Unknown photographer, Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters, between 1863 and 1865, Photograph: quarter-plate ambrotype, 13.9 x 16.4 cm, Library of Congress Collection
This photograph of an African American Union soldier and his family was taken during the Civil War. It is an example of an ambrotype, an early mode of photography slightly cheaper than a daguerreotype, which required a frame to protect the glass plate of the image.
The unidentified sitters embody the Victorian-era values of family and fiscal responsibility that were important to free African Americans in border communities during the Civil War. The image would have served as a record of military service, as much as a documentation of kinship.