Album belonging to Walter Brinckerhoff Jr. 13 pages of autographed sentiments; 31 still leaves each with an oval salt print portrait of a graduating student, mounted within a printed border, with facsimile signature and tissue guard; pages of sentiments from classmates to owner of album. (Quarto) 28.2x22 cm (11¼x9"), contemporary black morocco, gilt lettering on spine and front panel, gilt dentelles. Laid in is the pamphlet "Merit Roll, New York Free Academy, July 1854." and four duplicate salt prints.

Here are some of the earliest photographic portraits of higher education graduates in the United States. An experiment in higher education for the masses and one of the first tuition-free, municipal colleges in the United States, the Free Academy of New York opened in 1849. Seventeen young med graduated at its first commencement exercises at Niblo's Garden in 1853. This album includes written sentiments by the following professors: Horace Webster, Wolcott Gibbs, and Charles Edward Anthon. A few of the students became notable men, including the following: Elihu Dwight Church, a partner in the company founded by his father, that was to become the "Arm and Hammer Baking Soda" firm. He was a great book collector of Americana and his library included the manuscript of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography; Everett P. Wheeler, who became a prominent lawyer and civic reformer and was founder of the New York Bar; other prominent students include Charles B. Hayes and Henry A. Post.