Student's Album of Photographs and Autographs from Eastman Business College

New York, 1897. Hardcover. Fine. Black morocco, "Autographs" stamped in gilt on upper board; 164 x 200 mm; contains 55 personalized photographic stamps of students, friends, and faculty; each is signed and many include an inscription in beautiful calligraphic script, including a few in Japanese; one is annotated by the owner, Ernest G. Simon. A stock certificate from Eastman College Bank is tipped in at rear.

During the 1890s, a local photographer, Charles Gallup, made a practice of photographing Eastman College's students and staff, then copying their images on Genelli or Hayatt multiple-lens cameras. The resulting miniature albumen stamp photos were perforated and gummed, then provided to each student for placement in their handmade graduation albums.