19th Century Self Branding

Look at me, look at me.

Some might think that "selfies," photos people take of themselves and then share online, are one of the first forms of using photography for self branding, however, I just learned that photography had been used for this purpose, at a much earlier point in history.

I recently purchased a collection of 75 photos on ebay. They were called "carte de viste" cards and, to be honest, I really had no idea what I was buying but they looked interesting. Below are just a few of the cards that were in the assortment. While most of the photos were of men, there were also a few of couples.

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Carte de vista, which means "visiting card" in french, was a small photo printed on thin paper but mounted to a thicker card stick. The process, invented by french photograher André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri in 1854, allowed for eight images to be taken with one negative. Sharing photos of yourself in this format eventually became so popular, "cardomania" as it was called, spread across Europe and into the United States.

As it turns out, CDVs as they are called for short, combine three of my favorite interests: photography, history, and advertising.

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During the mid-ninteenth century, when people visited someone's home it was the custom to present their calling card. With the development of this affordable photographic process, they were able to leave a photo behind instead.

It became customary for living rooms of the wealthy and middle class to include baskets or albums full of the CDVs of their friends and family. I guess that was the first "friends list."

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Photo of Will Curtis taken in Elmira, New York

About the same size as a baseball card, the earliest CDVs had no border. According to an article in Phototree.com c. 1862, one or two thin lines were used to outline the picture area. In 1864, two lines became popular and in the early 1870s, much thicker lines became the trend.

 

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In 1862, the craze for these cards had become so great, poet and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes noted, “Card portraits as everybody knows have become the social currency, the green-backs of civilization.”

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Many of the backs were printed or stamped advertisements for the photographer. Some hired illustrators to help them create a brand for their studio and they kept the negatives on file for when customers wanted reprints. "Additional copies can be had any time" appears on the back of many CDVs. The price of these photos was affordable for most people, averaging six for $1.00.

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From President Abraham Lincoln and the British royal family to abolitionists and actors, mass producing CDVs for purchase by the public became a promotional and public relations tactic for those who had a cause or personality on which to capitalize. In some circles, collecting CDVs of famous people became a contest and robust collections became a source of great pride.

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According to "Victorian Cartes-de-visite" by Robin and Carol Wichard, both Queen Victoria of England and Empress Elisabeth of Austria were passionate collectors. Queen Victoria eventually filled 36 albums with photos and Queen Elisabeth used her position to seek out photos from around the world. Her collection even included some of the women who were part of the harem of the Sultan of Turkey.

 

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This form of photography for the masses gave a financial boost to the profession and also introduced the concept of celebrity photography.

An article in the Photographic News on Feb. 27, 1885 includes the fact that the most popular CDV had at that point sold over 300,000 copies. It was of the Princess of Wales carrying her daughter on her back. Ironic, considering 112 years later another Princess of Wales would experience a disastrous outcome with photographers attempting to take her photo.

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It seems we Americans also became obsessed with CDVs that depicted those with unusual physical features like conjoined twins, bearded ladies and those who traveled in circuses and western shows during this time. Leave it to us to create the equivalent of a 19th century reality show.

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Many of the studios included fancy furniture, backdrops and clothing that customers could rent, allowing working-class folk to pose for photos that presented themselves in a higher class. 

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From August 1864 to August 1866 CDV photography was taxed and the revenue was used to help pay for the Civil War. If a CDV has a stamp on the back, you know it was taken during this period. CDVs became especially popular among soldiers who wanted something to leave behind as they headed off to battle or as a way to hold on to memories of their friends and family back home.

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Some of the cards in the batch I purchased on ebay included the subject's autograph which makes it even more compelling to me. These people, many whom have otherwise been forgotten, left behind a physical reminder that they were here.

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By the early 1870s, the fad had ended and CDVs were replaced by "cabinet cards." These were a larger format and they remained popular until the Brownie was introduced by Eastman Kodak in the 1900s.

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In 1861, the man who first patented the CDV process, Disdéri, was considered the richest photographer in the world. Unfortunately, he didn't save any of the money that he made and when the fad ended, so did his fame and fortune. His last photo gig was as a beach photographer.  Later, in 1890, he died in Paris at a hospital for the poor.

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You can check out a really interesting collection of CDVs on the George Eastman House's Flicker page and a galley of over 1,000 at Phototree.com. This opinion article in the New York Times includes some great info on CDVs and the Civil War.

For more blog entries, visit my Blog Home Page or to check out the genealogy research about my specific family lines, go to my Haywood County Line Genealogy Website.