Tanenbaum Photographic Case Collection

Donated in 2022 by Howard and Carole Tanenbaum, the Tanenbaum Photographic Case Collection comprises 756 thermoplastic and leather cases made to house and protect fragile nineteenth-century photographic media. The industry for Union cases, as they came to be known, flourished in New England during the 1850s and 60s. These durable enclosures, made with a thermoplastic compound and produced in quantity, quickly replaced the hand-made wooden versions available previously. The Tanenbaum Collection features representative examples of the large variety of case sizes and shapes produced during this period, which corresponded to the dimensions of common metal photographic plates, and were made available to the consumer in rectangular, octagonal, oval, or circular formats. The exterior covers of photographic cases illustrate the wide array of artistic decorative motifs standardized by various manufacturers. These include classical, mythological, religious, geometric, floral, and patriotic designs, as well as more generic, quotidian patterns.

While the Tanenbaum Case Collection was conceived specifically as a comprehensive compendium of the photographic cases in circulation, most also house nineteenth-century daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, or tintypes. The majority of the images are portraits of individuals or groups, and the collection includes examples of such subgenres as “hidden mothers” and occupational portraits, as well as rarer exterior views of landscapes and cityscapes. Some of the cases still contain personal items from their one-time owners, such as newspaper clippings or locks of a loved one’s hair, placed inside for safe keeping according to Victorian custom. These intimate and complex storehouses of memory have many stories to tell.