Theodor Mommsen (1817-1903) is pictured in the Cabinet card photographed by Giacomo Brogil in Firenze, Italy. Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer. He is considered the greatest classicist of the 19th century. He was a great scholar of Roman History. He won the Nobel Prize in 1902. He was a member of the German and Prussian Parliaments. Mark Twain wrote of meeting him on his European tour of 1892. The photograph is from the Photographs of Celebrities collection of Charles L Ritzmann.
This terrific Cabinet Card is a portrait of a Judge in Chicago, Illinois. The clarity and detail of this image is remarkable. The photographer was C. D. Mosher of Chicago, Illinois. Mosher was an important early photographer of Chicago and made national news for an ambitious endeavor he undertook. The New York Times wrote a story in 1885 about Mosher’s project to collect 10,000 portraits of prominent residents of Chicago. His goal was to finish collecting the images by 1888. The photographs were placed in a special safe and placed in a vault provided by the city to only be opened for the nations bicentennial in 1876. Perhaps this Cabinet Card is one of the photographs that was locked away for Mosher’s effort to preserve history. To view other cabinet cards by Mosher, click on the category “Photographer: Mosher”.
Benjamin Wade (1800-1878)) was born in Massachusetts. He worked as a laborer on the Erie Canal, taught school and then studied and practiced law in Ohio. As a member of the Whig Party he was elected to the Ohio State Senate and served two terms. He later became an Ohio court judge. Wade joined the Republican Party and in 1851 was elected to the US Senate. He became a Radical Republican along with Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner. He fouhgt against the Fugitive Slave Act and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. He was very radical and supported women suffrage, trade union rights and equality for African Americans. In 1861 as chairman of the Committee on Territories he witnessed the defeat of the Union Army at the First Bull Run and was nearly captured by the confederates. During the American Civil War, Wade was extremely critical of Lincoln. After the war he pushed for African American units in the Regular Army. He was also instrumental in the impeachment of American President Andrew Johnson. Wade was considered by some as a good choice for Ulysses S Grant’s running mate but Grant refused. This cabinet card is from Matthew Brady’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C..
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 