Portrait of William Dennison, United States Postmaster General, 1865

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Artifact Overview

Cartes-de-visite, small, professionally made photographs on cardboard stock, remained popular in the United States from the Civil War in the 1860s through the 1880s. Many were given to friends and loved ones, but enterprising photographers also produced images of famous individuals to sell to the collecting-crazed public. Celebrities, military officers and politicians, such as William Dennison, Abraham Lincoln's second postmaster general, were popular subjects.

Artifact Details

Artifact

Carte-de-visite (Card photograph)

Date Made

1865

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

66.143.32

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

verso, printed: Henry Ulke, 278 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. 1865 front, handwritten: W. Dennison
Portrait of William Dennison, United States Postmaster General, 1865