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The Ontario carte-de-visite album contains formal portrait photographs of men, women, and children, including members of the compiler's family. Many of the photographs were taken in southern Ontario cities such as Brantford, Simcoe, and Woodstock.

The Ontario carte-de-visite album (15cm x 11cm) contains 33 carte-de-visite and 9 tintype photographs of numerous men, women, and children, some of whom are identified as members of the compiler's family. The formal studio portraits were taken by photographers in cities such as Brantford, Simcoe, and Woodstock, Ontario, in the mid- to late 1860s. Some family members are identified by their relationship to the owner, including a sibling, a pair of grandparents, and "Grandmother Merrill." Some subjects were photographed in pairs, and some held objects such as hats. A few of the cartes-de-visite and tintypes have hand coloring, and two cartes-de-visite have colored background designs printed directly onto the cards. A gold design is stamped on a raised portion of the album's front and back covers, which are made of pebbled brown leather.

This album contains photographs taken by the Philadelphia photographic business of Robert Newell & Son in the late 1860s. Images include views of Philadelphia buildings and street scenes; views of Cape May, New Jersey; a few scenes in New York City, studies of tableware; portraits; collages; groups of fire-fighters and equipment; and reproductions of paintings and engravings.

This album (35cm x 27cm, 50 pages) contains 163 images, including architectural views, landscape photographs, portraits, reproductions of paintings and engravings, objects, and commercial advertising displays. The volume, which contains an image of Robert Newell's photographic wagon, an advertising montage made up from images in the album, and an advertising montage for "R. Newell & Son, Artistic Business & Landscape Photographers," may have been used as a sample book for the Newell firm. Many of the photographs are dated in the 1860s, prior to the 1872 date that Robert's son Henry joined the business. The album was in an unbound and fragmented condition when acquired, later reassembled in Mylar sleeves with modern binding by the Clements. The page sequence is based on evidence of the original binding and the contents. Some images appear to have been removed from the album, including a portrait of Boston Corbett, the killer of John Wilkes Booth. Captions in pencil appear to have been added later, possibly by Robert or Henry Newell.

Many photographs are views of individual buildings and streets in Philadelphia including Independence Hall; the Philadelphia Mint; Girard Bank; the Arch Street Theater; plus other commercial buildings, churches, homes, and newly constructed residential areas. Items of interest include photographs of the procession of a visiting Japanese diplomatic delegation; the aftermath of a boiler explosion on Samson Street; canals and locks along the Schuylkill River; a high bridge under construction over a canal; an early oil well; images of commercial products and goods such as silver, cutlery, guns, and a display by importers Field, Langstroth & Co.

Photographic portraits include pictures of unidentified individuals, some likely actors and actresses; a reproduction of a painting of "Bishop Potter;" and a small full-length portrait of the bare-knuckle boxer John C. Heenan. The album also contains photographic montages of United States presidents and Civil War generals; a reproduction of a patriotic painting of George Washington welcoming Abraham Lincoln to heaven; a photograph of "Liberty Indignant" -- a patriotic tableau made up of a woman dressed as Liberty, with a portrait of Lincoln, a flag, and eagle.

The album contains reproductions of unidentified paintings, genre scenes, and engraved portraits. A view of the Fulton Bridge over Broadway may be the only New York City view in the album.

Of particular note are a picture of Robert Newell's photographic cart at Cape May, New Jersey, with a stereo camera visible; several images of vacationers, bathers, cottages, hotels, the railroad office, and an ice cream parlor at Cape May; a rare view of the interior of the Union Volunteer Refreshment Saloon in Philadelphia; a view of a crowd at the "rebel wigwam," the temporary convention hall built opposite Girard College for the first national political convention after the Civil War; and several pages of small images of Philadelphia fire-fighting companies and their equipment.

Of importance in the history of photography is a print from 1865 of what is believed to be the first experiment with indoor flash photography by J. C. Browne, showing a family group in a living room (Taft, pg.202).

Shadowed Liveries of ye Burning Sun is a carte-de-visite album containing pictures of monuments, buildings, and people in present-day Belgium, Germany, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland.

Shadowed Liveries of ye Burning Sun is a carte-de-visite album (16cm x 12cm) containing 47 pictures of monuments, buildings, and people in various European countries; one additional item is an unidentified silhouette. The volume's red pebbled cover has a metallic gold border and raised geometric designs; the book also has two metal clasps. A formal title, "Shadowed Liveries of ye Burning Sun. Animum Pictura Pascit Inani," is written in red and blue Gothic letters on the first page. With the exception of a silhouette and studio portrait at the back of the album, each photograph is captioned with its location and subject; the captions are written in red Gothic letters.

Most of the photographs show religious buildings, statues and memorials, castles, natural scenery, and street scenes in numerous cities and towns in present-day Germany, Belgium, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. Some of the pictures were taken in large cities and others in German spa towns. Monuments include statues of prominent German historical figures and memorials at Waterloo. Pictures from Scotland show Lochs Ness and Lomond, as well as several castles, and one view from Frankfurt features the Hauptsynagoge, which has since been destroyed. The album contains six portraits of men and women in Belgium and in Bad Oeynhausen and Minden, Germany, including one of a female lace maker, two of women in "Antwerp costume," and three of boys and girls in "gala costume" posing next to a spinning wheel, with vibrant hand coloring. Two other items show a woman standing next to a milk cart and a man standing next to a bread cart, both pulled by dogs. The subjects of the silhouette and final studio portrait are unidentified. The silhouette is dated January 31, 1890. The studio portrait was taken in a Dublin studio.