2 1/4 x 3 5/8 in. CDV on cardstock mount (toning, light soiling/spotting throughout, possible pen mark to right edge, wear to mount corners). Subject identified in ink on mount recto: "Amy Smith, aged 17. 1876." Photographer's imprint on verso along with ink inscription reading, "died March 23d 1878." Bust portrait features the teenaged Smith wearing a plaid dress, her hair pulled back with a headband. 

The index of Philadelphia death certificates from 1803-1915 returned data for an African American woman named Amy Smith who died and was buried in March of 1878, at the age of 19. Her burial place is listed as Harmonial Cemetery, likely the burial ground then-owned by African Friends to Harmony, a mutual aid society founded in 1826. The society sought to provide a place for low income African Americans to be buried with dignity, and between the years 1861 and 1882, over 200 people were buried at the site, located at 41st and Chestnut Streets. A portion of the burial site was purchased in 1986 as a vacant lot by the University of Pennsylvania, which only recently became aware of the cemetery's existence. Source: Belefanti, Chantale. "Monument." Philadelphia Tribune, December 2, 2020.