15th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Date: Between 1861 and 1865
This tintype shows Captain Oran Curtis, to the left, with members of the 15th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Company F. Captain Curtis was the father of U.S. vice-president Charles Curtis.

15th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry
Date: Between 1860 and 1870
This tintype shows Captain Oran Curtis, to the left, with members of the 15th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Company F. Captain Curtis was the father of United States Vice President Charles Curtis.

8th Kansas Volunteer Infantry
Date: 1862
This tintype shows members of the 8th Kansas Volunteer Infantry, Company E. Soldiers in the tintype are: (standing) Elisha D. Rose, James Hunter, Volney Brown, Henry Davidson, (kneeling) Lewis V. Bryan, Richard Russell, William Wendall, and Cyrus Grant.

A Simmerwell [Simerwell] relative
Date: Between 1860s and 1880s
Cased sixteenth plate tintype of a Simerwell relative who lived in Kansas City. Possibly a cousin of Sarah Simerwell who was related to Robert W. Simerwell. Robert Simerwell was a Baptist missionary to Native Americans. For a time he was located in Shawnee County, Kansas.

African American cowboys
Date: Around 1865
This studio portrait from a tintype shows an African American cowboy (left). The ethnicity of the second man (right) is less clear. The location is unknown.

Agnes Johnston
Date: Between 1850s and 1900s
This is a sleeved tintype portrait of Agnes Johnston (1855-1885), wife of John McCrum. She was a sister of William Agnew Johnston. She moved with her husband John from East Oxford Township, Oxford County, Ontario, Canada to Minneapolis, Kansas. She died in Minneapolis in 1885 shortly after giving birth to their son Johnston McCrum. The baby died a few days after his mother.

Alexander Caldwell home in Leavenworth, Kansas
Date: Between 1885 and 1890
This is a tintype showing Alexander Caldwell's home in Leavenworth, Kansas. Born at Drakes Ferry, Pennsylvania, in 1830, Alexander Caldwell came to Leavenworth in 1861 and worked in the freighting business. Later, he was involved in manufacturing and banking. Caldwell, a Republican, served in the U.S. Senate from March 4, 1871 to March 24, 1873. He resigned from office under a cloud of corruption in 1873 and pursued his business interests in Leavenworth and Kansas City until his death on May 19, 1917.

Allen Williams
Date: Between 1865 and 1870
A tintype showing Allen Williams who lived and farmed near Auburn, Shawnee County, Kansas. He appears in the 1865 Kansas State census, age 20, born about 1841 (other censuses lists his birth year as 1838), and he was born in Tennessee. Between 1875 and 1880 Allen Williams married Armilda C. Benning. According to the national and state censuses, Allen and Armilda lived most of their lives in Auburn, Kansas.

Ann McCafferty Bennett
Date: 1868
Cased sixth plate tintype portrait of Ann McCafferty Bennett.

Armilda C. Benning Williams
Date: Between 1870 and 1875
A tintype showing Armilda C. Benning Williams who lived near Auburn, Shawnee County, Kansas. She appears in the 1870 census, age 22, born 1848, and she was born in Missouri. Between 1875 and 1880 Allen Williams married Armilda C. Benning. According to the national and state censuses, Allen and Armilda lived most of their lives in Auburn, Kansas.

Austin McDowell
Date: Between 1850s and 1860s
Cased sixth plate tintype portrait of captain Austin McDowell. McDowell was the uncle of Mrs. Belle Patterson and the grandfather of Austin Patterson.

Barbara Ketchum
Date: 1875
Mounted tintype portrait of Barbara Ketchum, daughter of Lewis Ketchum a Wyandotte Indian.

Belle and Edith Coffeen
Date: Between 1880 and 1885
This is an unmounted tintype portrait of Belle and Edith Coffeen, daughters of William G. and Mary Coffeen.

Bell family of Harveyville, Kansas
Date: 1858-1930
Several photographs of members of the John and Elizabeth LaVars Bell family of Harveyville, Kansas. Their children Minnie Bell, John Clyde Bell, Lelia Bell, Blanche Bell Cox, Grace Bell, and Reuben Glenn Bell are pictured, as well as several grandchildren.

Benjamin Franklin Mudge
Date: Between 1861 and 1865
Tintype portrait of Benjamin Franklin Mudge, 1817-1879, who was the first State Geologist of Kansas. In 1862, geologist Mudge was invited to deliver a series of lectures before the Kansas legislature. The body passed legislation to organize a state geological survey and decided to make Mudge the state geologist, "an honor," he said, "entirely unsought, yet thoroughly enjoyed." Mudge was elected professor of geology and associated sciences at the Kansas State Agricultural College. He published the first "Geology of Kansas," a 65-page report issued in 1866, and the first geological map of the state in 1875. Born in Maine in 1817, Mudge grew up in Massachusetts, attending academies there and graduating from Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1840. Mudge studied natural science and history, but also completed the classical course and studied law. He was admitted to the bar and embarked on a political and legal career, but Mudge always maintained his interest in geology and natural history. During the summer of 1861, in order to demonstrate his antislavery convictions, Mudge moved his family to Quindaro, Wyandotte County, Kansas, a bustling river town with a reputation as an important point on the Underground Railroad and as a stronghold of the free-state movement during the preceding years. After leaving the agricultural college in 1873, Mudge collected specimens for Yale University and was named geologist under the State Board of Agriculture. Mudge also was a founding member of the Kansas Natural History Society, which became the Kansas Academy of Science. Mudge, who gathered the nucleus of the college's mineral collection, was later remembered as a one of the foremost pioneer scientists of Kansas. A biographer said he was "outstanding not only as a great explorer and collector of geological and paleontological specimens," he was also "recognized as an enthusiastic and inspiring teacher and was highly esteemed by the people of the State."

Benjamin Remington and Sarah Jane Burger Remington
Date: 1860s
Cased sixth plate ambrotype and tintype portraits of Benjamin Remington and Sarah Jane Burger Remington.

C.M. Coulson
Date: 1860s
Mounted tintype portrait of C.M. Coulson, St. George, Kansas, a member of the 11th Kansas Volunteer Regiment.

Calista Pridey and Charles
Date: Between 1875 and 1880
This is a tintype showing Calista Pridey and her son, Charles.

Caroline Shafer Brown
Date: Between 1850s and 1900s
A tintype portrait of Caroline Shafer Brown.

Celinda and Lydia Hickok
Date: Between 1850 and 1880
Unmounted tintype portrait, possibly of sisters Celinda and Lydia Hickok.

Charles Journeycake
Date: Between 1850s and 1890s
Unmounted tintype of a portrait of Charles Journeycake.

Charles Plummer Tidd
Date: 1859
A tintype of Charles Plummer Tidd, one of John Brown's followers that escaped from Harpers Ferry.

Charles Robinson
Date: Between 1850s and 1890s
This unmounted tintype copy represents first Kansas Governor Charles Robinson.

Charley Curtis
Date: Between 1865 and 1870
This is a tintype of Charley Curtis as a small boy. We are not able to determine if this is Charles Curtis that represented Kansas in the United States Senate and served as the 31st Vice President of the United States.

Clara Curtis
Date: Between 1870 and 1875
Here are two tintypes of Clara Curtis.