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Title: [Portrait of an unidentified older man, who is blind, facing slightly right]
Description: Half-length portrait depicting an older man, balding, and with long white hair tucked behind his ears. His right eye is shut and his left eye is clouded over. He is seated and holds a walking stick in his right hand. He wears a medium-colored overcoat, button-down vest, white shirt, and black cravat., Pad: None., Mat: Nonpareil., Case: Leather. Lacking front cover. Octagonal shape within concentric circular patterns surrounded by scrolls., Purchased partially with funds for the Visual Culture Program.
Date: [ca. 1850]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Cased photos - unid. photo - unid. sitter - daguerreotypes [P.2019.7.1]

Title: [Portrait of an unidentified man, without his right eye, facing slightly right]
Description: Half-length, hand-tinted portrait depicting a man, with dark hair, cropped short on the top of his head, and longer and curled out near his ears. He misses his right eye and his right eye is slightly descended over the socket. He wears a dark-colored coat, V-neck, button-down vest, white shirt with high stiff collar, and black, horizontally-tied necktie with extended ends., Pad: None., Mat: Nonpareil., Case: Leather. Lacking front cover. Filigree-like ornaments within octagonal shape surrounded by scrolls., Purchased partially with funds for the Visual Culture Program.
Date: [ca. 1850]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Cased photos - unid. photo. - unid. sitter - daguerreotypes [P.2019.7.2]

Title: [Full-length portrait of an unidentified older woman seated in a wheelchair]
Description: Full-length, forward facing portrait of an unidentified older white woman, seated in a wheelchair positioned at a slight angle. Sitter has gray hair parted in the center and is attired in a dark-colored lace cap with lappets and a dark-colored, long-sleeved dress with a white collar. Her cheeks are tinted pink. She holds a book, with the spine towards the viewer, in her right hand on her lap. Her left arm is propped on the armrest. A small pouch-like bag hangs from the corner of the back of the wheelchair visible in the left of the image. The chair back is covered with a patterned cloth., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from photographic medium and attire of the sitter., Pink tinting on cheeks., Pad: Red velvet with a leaf in the center and decorative scroll border., Mat: Nonpareil., Case: Leather. Decorative geometric and leaf pattern in the center with leaves in the corners. Same design on verso.
Date: [ca. 1860]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department Cased photos – unid photo –unid sitter - ambro [P.2021.31]

Title: [Ralston family cased photograph collection]
Description: Collection of daguerreotype and ambrotype portraits, several by Norristown daguerreotypist William Stroud, portraying clergyman and founder of Oakland Female Institute James Grier Ralston, his wife Mary Anderson Larimore Ralston, their daughters, and his and his wife’s female siblings, and women teachers at the Institute. Contains bust-, half-, three-quarter, and full-length portraits of individual and pairs of sitters. Sitters are often seated, but a number of the portrait depicts sitters in a standing pose. The women’s and girl’s attire includes bonnets; off-the-shoulder bateau neckline dresses; high-neck, long-sleeved dresses with lace collars and cuffs; brooch and belt chatelaines; and earrings. Dresses worn by the female sitters are often a solid dark color, but occasionally are of a pattern design or light color. James Grier Ralston’s attire included broad bow ties, vests, jackets, and suits. Many of the images also contain props, including covered side tables, chairs, flowers, possibly an ambrotype, and a crumpled piece of cloth., Sitters in addition to James Grier Ralston and Mary Anderson Larimore Ralston include their daughters Anna Larimore Ralston, Ella Grier Ralston, Lilly Grier Ralston (who died at 11 months old), and Cora (Cara) Ralston; Institute music teacher Mrs. John Hunsicker, i.e., Fannie Henry Hunsicker (married by James G. Ralston); Mary’s sister and Institute graduate, Hetty Clark Larimore; and Institute teacher and sister of James, Agnes Caldwell Ralston; Institute graduate Martha (Mattie) Divine (Mrs. Fleming); and an unidentified woman., Posed portrait pairs include images of Mary Anderson Larimore Ralston and daughter Anna Larimore Ralston (P.2012.5.6) in which Anna sits in Mary’s lap with her mother’s hand on her head; and Anna Larimore Ralston and Ella Grier Ralston (P.2012.5.8) which Anna stands next to Ella who sits on a chair, while she rests her arm on a covered side table adorned with a basket of flowers; Anna Larimore Ralston and Fanny Hunsicker (P.2012.5.16) in which Fanny, seated, has her one hand at her hip and her other hand and arm around the waist of Anna who stands; and Hetty Clark Larimore and Mary Larimore Ralston (p.2012.5.17) in which the women are seated, side by side, and Hetty holds a bound object, possibly an ambrotype and Mary holds a crumpled white cloth., Title supplied by cataloger., Date inferred from photographic medium and age and attire of sitters., Photographers include William Stroud (Norristown, Pa.) and Theodore L. Chase (Philadelphia, Pa.)., Various-shaped mats, including oval, elliptical, double elliptical, and non pareil., Various colored pads, including blue, red, and maroon velvet or silk, several with embossing. Embossings include photographer’s imprints and/or imagery. Imagery includes floral and geometric designs, scroll work, and eagles., Primarily leather cases, and one thermoplastic case. Case designs vary, but are predominantly rose and mixed flower designs, in addition to geometric, scroll, and quatrefoil designs. Designs also include Pressed Flower, plate 154; The Delicate Roses, variant, plate 123; A Spray of Roses, plate 131; Mixed Garden Flowers, plate 133; Two Lilies, variant, see plate 112 and 113 in American miniature case art by Floyd and Marion Rinhart (Cranbury, New Jersey: A.S. Barnes and Co., Inc., 1969)., Majority of sitters identified by accompanying slips of paper with manuscript notes., Several of the images contain pink tinting on the cheeks of the sitters., P.2012.5.4, P.2012.5.8, P.2012.5.11-15, P.2012.5.21 contains daguerrean's imprint on pad or inside rim of case. Various imprints include: William Stroud, Norristown; William Stroud's Skylight Gallery, Norristown, Pa.; Stroud’s Ambrotypes Norristown, Pa., P.2012.5.6 contains dagurrean's imprint on pad: Theodore L. Chase, N.E. cor. Chestnut & Fifth Sts., Fannie Henry Hunsicker was a woman of Chinese descent. Official records are conflicting as to whether she was born in China, at sea, or in Connecticut., Several of the images contain weeping glass deterioration, tarnished plates, or other damage., Inventory of collection available at repository., See Sarah Weatherwax, "Revealing the Ralston Family," The Daguerreian Society Quarterly (July-September 2021), p. 3-6., Clergyman James Grier Ralston (1815-1880) founded Oakland Female Institute in 1845 in Norristown, Pa. Ralston studied at the Theological Seminary at Princeton and headed the Female Seminary at Oxford, Chester Country, PA before establishing Oakland. He married Mary A. Larimore (1822-1891) in 1842 and they had four children Anna L. (1848-1902), Ella M.(1847-1924), Lillie G. (1852-1853) and Cara G. (1856-1928), with Lillie dying in infancy. Ralston’s children were educated and/or taught at Oakland, as did his sister Agnes C. Ralston. The Institute operated until 1880 and the death of Ralston
Date: [ca. 1845-ca. 1855]
Location: Library Company of Philadelphia | Print Department cased photos - Ralston Family [P.2012.5.1-22]

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