Late 1800s Cabinet Card Showing a Mixed-Race Group of Workers

New York City: Oscar Muller Mercantile Photograph company, 1800. Photograph measuring 4 ¾ x 7 inches mounted on 5 x 8 inch cardstock. Some creasing with a marginal tear on the left side; else near fine.. A photograph of ten workers, at least two of whom are African-American, posing outside their place of business. The men’s location is unknown, as is their occupation, though several wear heavy rubber aprons and large rubber boots and a partly-obscured sign behind them reads (in part) “yard must be kept clean”. The Oscar Muller company seems to have been operative in the latter part of the 19th century, when occupational segregation was commonplace, making this a somewhat unusual workplace for its time.