Carte de Visite photographs: unknown c. 1895.
J. M. MUNN, Photographer, Atchison, Kansas. Images © Personal Collection.
I see that the chair used is exactly the same in both photos. I think that rather than a couple, these two people may be brother and sister, or related in some other way.
These two vintage carte de visite photographs were in a small family album of my paternal grandmother, Ada May (MILLER) GATES.
My father, his parents and siblings emigrated from Kansas to Canada in February 1923, crossing at North Portal, Saskatchewan.
In the late 1800's tintype and carte de visite photos were hugely popular. So much so that it was dubbed "Cartemania." Every family had one of these small albums, similar in size to a bible, about 1 1/2" x 4" x 5 1/2". It reminds me of a diary, it has a metal clasp to close it.
I've also read that only the very poorest of families did not have a carte de visite album.
