Extended Hours

Greenfield Village will be open late for Motor Muster this Saturday, June 20th until 9:00 p.m.

Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson, circa 1865

THF210579 / Portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson, circa 1865
01

Artifact Overview

Well-known writer Ralph Waldo Emerson posed for this carte-de-visite in Boston around 1865. The carte-de-visite was a small photographic print on cardboard stock made by professional photographers. People exchanged and collected portrait cartes-de-visite, popular in the United States from the Civil War in the 1860s through the 1880s, to help them remember family and celebrities.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Carte-de-visite (Card photograph)

Subject Date

circa 1860

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

2012.0.5.15

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford

Material

Cardboard
Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Albumen process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 4.125 in
Width: 2.438 in

Inscriptions

Script text that is faded red ink stamp on back of carte reads: Warren's Portraits,/ 465 Washington St. / Boston Script text ink stamp on lower front border reads: Warren Red bordered typed label adhered on back: 3018