[Police photographs of criminals] [graphic]. [between 1870 and 1889]

ArchivalResource

Black, James Wallace, 1825-1896,. [Police photographs of criminals] [graphic].

[Police photographs of criminals] [graphic]. [between 1870 and 1889]

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/299512212

A series of portraits of criminals taken for the Boston Police Department (138 white men, 8 black men, and 6 white women). The portraits are on carte de visite mounts and are inserted into slots on both sides of a wooden rack. The racks were hung in police stations for the identification of criminals by police and victims. The photographs are stamped at the top with a 3-digit number that corresponds with a number carved above the slots on the wooden rack. Some of the photographs have the phrase "Inspectors Office, Boston, Mass." etched into the negative. The verso of the carte de visite mounts contains handwritten ink inscriptions giving the name, age, and physical characteristics of the criminal as well as the crime he or she was charged with and the arresting police officers' names.

152 photographic prints mounted in wooden frame rack : cartes de visite ; rack 110 x 85 cm.

Boston Athenaeum