, so I am placing these images on the Internet as a guide to those who are curious about the material culture of this period. In addition, Traci and I would like to know more about the subjects captured in this album, 14 decades ago. Ideally, I would like to be able to add information, such as the specific period of each style, general comments, etc. Any information you might be able to add would be most helpful and appreciated. Our e-mail address is cwbuffs@worldshare.net.

For the sake of faster loading, I have divided the images into 4 pages.

Image 1: Man wearing a frock coat and vest, circa 1860-65.
Image 2: Woman wearing a dress with Pagoda sleeves, 1860-65.

 

Image 3: No back stamp. Young girl on posing chair, circa 1870's.

Image 4: Woman. The back stamp is dated 1879.
Image 5: Woman, 1880's.
Image 6: Woman, mid 1860's.