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Baby Got Backmark: A Closer Look at Card Photograph Mounts

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This National Photography Month, let's take a moment to appreciate the elaborate graphics photographers used to advertise their businesses on the backs of 19th century card mounted photographs.

We recently made available a series of portraits from Record Unit 95, largely featuring 19th and early 20th century scientists, politicians, educators, Smithsonian employees, and general correspondents and contemporaries of Smithsonian staff. The majority of these are cartes-de-visite and cabinet cards, both popular photographic formats used for portraiture between the 1860s and early 1900s. These card photographs were frequently traded with friends and acquaintances, and often included in correspondence to the Smithsonian. Administrators Spencer Fullerton Baird and George Brown Goode would also solicit these photographs from prominent scientists of their time.

Rather than focusing on the subjects of these portraits and their context within the Smithsonian universe, we want to shift our gaze to the simple beauty of the designs, known as backmarks,  featured on the backs of the card mounts that conveyed information about the photographer.

Portrait of Mordecai Cubitt Cooke, by J. Stegmann

A product of the Victorian era, card mount backmarks often featured indulgent flourishes, ornate decoration, lavish type-setting, and patterned backgrounds. Many included design elements related to photography or portraiture, such as studio curtains, cameras, palettes, or light symbols. While some photographic studios had original art created for their mounts, others may have chosen a design from a photo supply catalog.

Included among the embellishments is very useful contextual information that helps us add more descriptive value to our catalog records. In particular, the addresses offer a helpful way to more accurately date this kind of material, especially useful in cases where this information is not included elsewhere on the finished product. Photo studio locations changed often, so a photograph can be dated by conducting research in the New York Public Library's Photographers' Identities Catalog, which tracks addresses and active dates of photographers. For example, the below card mounts show different addresses for photographers Samuel Montague Fassett and Frederick Gutekunst. Fassett was at this Chicago studio between 1872 and 1875 and was located at this Washington, D.C. address between 1876 and 1880. Gutenkunst briefly operated in his 704 & 706 Arch Street studio between 1865 and 1866 before a more permanent move to his 712 Arch Street location.

Card mounts used by photographers Frederick Gutekunst and Samuel Montague Fassett showing changing a

See below for a selection of backmarks from Record Unit 95!

Backmark - William L. Price

Backmark - William L. Price, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27C_116r01]

Backmark - Jan Mieczkowski

Backmark - Jan Mieczkowski (1830-1889), Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27_102r01]

Backmark - Casanova Stabilimento Fotografico

Backmark - Casanova Stabilimento Fotografico, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27_106r01]

Backmark - William Curtis Taylor

Backmark - William Curtis Taylor (1825-1905), Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_003r01]

Backmark - Charles Milton Bell

Backmark - Charles Milton Bell (1849-1893), Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_006r01]

Backmark - Fotografía de Cantó

Backmark - Fotografía de Cantó, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_015r02]

Backmark - Edwin S. Sterry

Backmark - Edwin S. Sterry (1842-1900), Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_020r01]

Backmark - Q. Toledo

Backmark - Q. Toledo, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_060r01]

Backmark - J. Stegmann

Backmark - J. Stegmann, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_062r01]

Backmark - William Neilson

Backmark - William Neilson, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_082r01]

Backmark - Centennial Photographic Co.

Backmark - Centennial Photographic Co., Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_083r01]

Backmark - George W. Davis

Backmark - George W. Davis, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_100r01]

Backmark - Moses P. Rice

Backmark - Moses P. Rice, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_128r01]

Backmark - Charles Parker,

Backmark - Charles Parker, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_175r01]

Backmark - Silas Wright Selleck

Backmark - Silas Wright Selleck (1828-1885), Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27B_001r01]

Backmark - Columbus Washington Motes

Backmark - Columbus Washington Motes, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27B_012r01]

Backmark - C.C. Schoonmaker & Co.

Backmark - C.C. Schoonmaker & Co., Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27B_068r01]

Backmark - William Hayward Sherman

Backmark - William Hayward Sherman (1821-1898), Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27B_071r01]

Backmark - Charles L. Kempf

Backmark - Charles L. Kempf, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27C_118r01]

Backmark - Bradley & Rulofson

Backmark - Bradley & Rulofson, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27D_016r01]

Backmark - Charles F. Cook

Backmark - Charles F. Cook (1834-1894), Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27D_150r01]

Backmark - Plymon B. Greene

Backmark - Plymon B. Greene, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27E_001r01]

Backmark - Charles G. Carleton

Backmark - Charles G. Carleton (1835-1895), Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27E_023r01]

Backmark - James M. Capper

Backmark - James M. Capper, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27F_110r01]

Portrait of Mordecai Cubitt Cooke, by J. Stegmann

Portrait of Mordecai Cubitt Cooke (1825-1914), by J. Stegmann, 1873, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095 [SIA_000095_B27A_062]

Card mounts used by photographers Frederick Gutekunst and Samuel Montague Fassett showing changing a

Card mounts used by photographers Frederick Gutekunst and Samuel Montague Fassett showing changing addresses, Smithsonian Institution Archives, SIA RU000095.

Related Collections:

Smithsonian Institution, Photograph Collection, Record Unit 95, Smithsonian Institution Archives

Smithsonian Institution. Assistant Secretary in charge of the United States National Museum Correspondence and Memoranda, circa 1884, Accession 00-026, Smithsonian Institution Archives

Related Resources:

"Rolling Up Our Cardigans with Record Unit 95," by Emily Niekrasz, The Bigger Picture, Smithsonian Institution Archives

Photographers' Identities Catalog database, New York Public Library

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Backmark - Bradley & Rulofson

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