During a recent organizing project at the IGSI office at the Hoffman Library in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, volunteers discovered a small, 3½" x 5" album containing 57 photos, of which approximately 26 are tintypes.

The photos are in very good shape, and the icing on the cake is an "Index to Portraits" listing 34 names, shown below.

The album was likely donated to IGSI with other family history material, but the donation record failed to mention the photo album. Thus, no one knows who donated this album to IGSI or the year it was donated (although it was likely within the last 20 years).

Unfortunately the mystery deepens because the handwriting on the index is not always legible. One can make out the surname "Whipps" several times, with possible first names James, David and Charles.

• Are the 34 people listed in the index related to each other?
• Where did they live? 
• What is the connection, if any, to Minnesota?

Some portraits (like the one below left) suggest Civil War-era. Others appears to be 1870s or later. Any ideas? Please share them with blog@irishgenealogical.org.