MSS16964Farley, James Conway photograph of William CustaloJames Conway Farley photograph of William Custalo MSS 16964Ellen WelchAlbert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library

2026-06-09

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections LibraryP.O. Box 400110University of VirginiaCharlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110URL:

This record is made available under an Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons license.

Mention related collections MSS14793, ViU-2026-0053 (but it is not an addition)

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-08-12 00:00:36 +0000.Description is written in: English, Latin script.Describing Archives: A Content Standard Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library James Conway Farley photograph of William Custalo Max Rambod Farley, James Conway, 1854-1912 MSS 16964 Archival Resource Key /repositories/3/resources/1921 0.03 Cubic Feet One letter-size file folder c. 1895-1907 English 1 Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was a purchase from Max Rambod to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 4 March 2026.

Preferred Citation

MSS 16964, James Conway Farley photograph of William Custalo, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Related Materials

Related materials include MSS 14793 Virginia Photography Studios Collections, and ViU-2026-0053 James Conway Farley collection of cabinet card photographs.

Content Description

This collection contains an albumen photograph cabinet card of William Custalo (1840-1907), a successful Richmond-area businessman and proprietor of the Custalo House bar and restaurant. Custalo is captured in a suit with a watch chain, seated with his hand resting on a wicker chair. The portrait features the imprint of the Jefferson Fine Art Gallery, Richmond, Virginia.

The photograph was taken by James Conway Farley (1854-1912), one of the earliest successful Black photographers in the United States. Born to enslaved parents in Prince Edward County, Virginia in 1854, Farley moved to Richmond and entered the photography trade, eventually opening his own studio, the Jefferson Fine Art Gallery, in 1895. Beforehand, Farley spent twenty years working for the G.W. Davis Photography Gallery. The Jefferson Fine Art Gallery studio served a racially mixed clientele base. Farley's Richmond studio had closed by 1907, dating the photograph of William Custalo from circa 1895 to 1907. Farley is last recorded as a photographer in Jersey City, New Jersey on the 1910 census.

African Americans -- Photographs cabinet photographs African Americans -- Virginia African American business enterprises Max Rambod Custalo, William, 1840-1907 Jefferson Fine Art Gallery (Richmond, Virginia)