Early Texas Carte de Visite

Chappell, Odna

[TEXAS CARTE DE VISITE]. Photographic portrait of Odna M. Chappell (?) at age 15

Belton and Dallas, TX: Hillyer Photographers, 1889 or after. Original photograph CDV (162 x 105 mm) on Hillyer stock (extremities worn, one small tear in photograph, for which see images). Good. Item #4013

Interesting Texas photograph of a young woman; on the verso in an inscription (in extremely faint pencil) "Odna M. Chappell [?], age 15." It has been impossible for us to locate biographical information about this individual.

Hillyer Studio was among the foremost cabinet card photographers in Texas during the late 19th-century. H.B. Hillyer (1835-1903) is credited with making some of the earliest photographs on paper in Texas. He moved from Austin to Dallas in 1887, branching out to Belton in 1889. "Hillyer's photographs won many awards at state fairs. For many years, as official photographer for the state of Texas" (SOURCE: TSA Handbook, online).

Hillyer's CDV with both Belton and Dallas studios on the imprint are uncommon.

From the Dorothy Sloan Collection of Women in the West.

Price: $50.00