[Young African American woman holding a baby]

Archive record

1 photographic print on cabinet card ; 16.5 x 11 cm.

About this photograph

This cabinet card from 1870 shows a young African American woman holding a baby, photographed by Solomon Nunes Carvalho. The sitters are not identified by name in the archive record.

Studio portraiture carried particular weight in Black communities during this period. At a time when published images of African Americans were often caricatures, sitting for a formal portrait was an assertion of dignity and standing. The absence of names here reflects common record-keeping practices of the era, which routinely left Black sitters unnamed while identifying white ones.

The cabinet card format, measuring 16.5 by 11 centimeters, was a popular size for photographic portraits in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Compiled from the catalogue record and reference notes on the formats and events involved. The archive record above is the primary source.

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