Many thanks, Bob. I'd never thought of cartes-de-visite, and hadn't seen any before. I've emailed the Grantown museum to see what more they have on James Fraser. Apologies to the list for the double posting - when my first email didn't show on the list after 24 hours I posted a repeat. Helen in Australia

Cartes de visite, CDVs, are a family historian's best friends because not only do they show you what dead relatives looked like, usually in their Sunday best, but they also are of great help identifying time periods. They were invented in the 1854 by André Disderi but became fashionable by 1860 and by 1863, so fashionable that the American, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, was able to write "Card portraits, as everybody knows, have become the social currency, the 'green-backs' of civilization." It is not only clothing which shows when the CDV was taken, but also the thickness of the card on which they are printed, whether or not they have coloured borders, the size of the image relative to the size of the card, whether they had rounded corners, and - for a time in the US, whether or not they carried a duty stamp. etc etc. By about 1880 they were largely superseded by Cabinet photos (larger) and by 1900 or so, the post card. Helen, there is a huge Festival of Photography scheduled here in Canberra from July to October, 2008. It is coordinated I believe by the National Gallery but just about every institution here in the National Capital with an interest in photography is taking part. You can see a draft program at http://www.nla.gov.au/pict/NationalPhotographyFestival-DraftProgram.html, but if you would like just a potted history of the CDV, I can send you a copy of the pertinent lecture I am giving as part of a 9 week course here in Canberra for the University of the Third Age. My lectures are usually on my web site but since this course does not start until March 2008 I have not yet uploaded the texts - in case students read them there and don't attend in person :-) If you prefer to wait, the full course will be there at www.bobhay.net from about mid-April on. Watch the birdie and say "cheese"... Bob. On Dec 29, 2007 8:18 AM, Helen Ulmann <[email protected]> wrote: > Many thanks, Bob. I'd never thought of cartes-de-visite, and hadn't seen > any before. I've emailed the Grantown museum to see what more they have > on > James Fraser. Apologies to the list for the double posting - when my > first > email didn't show on the list after 24 hours I posted a repeat. > Helen in Australia > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message > -- Bob Hay at home at www.bobhay.net

Thanks again, Bob. I really would like the potted history if you don't mind. Of course I'd read of visiting cards, silver platters, butlers etc. but hadn't realized that some cartes de visite came with photographs - was this the norm? I'd thought of my gggrandfather as a simple crofter (with 4 acres beside the old Spey Bridge at Grantown) who had worked as a grieve on farms on the Castle Grant estate. Not of the social strata to have visiting cards produced. But perhaps it was wealthy son Peter who decided that Dad should be upgraded! Canberra's photographic expo sounds fascinating, the place to be in 2008, particularly for a (pre-digital) mad keen photographer... Happy New Year, Helen

Here are some sites that will give you some photographers..... Not all Scotland, but... <http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_car/0_cartes_de_visite_0_f.htm> <http://victorian.fortunecity.com/carroll/642/pixs/carte.htm> I really relish the idea that some of the lost and not so famous family might miraculously appear! Beverly Helen Ulmann wrote: >Thanks again, Bob. I really would like the potted history if you don't >mind. Of course I'd read of visiting cards, silver platters, butlers etc. >but hadn't realized that some cartes de visite came with photographs - was >this the norm? I'd thought of my gggrandfather as a simple crofter (with 4 >acres beside the old Spey Bridge at Grantown) who had worked as a grieve on >farms on the Castle Grant estate. Not of the social strata to have visiting >cards produced. But perhaps it was wealthy son Peter who decided that Dad >should be upgraded! >Canberra's photographic expo sounds fascinating, the place to be in 2008, >particularly for a (pre-digital) mad keen photographer... >Happy New Year, >Helen > > > > >------------------------------- >To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > >