P. W. (Perry) Poff was born in Virginia, (probably Floyd), about 1854, to Lewis W. and Nancy Poff. Before 1900, he married Nellie Mullins (1873-1968). They had several children. Until about the mid-1890s, Poff ran a photography studio in Pocahontas, Virginia. By 1898, he and his family relocated to Bluefield, Mercer County, West Virginia, where he ran a new studio until the 1920s. Poff died after 1930 (1934?).

Prior to the use of cartes de visite, individuals used calling cards–cards with an individual's name engraved on the front. These cards were meant to be left with individuals one had visited. While these calling cards were quite popular in the mid-1800s, they were replaced by cartes de visites–small paper and cardboard cards with a photograph–with the improvements in photography during the latter part of the nineteenth century. Typically, these cards depicted an individual or a couple, and had the name(s) of those depicted on the picture.