An Adams Express Company delivery wagon photographed as a trade advertisement appears in this CDV by E. P. & Wm. Kellogg, Photographic Artists, 279 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut, produced on a mount bearing the imprint of A. Whitton, Carriage Maker, Bloomfield, Connecticut, dating to the 1870s or 1880s. The combination of photographer and carriage maker imprints on the same card identifies this as a promotional photograph commissioned by Whitton to document a completed wagon built for one of the country's most prominent express delivery companies.

The wagon is photographed outdoors against a wooden barn wall, showing a four-wheeled express wagon with tall spoked wheels, a slatted cargo bed, and a padded driver's seat at the front. The words "Adams Express Co." are painted in large letters across the side panel, and the wagon's ironwork hardware and wheel construction are clearly rendered. The ground beneath is unpaved dirt and gravel.

The Adams Express Company was one of the dominant freight and package delivery companies in the United States throughout the Civil War era and beyond, operating an extensive network of routes across the eastern states. Carriage maker trade CDVs documenting named commercial clients are uncommon survivals and carry significance both as advertising artifacts and as documentation of period vehicle manufacture.

The reverse bears the decorative imprint of E. P. & Wm. Kellogg, Photographic Artists, 279 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut, with the notation "Negatives Preserved" and penciled catalog notations at upper left and right.