Portrait of Two African American Women

The images of these two African American Women was taken in the photographic studio calles Burges. It was located on 212 and 214 Santa Fe Street. This kind of card was called cabinet card. First introduced in the 1860s, cabinet card photographs were similar to cartes-de-visites, only larger. Measuring approximately four inches by six inches and mounted on cardstock (similar to cardboard), cabinet card photos got their name from their size—they were just the right size to be displayed on a cabinet. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1870s through the 1890s. Many cabinet cards feature the name and location of the photographer printed on the front of the card underneath the picture. Some have fancy backmarks advertising the photographer (this trend increased towards the end of the century when advertising became commonplace). The Ada Tharpe Photo Album, circa 1870 - 1925, PH038. This photo album was found in an abandoned freight forwarding facility in Kentucky. A worker charged with clearing out the facility noticed that the album contained historic photographs and took it to his local library. The librarian in Kentucky contacted UTEP Special Collections about transferring the album to the UTEP library after she noticed that many of the photographs were taken by El Paso Photographers, The album included rare photographs of African Americans in the border region during the late nineteenth century, Most of the images are not identified.