American Historical Ephemera & Photography

2 1/8 x 3 3/8 in. CDVs on cardstock mounts, each with blindstamp of "J.P. Ball" at lower left, with the studio location cut off, indicating that the mounts were likely trimmed (prints in very fine condition, displaying rich tonality). Subjects include the famed orator and abolitionist, Wendell Phillips (1811-1884), shown holding a top hat in his hand, and an unidentified woman. 

James Presley Ball (1825-1904) is one of the most renowned African American photographers, at one point owning the largest photographic gallery west of the Appalachians. When visiting White Sulphur Springs, Virginia in 1845 he met John B. Bailey, an African American Daguerreotypist from Boston where he acquired the passion and skill of photography. He opened a studio in Cincinnati later that year, and though it was unsuccessful, he continued his art with studios in Pittsburgh and Richmond and traveled as an itinerant Daguerreotypist. In 1849, he reopened a studio in Cincinnati. He hired his younger brother Thomas Ball to work as an operator, and in 1852 hired his future brother-in-law Alexander Thomas to work with him. By 1857, their gallery was one of the grandest in the United States attracting notables including Frederick Douglass. In 1887 Ball was chosen as the official photographer of a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation held in Minneapolis-St. Paul. In 1888, he moved to Helena, Montana with his son where he operated a studio for several years before moving again in 1892 to Seattle.