• An opened case lined with red velvety material displays an ornately framed photograph of a woman with her hair pulled behind her head. Her gloved hand rests atop a table with a book on it.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Augustus Washington, Untitled (woman with books and cased image), n.d.

  • An old photograph of a person with curly hair wearing a blue dress. Their image is framed by intertwining vine-like gold structures.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Unidentified artist, Untitled (pin/pendant, woman with curls; verso, with sculpted hair) (recto), 1853.

  • Two snippets of hair encased in a translucent material and framed by a intertwining gold structures.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Unidentified artist, Untitled (pin/pendant, woman with curls; verso, with sculpted hair) (verso), 1853.

  • An opened case lined with red velvety material displays an old black-and-white photograph of a woman in a dress and a bonnet. In her hand is a suspended pendant.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Unidentified artist, Untitled (woman with large photo-pendant), 1850.

  • An opened case lined with red velvety material displays an oval-shaped black-and-white photograph of a woman with a child seated on her lap.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Mathew Brady, Untitled (woman with child on lap), n.d.

  • An ornate gold frame displays an old black-and-white photograph of a Black woman wearing a dress.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Unidentified artist, Untitled (woman with hair ribbon), n.d.

  • An old photograph of a Black man with a goatee.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Unidentified artist, Untitled (brooch, man with goatee), n.d.

  • An old and partially cropped black-and-white photograph of a Black family seated before a backdrop depicting a tree.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Unidentified artist, Untitled (family, painted backdrop), n.d.

  • An old photograph displaying a woman in a floral print dress with her hand atop a stack of books. The image appears in a gold frame.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Augustus Washington, Untitled (woman with books), n.d.

  • A hair band that displays an oval-shaped portrait of a young white boy.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Unidentified artist, Untitled (hair band, young boy), ca. 1865.

  • A pendant displays an old photograph of a white man in an ovular gold frame.
    Image Credit: Smithsonian American Art Museum, the L. J. West Collection of Early African American Photography

    Unidentified artist, Untitled (large pendant, young man), 1840–49.

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