The gentleman featured in this cabinet card is clearly a member of a band. He is wearing a band uniform and holding his trombone. Note his cap and bow tie. The studio which produced this image was Babb’s Ground Floor Gallery in Shelbyville, Illinois. James A. Babb (1855-?) and Jacob P. Babb (1857-1908) were the proprietors of Babb’s photographic studio. James was a native of Missouri and worked on a farm until 1879 when he came to Sullivan, Illinois and worked in a photographic gallery. He then returned to Missouri (Jefferson City) and worked for a photographer named S. Winans. He then moved to Shelbyville where he worked several years in the grocery business until he and his brother Jacob, established a Photography business. James Babb married Miss Mollie E. Oliver of Shelbyville. Jacob Babb was also a Missouri native and started his work life as a farmer. At age twenty-four he began working in the lumber industry and in 1883 he began a career in photography with the same S. Winans previously mentioned. His next job change occurred when he partnered with his brother in the Shelbyville gallery. In 1887 Jacob married Miss Anna Sampson of Shelbyville. The major source of information concerning the Babb brothers was the “Illinois Genealogy Trails” section on Shelby County. This cabinet card portrait is in good condition (see scans).
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A colorized version:
http://goo.gl/Ee0pxA
I don’t know what kind of weird hybrid instrument that is but it isn’t a trombone. This is one for the music historians.
Thanks for the correction and comment. I should have just called in a brass instrument rather than a trombone. I share your sentiment about the need for a musical instrument historian to identify this “weird” instrument.
There was a lot of design experimentation in the 19th century. This is the closest I’ve seen to yours
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/conservatoire/research/hic/about-the-hic/instruments-in-the-collection/the-lancelot-key-collection
but I still have no name for it.