Content Description

1 photograph album containing 50 black and white carte de visites and tintypes collected by Ida Constans. Ida Louise Constans (1868-1956) was the daughter of French immigrant Philip Constans (1836-1902) who arrived in Last Chance Gulch in Montana in 1864. Ida Constans's mother, Elizabeth Herman Constans (1838-1924), was of German decent and born in Ohio. The three other Constans children were Caroline (1860-1861), Henry Philip (1861-1889), and Alfred Edward William (1867-1933). The Constans family eventually settled in Unionville, Montana where Philip Constans owned a general store and worked as the postmaster. The majority of the photographs in her photo album are of family members but it also includes friends. Portraits in the album include: Philip Constans's sisters; Philip Constans's mother, Catherine Constans; Elizabeth Herman Constans; Alfred Constans; cousins; Elizabeth Constans's parents, Ida Constans; Henry Constans; Caroline Constans; Captain Herman and his wife; Christopher Constans; Robert Roberts; Tillie Hill; Ignace Miller and his wife; August Lehman, Nellie Lehman; Minnie Neidenhofen; John Renoux; and Caroline Olson. Carte de visites include studio portraits by: Edgar H. Train of Helena, Montana; Matthewson & Co. from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia; Charles Falkenstein from Sarrebourg, France; J. Lohmuller of Offenburg, Germany; Whitney's Gallery of Saint Paul, Minnesota; Mary J. Rust of Hastings, Wisconsin; F. Carpenter & Co. of Defiance, Ohio; Canning & Rust of Hastings, Minnesota; and J. Celrod's of Louisville, Kentucky. The photographs all date from about 1854 to about 1880.

Acquisition Type

Gift

Provenance

Gift of Jack R. Little.

Restrictions Apply

No