Photographic, Paper, and Textile Formats
Learn how physical format, process, mount, printing, paper, case, and construction constrain date and identity.
Daguerreotypes
Mirror-like silvered plates in cases, generally earlier than the war but sometimes retained as family and prewar military portraits.
Ambrotypes
Glass-plate images viewed against a dark backing, commonly cased and sometimes hand-colored.
Tintypes
Direct-positive photographs on thin iron sheets, produced in cases, paper mats, albums, and loose formats.
Cartes de Visite
Small albumen photographs mounted on card, often carrying photographer imprints, tax stamps, inscriptions, and album context.
Albumen Prints
Paper photographs made from glass negatives, including portraits, camps, battlefields, buildings, and later copy prints.
Stereographs
Paired photographs mounted for three-dimensional viewing, issued during and after the war in multiple editions.
Patriotic Covers
Illustrated envelopes with flags, eagles, slogans, portraits, political cartoons, and postal evidence.
Handwritten Letters
Personal and military correspondence analyzed through paper, ink, handwriting, postal routing, content, and related records.
Diary Formats
Bound diaries, pocket memoranda, account books, copied journals, and postwar recollections require different dating standards.
Discharge Papers
Official discharge certificates combine printed forms, handwritten service data, signatures, physical description, and endorsements.
Muster Rolls and Company Records
Large administrative sheets and books documenting personnel, pay, presence, casualties, and organizational history.
Newspaper Issues
Complete issues, extra editions, illustrated weeklies, bound volumes, and later reproductions must be separated.
Broadsides and Handbills
Single-sheet recruiting, political, casualty, auction, proclamation, and event printing intended for public display.
Map Formats
Pocket maps, newspaper inserts, atlas plates, field sketches, lithographs, and engineering plans carry different evidence.
Ribbons and Badges
Wartime presentation pieces, mourning ribbons, GAR badges, reunion souvenirs, corps badges, and later commemoratives.
Battle Flags and Fragments
Whole colors, guidons, presentation flags, documented fragments, later copies, and memorial textiles need institutional-level caution.