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Collection Number: P0007

Collection Title: Ambrotype Collection, circa 1852-1880

This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.

This collection has use restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


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Size 22 encased images
Abstract Collection of ambrotype photographs collected by the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives. Ambrotypes were in production from the early 1850s into the early 1880s. Collection contains 22 images taken of individuals seated or standing for portraits, circa 1852-1880. Individuals appearing in the images include Omar ibn Said, a Black writer and Islamic Scholar who was enslaved for most of his life, and students at Wesleyan Female Institute in Murfreesboro, N.C. Also included are images depicting white soldiers who served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, including General Bryan Grimes of the 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, members of the "Iredell Blues," and Meshack F. Hunt of the 5th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. North Carolina Collection.
Language English
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access
The items in this collection are extremely fragile due to their age, the materials used to make them, and the fact that they are all unique originals. Ambrotypes have no equivalent of a negative and cannot be physically reproduced. Researchers may be presented with a digital copy instead of original materials if the Photographic Archivist has determined the original should not be handled.
Restrictions to Use
No image in this collection may be reproduced without the permission and consent of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Restrictions to Use
These items are not covered by copyright and are in the public domain.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Ambrotype Collection (P0007), year image was made [when known], North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.
Acquisitions Information
The items in this collection came to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives from a number of different and unrelated sources. Items in the first two boxes came to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives from the Miscellaneous Pictures Collection (1800-2000) in the Southern Historical Collection (#4090) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996. Items in the third box came to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives from the Williams Family Papers (1779-1948) in the Southern Historical Collection (#879) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996. Items in the remaining three boxes came to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives from unrelated donors.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, 1997 and 2010

Encoded by: Patrick Cullom, December 2010

Donors have been identified when known, and materials received from the same donor have been grouped together.

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Related Collections

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Historical Information

Ambrotypes were produced using an early photographic format originally developed in England by Frederick Scott Archer in 1852. In 1854 the format was patented in the United States by James Ambrose Cutting. The format replaced daguerreotypes due to the relative ease with which they could be developed and the superiority of the images produced by the process. At the base is a piece of glass that is coated with an iodized collodion solution that is then coated with a light sensitive silver solution. The plate is then exposed to light, via a camera, and the image (negative) becomes visible after further processing. The back of the exposed/developed glass plate is covered with a black covering (paper, paint, or cloth) and then encased with a piece of glass on the front. This format was in use around the world from 1852 into the early 1880s.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Collection contains 22 images taken of individuals seated or standing for portraits, circa 1852-1880. Individuals appearing in the images include Omar ibn Said, a Black writer and Islamic Scholar who was enslaved for most of his life, and students at Wesleyan Female Institute in Murfreesboro, N.C. Also included are images depicting white soldiers who served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War, including General Bryan Grimes of the 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, members of the "Iredell Blues," and Meshack F. Hunt of the 5th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series Quick Links

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Ambrotypes: From the Miscellaneous Pictures Collection, circa 1852-1880.

6 encased ambrotypes.

Arrangement: Accession number.

Names included with descriptions come from original accessioning notes found with materials.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0001

Portrait of unidentified white man, circa 1860

1 encased image

Accession number: 22503.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0002

Portrait of unidentified white woman, circa 1860

1 encased image

Accession number: 22504.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0003

Portrait of unidentified white man, circa 1860

1 encased image

Accession number: 22505.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0004

Portrait of unidentified white man and woman, circa 1860

1 encased image

Accession number: 22506; Two separate portraits encased together.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0005

Portrait of unidentified white man, circa 1852-1880

1 encased image

Accession number: 22508.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0006

Portrait of Omar Ibn Said (1770?- 1864?), circa 1855

1 encased image

Accession number: 22509.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Ambrotypes: From the Harris Family Papers, circa 1852-1880.

4 encased ambrotypes.

Arrangement: Accession number.

Includes images of some Harris and Umstead family members.

Names included with descriptions come from original accessioning notes found with materials.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0007

Portrait of William Harris (1809-1891), circa 1859

1 encased image and 1 copy negative

Accession number: 30534-1.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0008

Portrait of Archer Love Harris (1835-1855), circa 1852-1855

1 encased image and 1 copy negative

Accession number: 30534-2.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0009

Portrait of Emmeline Temperance Harris Umstead (1839-1871), circa 1862

1 encased image and 1 copy negative

Accession number: 30534-3.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0010

Portrait of Parthenia Francis Duty Harris (1821-1852), circa 1852

1 encased image and 1 copy negative

Accession number: 30534-4.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Ambrotypes: Various Donors, circa 1852-1880.

6 encased ambrotypes.

Arrangement: Accession number.

Includes an image of students at Wesleyan Female Institute in Murfreesboro, N.C., from the 1850s and Civil War-era images of General Bryan Grimes of the 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, members of the "Iredell Blues", and Meshack F. Hunt of the 5th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.

Names included with descriptions come from original accessioning notes found with materials.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0011

Portrait of unidentified white man, circa 1860

1 encased image and one copy negative

Accession number: 26275.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0012

Portrait of graduating class of Wesleyan Female Institute (Murfreesboro, N.C.), circa 1854

1 encased image

Accession number: 30160.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0013

Portrait of unidentified white woman, circa 1860

1 encased image

Accession number: 30772.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0014

Portrait of Bryan Grimes (1828-1880), circa 1860

1 encased image

Accession number: None ; Grimes was member of 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0015

Group portrait of the "Iredell Blues" in Statesville, N.C., circa 1860

1 encased image and 1 copy print

Accession number: 30596_0001.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0016

Portrait of Meshack F. Hunt (b. 1840?), circa 1860

1 encased image, 1 copy print, 1 color 35mm slide

Accession number: 30596_0002; Meshack was a member of 5th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, Company E.

Image Box IB-P0007/1

Image Folder PF-P0007/0017

Portrait of David Ward Simmons, circa 1861-1864

1 encased image

Accession number: 26275.

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