Indiana civil war cased image
photographs, ca. 1861–1865

Collection Information

Historical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Series Contents

Cataloging Information

Processed by

Dorothy A. Nicholson
August 2006

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF COLLECTION:	3 boxes
COLLECTION DATES:	Ca. 1861–1865
PROVENANCE:	Gifts and Purchases from various sources
RESTRICTIONS:	None
COPYRIGHT:
REPRODUCTION RIGHTS:	Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.
ALTERNATE FORMATS:
RELATED HOLDINGS:
ACCESSION NUMBER:	1967.0085, 1989.0316, 1996.0705, 2000.0750, 2000.1203, 2001.0104, 2001.0840, 2002.0329, 2004.0068, 2004.0069, 2004.0081, 2005.0108, 2006.0119
NOTES:	Artificial collection with additions expected.

Civil War soldiers had their pictures taken by home town photographers, itinerant photographers who traveled with the troops, or photographers in towns where they were stationed. Three types of portrait photographs produced during the Civil War were daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, and tintypes. Often they would be enclosed in a small case to protect the image and make them easy to carry. This collection contains only ambrotype and tintype cased image portraits.

Daguerreotypes were images produced on silver-plated copper plates and because of the intense amount of work and expense required to produce one image their popularity was fading by the early 1860s. They were replaced by ambrotypes and tintypes. An ambrotype is a negative image on a glass plate made positive to the viewer when it is backed with a dark material. Tintypes were also negative images but on thin sheets of black coated iron with a coating of clear varnish to protect the image. The tintypes were cheaper, more durable, light weight, and could be sold in paper mats or plain as well as in a case. They were at their height of popularity during the Civil War.

Sources:

Mace, O. Henry. Collector’s Guide to Early Photographs. Wisconsin: Krause Publications, 1999. General Collection: TR15 .M24 1999

sCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Civil War era soldier portraits in this collection are arranged in two series, Series 1 Cased Images and Series 2 Tintypes. The named persons are in alphabetical order and information on each individual is listed along with a brief description of the image. When there is conflicting information on the individual’s name the processor listed that information in square brackets. The unknown individuals are listed at the end. Each cased image was given an ID number by the Conservation Department and those numbers are used to identify each item in the collection guide. There is a single loose tintype in Series 2 designated as Image 1.

series CONTENTS

Series 1: Civil War Cased Images, 1862–1864, n.d.

CONTENTS	CONTAINER
James H. Aust, 1^st Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, Co. G, Frame back engraved with date, June 22, 1864 Seated waist-length portrait Tintype in case	Cased Images: Box 1, ID 392
Noah Bird, 9^th Indiana Infantry, Co. C, Standing full-length studio portrait of Bird with pistol in hand Tintype in Union case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 1, ID 12
Unidentified soldier, note to wife Molly A. Blades found in case [William Blades, 128^th Indiana Infantry, Co. E?] Seated waist-length portrait in uniform of the 128^th Indiana Infantry Tintype in case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 1, ID 394
D.F. Bordner, DeKalb County, Indiana, 14 Jan. 1862 Seated waist-length in front of painted backdrop with flag Tintype in case	Cased Images: Box 1, ID 4
Joshua K. Chapman, 21^st Indiana Volunteer Infantry [inscribed in pencil “John K. Chapman 21^st Ill. Vol. Infantry”] Seated waist-length portrait Ambrotype [glass] in case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 1, ID 37
William A. Fordice, 115^th Indiana Infantry, Mrs. William A. Fordice holding child Seated waist-length portraits Tintypes [2] in Union case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 1, ID 411, 412
Lt. James J. Maddox, from Hartford City, Indiana, 34^th Indiana Regiment Standing full-length studio portrait in dress uniform with sword and pistol Ambrotype [glass] in Union case, n.d.	Oversize Cased Images: Box 3, ID 124
[A. Smith or A. Miller, Indianapolis] Standing full-length portrait with rifle in front of painted backdrop of camp scene Tintype in case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 2, ID 3
[George Day Wagner], Seated waist-length, wearing civilian clothes and a G.A.R. badge Tintype in Union case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 2 ID 279
Unidentified 3 soldiers, Standing full length, side by side in early infantry uniforms Tintype in case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 2 ID 2
Unidentified private, 11^th Indiana Infantry Regiment Seated waist-length wearing first version of the semi-Wallace Zouave uniform Tintype in case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 2 ID 5
Unidentified private, 11^th Indiana Infantry Regiment, Company A, Wearing second-issue Wallace Zouave uniform Seated waist-length Tintype in case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 2 ID 8
Unidentified soldier 11^th Indiana Infantry Regiment Wearing Wallace Zouave uniform, Image originated in Angola, Indiana Seated waist-length portrait Tintype in case, n.d.	Cased Images: Box 2 ID 395

Series 2: Civil War Tintypes

CONTENTS	CONTAINER
Unidentified soldier Seated with elbow on table and hand resting on chin Tintype [marks show image was removed from case] n.d.	Cased Images: Box 2 Image 1

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1. Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog: http://opac.indianahistory.org/

2. Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3. Select "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4. Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, P0311).

5. When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.

Collection #

P0311