Álbumes de tarjetas de visita en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX en México como documento para la Historia Social

Abstract

Carte de visit albums were part of the daily life of the economically dominant class of Mexico from 1860 to the end of the 19th century. The transcendence of the photographic houses and photographers of this time in Mexico has been studied in relation to the artistic performance of the portraitists; the conclusions obtained from the study of images as artistic expression have been done from the perspective of art history. However, the social role of the photo-album of carte de visit in this area has not been investigated; this project analyzes the information provided by the photo-albums in order to achieve a better understanding of the Mexican bourgeoisie and their social context in the second half of the 19th century.

In this investigation, the proposed analysis was carried out from the methodological perspective of social history through a comparison of five photographic albums preserved at the National Photograph Archive of the National Institute of History and Anthropology (INAH); this including a review of photographs and albums as a visual document within the historical context that originated them and in relation to other associated documentary sources. The findings suggest that the structure and the meaning of family and social relations in this sector can be found in the arrangement of this kind of albums; a particular way of “seeing” the world through the positivist ideas of the time.