Restrictions to Access

The items in this collection are extremely fragile due to their age, the materials used to make them, and the fact that they are all unique originals. Ambrotypes have no equivalent of a negative and cannot be physically reproduced. Researchers may be presented with a digital copy instead of original materials if the Photographic Archivist has determined the original should not be handled.

Restrictions to Use

No image in this collection may be reproduced without the permission and consent of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Restrictions to Use

These items are not covered by copyright and are in the public domain.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Ambrotype Collection, #P007, year image was made [when known], North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library.

Acquisitions Information

The items in this collection came to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives from a number of different and unrelated sources. Items in the first two boxes came to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives from the Miscellaneous Pictures Collection (1800-2000) in the Southern Historical Collection (#4090) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996. Items in the third box came to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives from the William Starr Myers Papers (1893-1947) in the Southern Historical Collection (#3260) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996. Items in the fourth box came to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives from the Williams Family Papers (1779-1948) in the Southern Historical Collection (#879) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996. Items in the remaining three boxes came to the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives from unrelated donors.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Persons:
• Grimes, Bryan, 1828-1880.
• Harris family.
• Hunt, Meshack F.
• Marford family.
• Myers family.
• Said, Omar ibn, 1770?-1863 or 4.
• Starr family.
• Umstead family.

Places:
• Iredell County (N.C.)--Photographs.
• Murfreesboro (N.C.)--Photographs.

General Subjects:
• African Americans--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• African Americans--North Carolina--Photographs.
• Ambrotype--North Carolina.
• Ambrotype.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 4th.
• Confederate States of America. Army. North Carolina Infantry Regiment, 5th.
• Family--North Carolina--Photographs.
• Generals--North Carolina--Photographs.
• Muslims, Black--North Carolina--Photographs.
• North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Photographs.
• North Carolina--Photographs.
• Slavery--North Carolina.
• Slaves--North Carolina--Photographs.
• Slaves--Photographs.
• Wesleyan Female College (Murfreesboro, N.C.)--Photographs.
• Wesleyan Female College (Murfreesboro, N.C.)--Students.
• Women college students--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Women college students--North Carolina--Photographs.
• Women--Education--North Carolina--History--19th century.

• Portrait Collection (P002), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives
• Daguerreotype Collection (P008), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives
• Tintypes (P009), North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives
• William Starr Myers Papers (3260), Southern Historical Collection
• Harris Family Papers (879), Southern Historical Collection
• Miscellaneous Pictures (4090), Southern Historical Collection

Ambrotypes were produced using an early photographic format originally developed in England by Frederick Scott Archer in 1852. In 1854 the format was patented in the United States by James Ambrose Cutting. The format replaced daguerreotypes due to the relative ease with which they could be developed and the superiority of the images produced by the process. At the base is a piece of glass that is coated with an iodized collodion solution that is then coated with a light sensitive silver solution. The plate is then exposed to light, via a camera, and the image (negative) becomes visible after further processing. The back of the exposed/developed glass plate is covered with a black covering (paper, paint, or cloth) and then encased with a piece of glass on the front. This format was in use around the world from 1852 into the early 1880s.

Collection contains 22 images taken of individuals seated or standing for portraits, circa 1852-1880. Individuals appearing in the images have been identified whenever possible. Known individuals are listed as subject access points, as are identified locations. All of the ambrotypes are encased. Included are an image of North Carolina Black Muslim slave Omar Ibn Said; members of the Starr, Marford, and Myers families; a slave owned by the Marford family; Harris and Umstead family members; students at Wesleyan Female Institute in Murfreesboro, N.C., from the 1850s; and Civil War-era images of General Bryan Grimes of the 4th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, members of the "Iredell Blues," and Meshack F. Hunt of the 5th North Carolina Infantry Regiment.