Portrait of Gideon Welles, 1863-1865

01

Artifact Overview

Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy under Abraham Lincoln, posed for this carte-de-visite in New York City. 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

1863-1865

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

66.143.27

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford.

Material

Cardboard
Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Albumen process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 3.938 in
Width: 2.375 in

Inscriptions

Printed on back: Published by / E. ANTHONY / 501 Broadway / New York./ From / Photographic Negative / in / BRADY'S / National Portrait Gallery. Handwritten in pencil on back: Welles / Secy of Navy / Gideon Welles