Related

• - Browse neighboring items by call number.

• Title: [African American woman holding a white child]
• Date Created/Published: [ca. 1855]
• Medium: 1 photograph : ruby ambrotype, sixth-plate, hand-colored ; 9.0 x 8.1 cm (case)
• Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-80097 (digital file from original, case open) LC-DIG-ppmsca-80098 (digital file from original, case closed front) LC-DIG-ppmsca-80099 (digital file from original, case closed back) LC-USZC4-5251 (color film copy transparency)
• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
  
• Access Advisory: Original served only by appointment because material requires special handling. For more information see (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/617_apptonly.html)
• Call Number: AMB/TIN no. 1321 [P&P]
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
• Notes:
  • Caption label from exhibit "American Treasures Memory": Nursemaid and Child. Although household slaves held higher status than field hands, this partial portrait of a nursemaid confirms that higher status was relative. The photographer chose to obscure the nursemaid's face, directing our attention to the white child as the main subject of this ambrotype heightening the infant's prominence by hand-coloring the face and dress. By the late-1850s, the glass ambrotype had replaced the silver-coated copper plate of the daguerreotype for popular photographic portraiture, because it was less expensive and faster to produce.
  • Rinhart, no. 119.
  • Modern handwritten note in case: Slave nanny/white child image came from an estate sale somewhere in the flat lands delta area of Arkansas. Likely from one of the following Arkansas towns: Helena, West Memphis, Forest City, Elaine, Brinkley, Cotton Plant, Clarendon, Pine Bluff.
  • Purchase; Bruce Kusrow; 1994; (DLC/PP-1994:035).
  • Forms part of: Ambrotype/Tintype photograph filing series (Library of Congress).
  • Published as "Nursemaid with her charge" in When they were young : a photographic retrospective of childhood from the Library of Congress / Robert Coles. Carlsbad, Calif. : Kales Press ..., c2002, p. 85.
  • Exhibited: When they were young, Library of Congress, 2002-2003.
  • Exhibited: "Only skin deep" at the International Center for Photography, N.Y., 2003-2005.
  • Exhibited: "Called to the Camera: Black American Studio Photographers" at the New Orleans Museum of Art, 1 Collins Diboll Circle, City Park, New Orleans, LA 70124, September 15, 2022-January 8, 2023.
• Subjects:
  • African Americans--Women--1850-1860.
  • Children--1850-1860.
• Format:
  • Ambrotypes--Hand-colored--1850-1860.
  • Group portraits--1850-1860.
  • Portrait photographs--1850-1860.
• Part of: Ambrotype/Tintype filing series (Library of Congress)
• Bookmark This Record:
     https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/99404291/

View the MARC Record for this item.

The Library of Congress generally does not own rights to material in its collections and, therefore, cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material. For further rights information, see "Rights Information" below and the Rights and Restrictions Information page ( https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/rights.html ).

• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on publication.
• Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ppmsca-80097 (digital file from original, case open) LC-DIG-ppmsca-80098 (digital file from original, case closed front) LC-DIG-ppmsca-80099 (digital file from original, case closed back) LC-USZC4-5251 (color film copy transparency)
• Call Number: AMB/TIN no. 1321 [P&P]
• Medium: 1 photograph : ruby ambrotype, sixth-plate, hand-colored ; 9.0 x 8.1 cm (case)

• Call Number: AMB/TIN no. 1321 [P&P]
• Medium: 1 photograph : ruby ambrotype, sixth-plate, hand-colored ; 9.0 x 8.1 cm (case)
• Access Advisory: Original served only by appointment because material requires special handling. For more information see (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/info/617_apptonly.html)

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

   • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.

     As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)

   • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.

2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

   • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.

   • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.

3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.