Figure 1.--The studio mounts provide some useful information. They do not, however, normally mention the country. It would have been considered obvious. This normally can be deduced by the image and city which normally is indicated. A complication is that many cities in America and other former British colonies are named after British cities. Normally America studios specify the state and Canadian studios often specify the province.

The studio mounts on which CDVs and cabinent cards were pasted contained a great deal of useful information. CDV and cabinent studio portraits in the 19th century which appeared in the 1860s almost always had the name of the studio and the city, and sometimes the address on the front. Thus we usually know where the portraits were taken. There also was sometimes printing on the back providing more information on the studio. This might include prizes they have won. This seems more common in Europe than America. And as some are dated, the awards can assist in dating the images. The style of the mount can also be useful in dating the portrait. Sometimes the parents have written a note identifing the individuals pictured, but in many portraits there is no such added written information. After the turn-of 20th century snapshots become common and studios developed new kinds of mounts and holders that did not indicate where the portraits were taken. Often the mount and the portrait were separable. One problem in using the information on the studio mounts is that the country is not normally specified.

Chronology

Early photographs such as Daguerrotypes and Ambrotypes did not commonly identify the studio. This changed when CDVs and cabinent cards appeared. The studio mounts on which CDVs and cabinent cards were pasted contained a great deal of useful information. After the turn-of 20th century snapshots become common and studios developed new kinds of mounts and holders that did not indicate where the portraits were taken. Often the mount and the portrait were separable. Thus we have a realtively barrow range in which we have portraits with information about the studio, basically about 1860-1910.

Information

CDV and cabinent studio portraits in the 19th century which appeared in the 1860s almost always had information on the front and some had information on the side. The front normally had the name of the studio and the city, and sometimes the address on the front. Thus we usually know where the portraits were taken. There also was sometimes printing on the back providing more information on the studio. This might include prizes they have won. This seems more common in Europe than America. And as some are dated, the awards can assist in dating the images. One problem in using the information on the studio mounts is that the country is not normally specified. Normally we figure out the country, but there are some complications, especiall with British and former colonies. This is because mamy towns in America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are named after British towns. The problem is complicated by ethnicity and clothing styles were similar. One helpful trend here is that American and Canadian studios mounts commonly added the state or province.

Mount Styles

The style of the mount can also be useful in dating the portrait. This is something, however, HBC has not persued. We have chose to load the image portion of the old portraits so we can devote as much as possible of the image box to the actual image. Unfortunately our resources are limited and we had to make such compromises in how we deal with the availabkle imnages. In some instances the mount or holder can be larger than the actual mimage. We use the mount style somewhat to assess the chronology of undated images in the HBC caption under the image. We have not usually loaded the actual mounts. There is considerable historical value in these mounts and if we had more resources it would have been useful to also load the entire card mount. . In particular they can be used to estimate the chronology of the portait. Assessing dates is something that experts can do and it is a subject which we may eventually persue on HBC because its value in dating old portraits. Here there were both similarities and differences among countries.

Inscriptions

Sometimes the parents have written a note identifing the individuals pictured, but in many portraits there is no such added written information.

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Created: 7:43 PM 1/14/2006
Last updated: 7:43 PM 1/14/2006