Nanny, Chattanooga, Tennessee,

October 21, 1893

This object is a cabinet card, a photograph—most often a portrait—mounted on stiff cardstock and slightly larger than its predecessor, the carte de visite. Although this cabinet card features a Black woman in a crisp, light-colored dress holding a white child in the crook of her arm and gripping the hand of another by her side, the back of the card only identifies the boys: "Guy 3 yrs 7 mo's" and "Geoffroy 1 year old." It is possible that the woman inscribed and kept the card herself; however, a more likely explanation is that she was employed as the nanny for the two boys, and her omission from the inscription reflects a sense that she was merely a prop in the photograph rather than an equal subject. This interpretation speaks to the emotional claims of the domestic laborer, whose anonymity as a servant is juxtaposed with the apparent intimacy she shared with the children.