Offered here is a beautiful cabinet card portrait of a very pretty young woman photographed by Fuller of Albert Lea, Minnesota. The sitter is shown in a classic late 19th-century studio pose, seated with arms folded and resting on a rustic studio prop, possibly meant to simulate a natural setting. She wears a wide-brimmed hat, a patterned dress with a decorative collar bar pin, a bracelet, and small earrings. Her long hair falls over her shoulder in a carefully arranged style typical of the period. The portrait has a soft, elegant studio lighting effect and is a particularly appealing example of Victorian portrait photography. The photographer was Joseph A. Fuller (1851–?), an early Minnesota photographer. Fuller was born in Walworth County, Wisconsin, and worked as a photographer in Decorah, Iowa, and Chatfield, Minnesota, before moving to Albert Lea in 1873, where he established his photographic studio. His studio operated for many years and produced cabinet cards, tintypes, and other photographic formats, serving the residents of Albert Lea and the surrounding Freeborn County area. Albert Lea, Minnesota, where this photograph was taken, is located about ninety miles south of Minneapolis and was named after Albert Miller Lea, a topographer with the U.S. Dragoons who surveyed the area in 1835. By the 1870s and 1880s, Albert Lea was a growing Midwestern town, and photographers like Fuller played an important role in documenting its residents and families. Based on the mount style, typography, and photographic presentation, this cabinet card likely dates to the mid to late 1880s (c1885-1890). The cabinet card is in very good antique condition. The photograph itself is clear with good contrast and detail with only minor surface wear. The mount has gold beveled edges. The reverse is blank and shows some light surface wear and minor discoloration near the lower area, typical for a cabinet card of this period. Overall, the cabinet card is very clean and attractive portrait of a very pretty girl in her teen years. See Scans.
This cabinet card is available for purchase at my store, The History Peddler, for $65.00 at auction.
Interested collectors may view the listing here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/336507878225
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
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