SELECTIONS from the American Museum of Photography™

Mathew Brady Studio (New York)

Albino Family

Albumen carte de visite, circa 1860

Phineas T. Barnum hired the Lucasie Family as an attraction for his famed Museum in New York in 1857. Barnum’s Museum was located across the street from one of Brady’s galleries, and many of Barnum’s acts were photographed by the Brady studio. The E. and H. T. Anthony Company of New York produced cartes de visite like this one from Brady’s negatives, and distributed them nationwide.

An additional element of Barnum’s highly-advanced marketing campaign included the distribution of hand-colored lithographs, often copied from photographs. One such print, published by Currier and Ives, shows the subjects of this image (plus an additional child) and is titled “THE WONDERFUL ALBINO FAMILY. RUDOLPH LUCASIE, WIFE AND CHILDREN, FROM MADAGASCAR. They have pure White Skin, Silken White Hair and Pink Eyes!! HAVE BEEN EXHIBITED AT BARNUM’S MUSEUM, N.Y. FOR THREE YEARS.”

The Currier & Ives print is available online through the University of Michigan at http://www.si.umich.edu/Art_History/demoarea/details/1949_1.143.html