Figure 1.--This wonderful image shows two brothers in America during the 1850s. The brothers look close in age, about 5-7 years old. They wear similar jackets and bows. Both wear long pants. Note their hoops, a popular toy at the time. Their hair seems strangely unkempt.

Many of the ambrotypes we have archived are unidentified. This is in part, because unlike CDVs and cabinent cards, there is no back that owners can easily writes names, dates, and locations. Wjile unidentified, the narrow chronological range of this process means that they provide a useful window in the 1850s and early 60s. The images that we have found are mostly American images. Unfortunately many are not high-quality images. Unfortunately we do not know enough about fashion changes during the 1850s to date these images with any percession beyond the 1850s and early 60s.

Figure 1: Unidentified Boys

This wonderful image shows two brothers in America during the 1850s (figure 1). The brothers look close in age, about 5-7 years old. They wear similar jackets and bows. Both wear long pants. Note that even though their jackets are similar, one boy has matching and the other cointrasting pants. Note their hoops, a popular toy at the time. Their hair seems strangely unkempt. Most boys wore long pants as soon as they were breached.

Figure 2: Boston Boy

Here is a 1/9th plate Ambrotype of a little boy in a thermoplastic case. The table cloth in the photo is tinted in red. The boy is leaning against the table with one thumb tucked into his trousers--all decvices for holding still. The case is a geometric case Berg#3-262 in Paul Berg's Nineteenth Century Photographic cases and wall frames 2nd edition located on page 263, bottom left corner. The case is from Samuel Peck and has a blue S. Peck Label inside. The Ambrotype has a business card in the back for Chapman's Photograph and Ambrotype Gallery 257 Washington St. Boston. Patent information for the case is daed 1854 and 55 and since we know Ambrotypes appeared in the mid-1850s, this suggests that this portrait was probably taken about 1856 or 57. The boy wears a simple colored shirt with a white collar and relatively large bow, The long pants are a different color.

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Created: 2:57 AM 11/13/2004
Last updated: 7:38 AM 7/31/2006