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Civil War Collecting

Being a so called collector is not a modern day phenomenon, even if it appears as such. There are collectors for just about anything you can think of; baseball cards, dolls, automobiles, military, stamps, coins, art, etc., etc., the list can go on forever years ago I knew a kid who actually collected light bulbs. To an extent, we can actually hold our Victorian era ancestors responsible for this passion. This 19th century time period was named after Queen Victoria's reign of the United Kingdom, which went from 1837 until her death in 1901.

The Industrial Revolution made the previously dull 19th century, explode with new inventions and opportunities, which in turn ignited the peoples thirst for knowledge. With technology constantly increasing in printing, the once limited books, newspapers and magazines, were now readily available to the common individual, even being delivered right to their front door. They could now see what was going on not only in their home towns, or across the country, but around the world. They could send a letter to a relative or loved one a thousand miles away, and they would have it in a week not email, but for them it was as instant as they could ever have imagined.

What affected just about every individual was the advancement in photography. It wasn't new, but in the past it was just a complicated process of capturing an image on glass or tin, and was only affordable to the rich and famous. With the invention of the carte de visite (French for visiting card), it was now possible for anyone to have their photograph taken. This new method allowed the image to be captured as a paper print and for $2.50 you could get a dozen of these cards. Now you could drop your CDV in an envelope and send it off to a distant relative who probably had no idea what you even looked like. But no doubt the largest utilization of these images was with the Civil War soldier, no one was certain of their future, but this would always remain as a cherished keepsake.

The newspapers and publishers would now be able to make engravings of these images and let the average person see what a famous general or politician actually looked like. They could now see the pyramids in Egypt, exotic animals, and the latest fashions from around the world. To our ancestors, this was something of value, not to be tossed out or recycled as we do today. They would meticulously cut out these pictures and use them to decorate their homes, often being framed.

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