The R. W. Butterfield Princeton College Class of 1866 carte-de-visite album, compiled by Roger W. Butterfield, contains studio portraits of various men, women, and children.
The Princeton College Class of 1866 carte-de-visite album (23.5cm x 18cm), compiled by Roger W. Butterfield, contains 198 cartes-de-visite and 3 tintypes. The brown leather cover has gold floral designs imprinted on a raised portion of its cover; the central, sunken part of the cover has the title "Princeton College Class of '66" and the name "R. W. Butterfield" imprinted in gold. The title "Album" is printed in gold on the spine, and the volume has just one of its two original metal clasps. The book has two pages of biographical information about the members of Princeton College's Class of 1866. The photographs are credited to photographers from both the east and Midwestern states.
The vast majority of items are studio portraits of men and women of varying ages, photographed individually, in pairs, and groups. The album includes four outdoor group photographs of young men, presumably students, posed on a lawn, and in front of buildings. Of note is an outdoor photograph of a posed group with guitar, pipes, canes, and two men in shirt sleeves boxing. Many of the photographs are autographed including those of University of Michigan professors James V. Campbell and Thomas M. Cooley. Several portraits of children include one of a man and boy, the man smoking a pipe, and one of three girls, and a commercially produced image of "Rebecca," the emancipated slave from New Orleans. Other cartes-de-visite are pictures of a painted portrait, a statue, Minehaha Falls, and several grave monuments; one lithograph shows an unidentified religious building. One loose carte-de-visite is laid into the album.