Carte-de-Visite, or visiting card photographs, were popular among the middle and upper class from the late 1850’s to about 1910. Small albumen prints were mounted on 2 1⁄2 x 4 inch cards commonly inscribed on the back with the logo and address of the portrait studio. Replacing calling cards, Carte-de-Visite were traded amongst friends and family members upon visits to be kept in the receiving family’s album of collected photographs. This was the first form of easily circulated and highly accessible portrait photography. The process allowed for not only multiple images on a single sheet, but for reproduction of the image from a photographic negative.
