Imagine maintaining a home with 112 windows! The majority of those at the Bellamy site are double-hung windows with separate upper and lower sashes raised and lowered by heavy weights inside the window casings on each side. And, they were installed 165 years ago! Over time, wear and tear has caused the sash cords on some of the windows to snap.  

The job of fixing the windows is no easy task. Last year, six windows were targeted for restoration. In the photos shown here, Bellamy Museum volunteer handymen Angelo Cimini and Steve Long carefully removed the exterior window trim in order to take out the original windows. Once the windows were removed, they opened the access panel deliberately built into the window frame that houses the window weights. This system allows the windows to open smoothly and easily by counterbalancing the weight of the sash via a rope over a pulley. When the window goes up, the weight goes down.

The word ambrotype comes from the Greek ambrotos, meaning “immortal,” and typos, meaning “impression.” The name is fitting. These fragile photographs—made on glass and easily broken—were intended to preserve a likeness forever. In their quiet, ghostly beauty, ambrotypes represent a pivotal moment in the history of photography and in how people chose to remember themselves and their loved ones.

Popularity and Historical Context
​The ambrotype was introduced around 1854, when James Ambrose Cutting patented a version of the process in the United States. It quickly gained popularity and remained widely used throughout the 1850s and 1860s. During this period, ambrotypes filled the gap between the earlier daguerreotype and later photographic formats such as tintypes and paper prints.
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By the 1870s, ambrotypes fell out of favor. Newer photographic methods were cheaper, faster, and more durable, making them more convenient for both photographers and consumers. Despite their relatively brief period of popularity, ambrotypes played a crucial role in expanding photography beyond elite circles.

Who Owned Ambrotypes?
​By the mid-nineteenth century, photography was no longer reserved solely for the wealthy elite. Ambrotypes were less expensive than daguerreotypes, making them accessible to working- and middle-class families. For many people, an ambrotype was the only photograph they would ever own.

Farmers, laborers, and their families often commissioned a single portrait to document themselves or their household. Soldiers departing for the American Civil War frequently had ambrotypes taken to leave behind with loved ones, while sweethearts and engaged couples exchanged them as tokens of affection. Children’s portraits were also common, commissioned by parents who wanted to preserve an image of a child at a particular stage in life.

Wealthier individuals also embraced ambrotypes, particularly in the 1850s when the format was considered modern and fashionable. For them, ambrotypes served as both status symbols and tools of legacy, preserving family lineage in a tangible form.

Enslaved People and Ambrotypes
​Enslaved individuals were photographed during the ambrotype era, but they rarely owned these images. Most ambrotypes depicting enslaved people were commissioned by enslavers, often to document what they considered property or to portray enslaved individuals in carefully staged, sentimentalized roles.

Some ambrotypes were created for abolitionist purposes, intended to humanize enslaved people and support anti-slavery efforts, particularly in the North. After emancipation, formerly enslaved people increasingly sought portraits of themselves and their families. These images served as powerful assertions of dignity, identity, and belonging in a society that had long denied them those rights.
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Before the Civil War, enslaved individuals generally lacked the money and legal standing to commission their own photographs. Even when portraits existed, ownership usually rested with the person who paid the photographer. Rare exceptions may have occurred in urban areas, but they were not typical.