[19th Century Album of Tintypes and Cabinet Cards Documenting a Texas Family]

[Various locations in Texas, 1884. Good.. Thirty-four photographs stored throughout in the picture windows of a contemporary photograph album bound in full embossed leather, with floral decorations printed in black and gilt, silver metal clasp on fore edge. Spine chipped and partially separated, binding rubbed and edgeworn. Soiling and foxing to album leaves, occasional dust-soiling and surface wear to photographs. An interesting collection of photographs memorializing a Texas family in the late-19th century. The first leaf contains a manuscript presentation inscription reading, "Presented to Mrs. Annie Diggs by A.W. Bechtel - Christmas 1884." The Index contains a handful more names of subjects presumably contained herein, including N.W. Bechtel, P.M. Rumbley & Wife, R.S. Peale, W.A. Diggs, W.W. Daniell, and J.P. Diggs. The remainder of the album does not include any other manuscript identifiers, however, so further research would be required to nail down the subjects in the album. These names are not unfamiliar to Texas, as members of the Bechtel, Rumbley, Diggs, and Daniell families are scattered throughout the state. The photographs are a combination of cabinet cards and tintypes featuring a variety of rough-and-tumble men, women, and children in individual portraits and group shots. A handful of the cabinet photographs bear Texas studio stamps, helping to identify the locations of at least a few of the subjects; these studios include Gaylord in Weatherford, J.S. McClure also of Weatherford, P.L. Britain of Henrietta, and Kavanaugh of Abilene. An intriguing collection of Texas family photographs with much deeper research potential. (Inventory #: 4447)