Portrait of Cornelius Vanderbilt, circa 1860

THF210607 / Portrait of Cornelius Vanderbilt, circa 1860
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Artifact Overview

Cornelius Vanderbilt, a well-known American industrialist and philanthropist, posed for this carte-de-visite around 1860. 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

circa 1860

Location

By Request in the Benson Ford Research Center

Object ID

2012.0.5.21

Credit

From the Collections of The Henry Ford

Material

Cardboard
Paper (Fiber product)

Technique

Albumen process

Color

Black-and-white (Colors)

Dimensions

Height: 3.875 in
Width: 2.375 in

Inscriptions

Typed on red bordered label adhered to back: 3722
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