Autographed Portrait of John Palmer Usher, 1863-1865

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Artifact Overview

This autographed portrait carte-de-visite shows John Palmer Usher, Secretary of the Interior under Abraham Lincoln. The carte-de-visite was a small photographic print on cardboard stock made by professional photographers. People exchanged and collected 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

1863-1865

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

66.143.19

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Cardboard
Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Albumen process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 3.625 in
Width: 2.313 in

Inscriptions

Text printed on back: GARDNER / Corner 7th & D Str. / Washington, / D.C. Handwritten [signature?] in ink on front under image: J. P. Usher