Antique photograph album with "Our Friends" on the celluloid front cover. The embossed title is in gold, amidst flowers in white, green, and pink. Brass clasp. All edges gilt. Back cover in blue velvet. 26.4 cm x 20.4 cm x 5.0 cm (10.4 in x 8.0 in x 2.0 in). With the exception of the worn gilt edges where the pages would be turned, the exterior is in beautiful condition. Two photographs somewhat faded; two with paper adhering to top edge; one with browning to right side of mount. Interior album pages with occasional minor foxing and small stains, a few small tears to the mounts, overall condition very good.

The album has a December 25, 1894, Christmas gift inscription in Norwegian on the inside front cover. The penciled inscription reads, 'Erindring afra din veninde Hannah', or 'Remembrance (or Memory) of your friend Hannah.' The album has 14 leaves and 40 photographs. The album has slots for 24 cabinet cards, of which 19 of these are filled with cabinet cards. Four cabinet card slots are filled with five smaller photographs, including a pair of small photographs. There is one empty cabinet card slot. There are sixteen carte-de-visite slots at the end, and they are all filled. The known dates of the photographs are from 1885 to 1900. The album has annotations (sometimes illegible) written in blue ink on the bottom of some of the cabinet cards, and occasional annotations in black ink on the leaves from the son or daughter of the man named 'Dad'. The most common locations are Menomonie, Wisconsin; Minnesota; and Norway.

The album belonged to a family with surname Lund, as 'Dad' is seen posing in a photograph with his brother 'A. C. Lund'. A photograph of 'Dad' from 1885 that I was able to slide out was taken by John T. Long, in Menomonie, Wisconsin. The genealogical site Ancestry often gives the Norwegian ancestry of people but not detailed family trees that would indicate siblings. My best guess for 'Dad' is John Hanson Lund, who married Anna Larson in 1887. He died in 1898. The reason for this guess is that the first photograph in the album is of cousin Clara Larson Lund of Minneapolis and St. Hilaire, Minnesota. She married Louis Lund in Minneapolis in 1889. According to Newspapers.com, Clara Lund visited relatives in Menomonie in 1899. It is possible that two Lund brothers (Louis and John) married two Larson sisters (Clara and Anna), although this circumstantial evidence is rather tenuous. The giver of the album was likely Hannah Quarn Magnell (1866-1945), pictured in the album. However, there is also a mixed race woman named Hannah who is also a possible giver, although she seems less likely as the gift inscription is in Norwegian. There are three photographs of this latter Hannah, one photograph with a woman who is obviously her sister.

As of 2016, the town of Menomonie, Wisconsin, had 18.1% of its population with Norwegian-American ancestry.

Annotations: Cousin Clara 1900; Hannah Quarn - 1895; 'Helen, Anna + Emma 2; Friend 1890; Dad 1895; Hannah; Rotgards at Magnells 1896; Friend; cousin; Anna + Helga 1899; Carl  1900  Ole; Arthur  1900  Helga; Clara  Selma; Matilda; uncle; Norway cousins; aunt; Dad; Dad 1885; grandmother in Norway; uncle  A. C. Lund; all full cousins of Dads; cousin; cousins; Clara; Martin + (?); aunt in Norway; about 1888, Dad + Unkle A. C. Lund; Regie Lee in Downsville Wis, friend.

The following are the names and locations of photographers in the album. I slid out three or four photographs when it seemed safe and there was reason to do so, but left most in place. All photographs were returned to their original slots.

Rake O. Helsom; Menomonie, Wisconsin: 12 photographs
L. O. Haugen; Menomonie, Wisconsin: 1 photograph
John T. Long; Menonomoie, Wisconsin: 1 photograph ('Dad' in 1885)
Thomas Ordemann: Menomonie, Wisconsin: 1 photograph ('Clara')

Freestone, Artist; Barron, Wisconsin: 1 photograph ('Dad' in 1895, possible location from another photograph found online)

Downsville, Wisconsin: 1 photograph ('Regie Lee')

Gustav Halmrast; Minneapolis, Minnesota: 1 photograph
Halmrast Brothers; Minneapolis and Stillwater, Minnesota: 1 photograph
Anton Larson; Minneapolis, Minnesota: 1 photograph
William R. Miller; Minneapolis, Minnesota: 1 photograph

David Collins; St. Hilaire, Minnesota: 2 photographs

A. P. Holana; Grand Forks, North Dakota: 1 photograph

W. F. Kelly; Tacoma, Washington: 1 photograph

Petrine Arneson; Christiania (Oslo), Norway: 3 photographs. Arneson (1843-1922) was a female photographer.

Oslo fotografiske Atelier: 1 photograph

Unidentified Norwegian locations: 2 photographs

Photographer and location unidentified: 9 photographs (although in a few cases a good guess can be made).

The album will include my notes, photograph by photograph. It was purchased from a seller on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.