(NEW YORK.) Photograph album of the New York State Senate on the eve of the Civil War. 35 salt print photographs, each about 5 x 4 inches oval, laid down on original plain mounts, almost all with autograph signature of sitter below. 4to, decorative gilt morocco, moderate wear, with name of Senator Volney Richmond of Rensselaer County embossed on front board; front hinge split; binder's tag on front pastedown. [Albany, NY], [1860]
This album includes New York's governor, lieutenant governor, and senate clerk, plus all 32 men who served in the 1860-1861 New York State Senate. Among the notable sitters are:
Governor Edwin D. Morgan, soon to be a Union general in the Civil War
Francis B. Spinola, who soon served as a Union general in the Civil War and was later the first Italian-American in the United States Congress.
Richard "Slippery Dick" Connolly, a former auctioneer and Boss Tweed associate who later fled the country during a corruption investigation.
John Henry Ketcham, who also became a Union general in the war.
Nathan Lapham of Peru, NY, an active participant in the Underground Railroad.
