Albumen cabinet card portrait of a young woman identified on the reverse in pencil as “Mrs. O.D. Fairbanks,” the wife of Adrian, Michigan photographer O.D. Fairbanks, circa 1890s. The sitter is shown in three-quarter profile wearing a high-collared satin dress and lace-trimmed hat, posed against a softly graduated studio background typical of the period. The mount bears the printed imprint O.D. Fairbanks, Adrian, Mich.

Portraits of photographers’ spouses are distinctly uncommon and offer a direct connection to the operation of a nineteenth-century photographic studio. Such images often represent informal or personal work outside normal commercial production and provide insight into the private lives of working photographers.

Standard cabinet card format with studio imprint on the mount and manuscript identification on the reverse.