The Maine State Archives has almost 2500 identified images of veterans of the Civil War. Many more in our holdings have not been identified. These cartes de visite (CDV) photographs were usually an albumen print mounted on a card and measured about 2 ½ wide x 4” high. First patented in 1854, these inexpensive photos became very popular during the Civil War. During that war, Maine Adjutant General John Hodsdon issued a circular requesting Maine’s officers to send in copies of their photographs. Since then, many more CdVs have been donated to the Maine State Archives, including the Tom MacDonald and the Hosmer-Low collections, as well as many individual images donated by descendants of these veterans.
https://archives.maine.gov/repositories/3/archival_objects/319075
