Portrait of Elizabeth Morris Canby [later, Mrs. Charles Grubb Rumford](1848-1936)

DateProbably 1860-1862

Photographer Joseph Jeanes (active 1853-1867)

MediumAmbrotype in leather-covered, velvet-lined case having a brass foil preserver (mat)

DimensionsOther (closed case exterior): 2 7/8 x 2 3/8 x 5/8in. (7.3 x 6 x 1.6cm)

Credit LineGift of Beatrix T. Rumford

Object number2009-168

DescriptionAn ambrotype image of a young woman seated in a chair, her proper right arm resting on two books on the table beside her, her hands slightly clasped near her waist. Her dark hair is parted in the center, and braids appear to either side of her head, caught up at the back of her head. She wears a dark checked dress with a scalloped white collar, with a brooch in the center; a bracelet on either wrist. The caser is stamped leather, velvet-lined, and a stamped brass foil mat holds the image behind glass within the case; a hook secures the case shut at the side.
Label TextSeveral different types of photographic images were popular during the nineteenth century. This particular example is known as an ambrotype, meaning a wet collodion negative on glass, with a piece of dark fabric behind it to enhance viewing of the image. In contrast, a tintype (or ferrotype or melainotype) is a direct positive image on a sensitized iron base, and a daguerreotype is made on a silver-plated copper base.

The case that holds this image is typical for the period but is a type that more often enclosed daguerreotypes. Similar leather or composition cases held different types of images and frequently were interchanged.

Elizabeth Morris Canby was photographed about 1862, several years before she married Charles Grubb Rumford in 1875. She was born to Samuel and Elizabeth Clifford Morris Canby of Wilmington, Delaware. This image of her is nearly identical to another in the collection (1985.510.1, whose case liner, however, is unmarked).
MarkingsStamped in the velvet case liner is: "[J.] JEANE'S/415/MARKET ST/WILMINGTON DEL". Compare with the stamped mark on the liner of 2009-164.

A typed label adhered to the case's velvet lining reads: "L. M. Canby."

ProvenanceDescended in the family of the subject to CWF's donor. The exact line of descent is undocumented but may have been: from the subject to her son, Samuel Canby Rumford (1876-1950); to his son, Lewis Rumford II (d. 1997); to his daughter, Beatrix Tyson Rumford, who was CWF's donor.