James Conway Farley collection of cabinet card photographs

This collection contains seventeen albumen photograph cabinet cards on cardstock mount of portraits taken by African American photographer James Conway Farley during his time at Davis Studio in Richmond, Virginia, and later at Jefferson Fine Art Gallery at 528 East Broad Street, Richmond, Va. Eight of the cards are from the Jefferson Fine Art Gallery and eight are from Davis Studio.

The photographs are notable as a work of James C. Farley, one of the first successful Black photographers in the United States. Born to enslaved parents in Prince Edward County, Virginia in 1854, he moved to Richmond in 1861 and later began work in the chemical department at the C.R. Rees Photography Company. In 1875, Farley was hired by the G.W. Davis Photography Gallery at the objection of the other white employees whom Davis discharged.

After twenty years with G.W. Davis, Farley opened his own studio, The Jefferson Fine Art Gallery, in 1895. Farley gained national recognition for his photography and his studio was patronized by both white and black customers. He is last recorded as a photographer in Jersey City on a 1910 census. Farley's work was widely celebrated and showcased at various exhibitions including the World Industry and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans.