Unknown photographer. Ann Whiting, ambrotype photograph (c. 1850s-60s). Dimensions: 72 x 64 x 10mm. Private collection

Unknown photographer. Unknown Woman Reading an Embossed Book, tintype photograph (c. 1860s). Dimensions: 100 x 60mm. Private collection.

Credit: Private collection

Photographs of blind and visually-impaired people reading embossed text begin to circulate around the mid-nineteenth century. Whilst some of these can be associated with particular institutions, little biographical detail is known about these two women. Both ambrotype and tintype photographs were inexpensive to produce and were popular photographic forms at the mid-nineteenth century (the ambrotype was supplanted by the tintype in the 1860s). The inscription on the back of the ambrotype reads ‘Ann Whiting, nurse and friend, 1820 to 186-‘, suggesting this may have been taken as a memento for a friend. The book she reads consists of both printed and embossed text.

Object 28 Description:

This object is a photograph in a gilt frame. The photograph itself depicts an older woman of about 50 years who is seated, facing forward, in an interior location (behind her left shoulder is a detail of a fireplace). She wears a white lace bonnet and a dark full-sleeved gown, and her eyes are closed. A book rests on her lap, and both her hands are placed on the text, her fingers touching the paper.

Object 29 Description:

Credit: Private collection

This object is a photograph of an older woman, about fifty years of age. She is seated in an interior location. She is dressed in a long, full-sleeved jacket, buttoned from the neck to the waist, worn over a long full-length skirt, all in a dark, silk material. Her eyes are open and look white. She holds a book with her left hand on her knee: her right hand rests on the edge of the book, her index finger stretched out touching the paper.