ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the tintypes, also known as ferrotypes, of infants, sitting alone, looking vulnerable and confused in front of the formal studio backdrop. It considers awkwardness of an infant of five or seven months sitting alone in a fancy, straight-backed, velvet-upholstered chair. Tintype studios cropped up on main streets, in army camps, and in county fairs, offering Americans their first affordable chance to walk away with their own small, durable, one-of-a-kind portrait in hand only minutes later. Tintype portraits gained their popularity during the Civil War. They worked as objects of remembrance not only because they divided and distributed personhood in space but also because they were considered an effective means for representing one's self as an individual. As tintypes became more convenient, people began to use photographic portraiture as a vehicle for exploring their own personal identity. As the tintype became even more accessible, they commonly recorded people at playon vacation, with their pets, or dressed in costume.
