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In the wake of the Civil War, photographic memorabilia became very popular and companies began manufacturing "cabinet cards," images mounted on stiff cardstock. This new medium allowed for mass production and was designed especially for portraits. Early on, these keepsakes were displayed in drawing room cabinets — thus the source of the name.
In the image below at left, you can see the imprint of the photography studio embossed on the card, a common detail on studio portraits. The white embossed borders around the card indicate it may date to the 1890s.
The deceased child in this image is posed as if sleeping. This was a common device in postmortem photographs of children.
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The black card above at right is a classic example of a particular type, the mourning cabinet card, which was manufactured by several companies. These companies would send samples to the families of people who had recently appeared in the obituaries, mocked up with the appropriate birth and death dates and one of several popular memorial poems. The family could order the cards as is, or they could choose among various alternate styles detailed in the catalog. When a living image of the deceased (as in the example above) was not available, a seal could be chosen from a variety of options: masonic; Catholic, etc.
The cabinet card above was manufactured by H.F. Wendell and Company of Leipsic, Ohio, who would send an accompanying letter with the card that read:
"Dear Friend: This is a bright, glad, beautiful world... and yet its attractions now are, no doubt, unnoticed by you, for grim, merciless death has appeared in your midst and snatched from your companionship one of your loved ones.Your consolation is found in a consideration of the fact that your treasure is in heaven... 'Twill only be a little while until you will cross the dark river and join your companion among the hosts of the saved on the other shore. And until then you will find solace in some such thoughts as the above, and in testifying to your faithful memory of the departed. In no more appropriate way can you express this fidelity of memory than by the possession of one of our elegant cabinet memorial cards. We trust you will pardon the liberty which we take in submitting to you for your examination a sample of these cards. You will observe that it is neat, simple and attractive..."
Credit: (L) Courtesy of Bill Blanton, Billblanton.com; (R) Courtesy of the Riley family.
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