['South', 'South middle'] before 1882

These albumen prints, by James Notman, are mounted in a book dating from the late 19th century, and depict buildings at Yale College. The albumen process, popular at the time, involved coating paper with egg white before applying a silver nitrate solution. This created a light-sensitive surface, which, when exposed to light through a negative, produced a detailed photographic print. The tones we see here -- warm browns and sepia -- are characteristic of the albumen print. But there's more to it than just the chemistry. Consider the labor involved: preparing the paper, exposing the print, and then carefully mounting it into a book. Each step required skilled hands, reflecting the value placed on craftsmanship and precision in the Victorian era. These images were not just documentation, but carefully crafted objects, and it is important to remember this when understanding the full meaning of this artwork.