Beyond their silver-plated surfaces: the manufacture, circulation, and design of early photographic cases

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the utilitarian and decorative cases that housed early photographs, such as the daguerreotype and ambrotype. Photographic cases are carefully designed objects: their embossed leather, paper, or thermoplastic exteriors were ornamented; their book-like form opened to reveal similarly decorated silk and velvet interiors; and the brass mats and preservers surrounding each photograph echoed ornate picture frames. These presentational objects preserved early photographs from degradation and contextualized a new medium of visual representation in popular designs of the middle of the nineteenth century in the United States. The chapters that comprise this project follow these objects from their manufactory origins to their commercial life in studios and supply houses, and finally to their place in the private, domestic sphere. In doing so, this thesis offers a corrective to the study of early American photography by looking beyond the representational capacity of the medium to understand how photographic cases and their component parts shaped a burgeoning photographic industry and audience’s perceptions of a new medium of visual representation.