W.C. Thompson 1891 Cabinet Card | Reprint

This wonderful scene captures sailing on the Merrimack River in Amesbury in 1891 and is our first faithful replica of a "cabinet card" by William Cushing Thompson.

W.C Thompson (1839 to 1917) was born in Newburyport and operated at the Opera House Studio in Amesbury from 1869 to 1893 as well as the Globe Studio in Newburyport. The Amesbury Opera House as a grandiose structure at the corner Market & Main and during a terrible fire in 1899 when a number of  downtown buildings were lost.

Thompson was already working as an area photographer when in the 1860s and put his vocation on hold to enlist in the Union Army during the Civil War and served in Company A of the 48th Massachusetts Infantry. He mustered out as a Sargent and return to his beloved photography upon his return and became a prolific producer of Cabinet Cards, many of which are now housed in collections at the New York Public Library, Historic New England, and the Amesbury Carriage Museum. He passed away at age 78 in 1917 and is buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery.

These thick, cardboard back Cabinet Cards were introduced in London in 1863 and became popular in America in 1866 until 1900 to showcase portraits and engaging area views. Larger than the earlier carte-de-visite format, they were sized at 4 1/4" x 6 1/2 inches to make them easy to display on a cabinet or shelf. Our reproduction is sized at 6" x 4 1/4 to sustain the closest proportions to the original.