INSPIRED BY MY PERSONAL COLLECTION OF 19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS (CABINET CARDS & CARTES DE VISITE FROM EACH OF THE 50 STATES PLUS THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA) & ARMED WITH THE SLIMMEST OF INFORMATION— A PHOTOGRAPHER’S NAME, AN APPROXIMATE DATE, A CITY OR TOWN — I TOOK A DEEP DIVE INTO THE ONLINE ARCHIVES OF STATE AND LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, COLLEGES AND LIBRARIES, DIGITIZED PUBLICATIONS OF THE PERIOD, WIKIPEDIA AND WIKIPEDIA COMMONS IMAGES, AND CONSTRUCTED A PORTRAIT OF THEIR LIVES AND TIMES, IN ESSENCE, AN EMPHEMERAL HISTORY OF AMERICA ON THE CUSP OF MODERNITY, IN SOME WAYS STRIKINGLY DIFFERENT THAN TODAY AND IN OTHER WAYS ALARMINGLY THE SAME.
— MAX SINGER
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