Abstract: A result of the technical innovation of wet collodion (1851), which allowed shots to be multiplied an infinite number of times, photocards are a source as precious as they are little used by to the historian. Using different examples, this study seeks to interpret what is a social phenomenon as much as it is a technical innovation. Linked to processes of individuation and distinction, photocards were quickly taken up by all social groups and generations from the mid nineteenth century to the First World War.
