The Salomon family photograph album contains 55 photographs of friends, family members, and religious and political figures compiled by the family of Haitian President Lysius Salomon.
The album (30 x 22.5 cm) has embossed brown leather covers, gilt edges, and a metal clasp; it was produced and copyrighted by English firm T. J. Smith, Son, & Co. under the product name “Album Arbora.” A gilt-print index accompanied by a quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on pg. 2 lists the locations of 13 decorative illustrations of various “Flowering Shrubs” found within the album.
Photographs mainly consist of carte de visite and cabinet card studio portrait photographs of various men, women, and children taken between the 1860s and 1880s. Also present is a souvenir from the funeral of a young Frenchman named Pierre Bertagne who passed away in 1925 at the age of 25 (between pgs. 2 & 3; includes a portrait of the deceased). Works of Haitian, French, English, German, Jamaican, Italian, Curaçaoan, Puerto Rican, and American photographers are represented. Black, white, and mixed subjects are included, and most individuals are unidentified. Eight portraits of President Salomon appear throughout the album; also present are photographic reproductions of illustrated portraits of Pope Pius IX (pg. 3), Italian statesman Giuseppe Garibaldi (pg. 7) and Prime Minister of Madagascar Rainilaiarivony (pg. 9) as well as a photographic portrait of Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy (pg. 10). Numerous portraits of Catholic priests are also included.
Besides Lysius Salomon, other members of the Salomon family that may possibly be represented in the album include his second wife Florentine Salomon (pgs. 11, 15, and loose image between pgs. 40 & 41), daughter Ida Salomon Faubert (loose image between pgs. 40 & 41 and loose cabinet card between pgs. 42 & 43), and grandson Raoul Faubert (ca. 1920s real photo postcard, loose between pgs. 24 & 25).
Several photographs include inscriptions in French. Many of these inscriptions indicate that a photograph was given as a souvenir to either President Salomon himself or to Mrs. Salomon (presumably Florentine Salomon). For instance, on pg. 19 a portrait made in 1882 of a French priest of “Abbé de Aldrovandy” in Paris bears an inscription addressed to “Monsieur le General Salomon, President de la Republique D'Haiti,” indicating that the subject desired to have a fellow priest named Mathieu send this photograph to Salomon upon his death; a second inscription (presumably written by Mathieu) states the gentleman pictured has passed away and that his wish is being fulfilled by the portrait being sent to Salomon. Pg. 21 includes portraits of two women with inscriptions made out to “Mme La Presidant” and “Mde. Salomon” respectively, as well as a portrait of a young black man bearing an inscription in French that translates to: “Gratitude to our respectful and revered Father Le Duc de Saint Lous du Sud, President of the Republic of Haiti.” Also present on pg. 31 is a cabinet card portrait of the President of the Dominican Republic Fernando Arturo de Meriño with a verso inscription in Spanish that translates to: “To his Excellency General Salomon, President of the Republic of Haiti, his loyal friend Fernand A. de Merino Puerto Plata, February 5 1882.”
For conservation and preservation purposes, facsimile reproductions of each photograph have been put in place of the original photographs to replicate the arrangement of the album as it appeared when received. The original photographs are housed separately within the album container.
Louis Étienne Félicité Lysius Salomon was born in 1815 to a prominent black family in Les Cayes, Haiti. Following political unrest in 1843, the Salomon family was forced into exile in Jamaica until returning to Haiti after Faustin Soulouque seized power in 1847. Salomon served as Soulouque’s Minister of Finance until the latter was deposed in 1859. After once more living in exile, Salomon returned to Haiti again in 1879 and became President. While President, he engaged in numerous modernization ventures but also faced several coup d’états attempts and was ultimately forced to resign in 1888. He died on October 19th 1888 in Paris, France.
Florentine Félicité Salomon née Potiez was born in Saint-Denis, France, in 1837. She and Lysius Salomon were married on August 10th 1872 in Kingston, Jamaica. Their daughter Gertrude Florentine Félicité Ida Salomon was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 1882; she later became known as Ida Faubert, the prominent French-Haitian writer. It has been speculated that Ida may have actually been the daughter of Lysius Salomon and Jeanne Marie Léonie Potiez Salomon (1856-1924), Florentine’s daughter from a previous marriage.
