Small Wooden Frame House on a Prairie, circa 1885

Tintypes, the popular "instant photographs" of the 19th century, could be produced in a matter of minutes at a price most people could afford. At first, outdoor tintypes were rare. But after a new, more convenient process was introduced in the 1880s, some tintypists began traveling with their equipment from farm-to-farm, offering to photograph rural customers, who proudly posed in front of their homes.