Back to Results
During one of his three terms in the House, New York Representative John Chanler had this carte-de-visite made at C.D. Frederick’s grand photography studio in New York City. The studio, emblazoned with a sign declaring it a “photographic temple of art,” was likely the first place in the United States to offer the carte-de-visite format. Charles Fredericks himself imported the technology from France in 1859. The calling-card sized photographs soon became wildly popular. Celebrities, public figures like Chanler, and everyday people alike ordered packets of the little cards.
History, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives, “John Winthrop Chanler Carte-de-Visite,” https://history.house.gov/Collection/Listing/2005/2005-171-000/ (April 10, 2021)
Office of the Historian
Office of Art and Archives
Attic, Thomas Jefferson Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
(202) 226-1300
