Treasure of unspeakable value!

My parents had commented to me with one of the fist pictures I scanned, Oh we have that album.

Unidentified girl circa 1860-1870

I was doubtful that it was that same album but curious none the less. It turns out in the back of my grandparents closet burred under various random things was a think very old photo album. So I drove over to my parents house to give it a look, and was not surprised that it is not the same album (Square holes as opposed to round), but was shocked at what it contained. 

Judge this book by the condition of its cover and you will be wrong.

Sitting on my parents table is a old cloth bound book, about 6" thick, the rear cover is torn off and has been sitting on an October 4th 1987 news paper for so long It is now the rear cover. The condition of the book is bad, the bindings are torn, the pages coming loose, there are splotches on the cover and the latch that once held it closed is long gone. However the pictures themselves look almost new. 

I put on my cotton gloves and slowly and carefully opened the cover. 

Not only was it amazingly well preserved (Acid free paper at the beginning of the 20th century?) Every single picture is labeled with a name, and many with a relationship or event title (Cousin or Wedding). This book is the find of all finds for the work we are doing. Thirty Seven pictures, all but one with names! 

My Great Great Great Grandmother, born in 1836

I took possession of the book yesterday, and spent 3+ hours carefully removing each picture, cautiously dusting it off, scanning and then returning it to the book. Most of the pictures are Cabinet Cards and Carte De Visite, with a few Tin Types and other Albumen prints. About 1/2 of the cards are stamped with a photographers information which will help with dating. 

Carte De Visite and Cabinet Cards have been in this book for 100 years or so.

While I was doing this my wife was busily trying to find the people on Ancestry.com, and find out who the relationships are to.

The back page: To Bill & Florence Wilson, Presented by Mother Bishop

So the basic work is done, next will be tagging all the pictures and using the data to identify some of the unknown pictures we are still going through. Hopefully this will help as family and friends slowly piece together  the story these 100+ years of photographs tell. 

Here are just a few of the pictures.

 Florence May Bishop (Thin Albumem print) 

Miss Emma Compton

 Roy Kinser (Aunt Emma's Boy)

Henry and Arthur Bishop <Tin Type>

Nothing to go on...

This appears to be one of the oldest photos in the collection and has nothing to clue me into a name, date or location. 

This photo is called a Carte De Visite and was common from 1859 - 1870 They were commonly given as calling cards and left during a visit, the Carte De Visite was supplanted by the Cabinet card in about 1870. 

We have a few clues to help us at least roughly date this picture. We have the card itself, and we have the little girl. Cards prior to 1870 would not have the photographers name printed or watermarked onto the card itself, but would sometimes have a stamp or hand written signature on the back. 

So we have black card stock that appears to have rounded edges, but if you look closer the edges were square and have been trimmed, smashed and shaped purposely or with time. This alone should date the card to late early stage of its life 1860 - 1870. Then we look at the photographers mark or in this case lack of. 

I can not find any photographers mark, no stamp, imprint etc. However looking closely at the back of the card is some trace of lead or charcoal pencil marks, hopefully I will learn a way o reveal these. This again seems to confirm the age of this card. The newer the card the more ornate the photographers stock should be.   

Lastly lets look at the girl and the props she is posed with. She is standing and the picture shows her from foot to head, she is wearing a fair amount of decorative lace at sleeves and collar, there are no petticoats nor a true bustle. This again seems to hint at the time period between 1860-1870  

Please note that I dont have any formal training on how to do this properly, all I can do is read from various sources (Yes counting Wikipedia) and compare this picture to others that have been positively identified, In other words I might be completely wrong. As my understanding of the people and the periods these pictures contain I should get better at identifying and understanding them.  

Here is a minimally restored version