Portrait of an Infant Wearing a Christening Gown, circa 1880

Professional photographers began producing cabinet cards in 1867. Consumers quickly preferred them over earlier cartes-de-visite, which were mounted on smaller cardboard stock. Through the early 1900s, Americans commonly exchanged and collected cabinet photographs--often to commemorate friends or family. This example, made in a photographer's studio around 1880, depicts a young child posed in a christening gown.