Woman and Child

Tintypes were an affordable way for middle and lower classes to have their portraits made. Due to their small size, they were easily mailed and mounted in albums. Tintypes remained in use until approximately 1880, when the gelatin-silver process became the dominant medium. This example is notable because of the sitters’ confident presentation of themselves as middle-class, a more sympathetic presentation than most contemporary depictions of African Americans. The identity of the sitters and the recipient of the photograph remain unknown.