Carte de visite

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/carte-de-visite

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the patent holder?André Adolphe Eugène Disdéri, Paris, 1854
2. What is the key innovation?Multi-lens camera enabling cost-effective mass production of portraits
3. Why were carte de visite pictures so popular in the 1860s?They were popular because they were cheap and easy to make. A special camera could take eight pictures at once, so many people could get their own portrait without spending a lot.
4. How did people use carte de visite to stay friends?People would trade and show their cards to friends and family. Putting them in albums let people remember who they knew and share pictures with visitors.

Carte de visite (CdV): A small, formal visiting card featuring a photograph, popular in the mid-19th century for exchange and collection.
Democratization of Photography: The process by which photographic technology and its products became more affordable and accessible to a wider population.
Victorian Parlor: The main reception room in a Victorian home, often used for social gatherings and displaying personal collections like photo albums.
Social Ritual: A customary or ceremonial act or procedure, such as the exchange of visiting cards or photographs.