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Volume 6, Issue 1 - August 2008 |
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By Bob Zeller
For more than 140 years, two of George Barnard's finest stereo views showing Atlanta, Ga., as it was occupied by Sherman's troops in November 1864 have concealed in their depths a fascinating, hidden secret.
In one view, several Union soldiers have gathered around a four–person, S.D. Goodale & Sons commercial stereoscopic viewer on a tripod, which has been set up alongside the sidewalk bordering the foot of Whitehall Street. In the second view, at the left edge of one negative of the stereoscopic pair, a Union soldier is leaning over and viewing the 3D show.
Center for Civil War Photography member John Kelley, who has studied the Atlanta photos since 1978, discovered the device, and photohistorian and dealer George S. Whiteley IV identified it as a Goodale viewer.
In this remarkable detail from a stereo view by George Barnard of Unionoccupied Atlanta in November 1864, soldiers on Whitehall Street are gathered around a strange–looking device that, upon further investigation, has been identified as a commercial stereoscopic viewer on a tripod. (Library of Congress LC–B811–2709).
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| In this remarkable detail from a stereo view by George Barnard of Unionoccupied Atlanta in November 1864, soldiers on Whitehall Street are gathered around a strange–looking device that, upon further investigation, has been identified as a commercial stereoscopic viewer on a tripod. (Library of Congress LC–B811–2709). |
Although thousands of Civil War photographs were created in stereo, including hundreds of the most famous documentary images, actual evidence of the use of stereoscopic views in the field is extremely rare. I am aware of only two other representations of stereo viewing in the field—a carte de visite by Civil War photographer A. S. Morse published in Military Images in 1997, and an Edwin Forbes drawing that Kelley brought to my attention. Both show soldiers or civilians viewing a commercial stereo viewer on a tripod.
The discovery came together on May 29, 2008, beginning in the morning, when Kelley e–mailed me copies of the two images. "I came across some activity worth investigating," he wrote.
Kelley has been studying the Atlanta images since 1978, comparing and contrasting the changes in the urban landscape from 1864, as it was photographed by George Barnard days before it was burned by Sherman's troops, and 1866, when Barnard returned to take more photographs.
A modern photo from Paul Wing's Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years (1996, Transition Publishing) shows the S.D. Goodale & Sons four–person stereoscopic instrument. (From Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years).
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| A modern photo from Paul Wing's Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years (1996, Transition Publishing) shows the S.D. Goodale & Sons four–person stereoscopic instrument. (From Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years). |
In the first of many e–mails that day, Kelley said he had found "what appears to be a stereo camera" in one view, and in the other, "Barnard appears to have caught someone bending over looking through something."
Upon viewing the blowups, I recalled the Morse carte de visite of the stereo viewer on a tripod and that caused me to think that this object, too, might be a stereo viewer. I sent copies out to several photo experts and colleagues. No one thought it was a camera. One suggested that it might be a piece of surveying or engineering equipment. Several were skeptical that it could be a commercial stereo viewer, considering the time and place of the photograph, and the volatility of the situation in Atlanta.
The mystery was solved that evening after Whiteley weighed in by e–mail. "Having owned a Goodale viewer at one time, it really DOES look like one to me," he wrote. "I can't think of what else it could be."
At left is the full frame view of the right–hand image of Barnard's stereoscopic negative of Whitehall Street, showing soldiers gathered around the Goodale stereo viewer in the center of the photo. At right is a detail that has been lightened to better show a glimpse of a portion of the distinctive lettering on the side of the Goodale viewer. (Library of Congress LC–B811–2709).
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| At left is the full frame view of the right–hand image of Barnard's stereoscopic negative of Whitehall Street, showing soldiers gathered around the Goodale stereo viewer in the center of the photo. At right is a detail that has been lightened to better show a glimpse of a portion of the distinctive lettering on the side of the Goodale viewer. (Library of Congress LC–B811–2709). |
Whiteley referred me to a photograph of a Goodale viewer that was published in a book that was already sitting on my shelf, Stereoscopes: The First One Hundred Years, by Paul Wing. The photograph in Wing's book allowed me to almost instantly to match two important elements with visible elements of the device in the Atlanta photo, namely the distinctive, recessed oval–shaped eye pieces of the Goodale viewer, and the handle on top of the box.
As I continued to study the Atlanta photo, it also appeared to me that I could almost see some of the distinctive letters of the "MUSEUM" on the side of the box. If so, this would provide absolute proof that the device was a Goodale viewer.
I took my largest blowup and created a PDF file, which allowed me to blow it up even more without losing the image. Instantly, the letter 'S' and other partial letters became visible, and they possessed the same blocky type face as in the photograph in the Wing book. Kelley later was able to reveal the letters using by another method—by lightening the photograph.
A detail from a carte de visite by Civil War photographer A.S. Morse in the collection of L.A. Kite shows men in Cleveland, Tenn., viewing stereo views in a portable viewer on a tripod. (From Military Images, Vol. XIX, Number 2, Sept.–Oct. 1997).
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| A detail from a carte de visite by Civil War photographer A.S. Morse in the collection of L.A. Kite shows men in Cleveland, Tenn., viewing stereo views in a portable viewer on a tripod. (From Military Images, Vol. XIX, Number 2, Sept.–Oct. 1997). |
The viewer was manufactured by Samuel D. Goodale of Cincinnati, Ohio, who obtained his first patent for a multiple view machine on Feb. 5, 1861. The proprietor stood at one end of the machine, and after accepting payment, operated a turn screw that rotated the stereo views in front of the eyepieces. A show consisted of 12 views. There may be no way to discover what views were in the viewer that day on Whitehall Street, but the choices are limited only by one's imagination, and must include the possibility that the images were not considered suitable for mixed company.
The discovery of the viewer reveals a fascinating new element near the center of a photograph that is already rich with compelling detail. Behind the stereo viewer, a steam engine sits at the railroad depot, smoke seeping from its smokestack. Across the railroad tracks, disabled and convalescent soldiers sit atop box cars, waiting to be shipped back to Nashville. On the wall of the Intelligencer newspaper building at right, handlettered playbills advertise a "benefit" band concert, a "frolic" and other soldier entertainment to be staged at the nearby Antheneum.
In this detail from another Barnard stereo photograph of Whitehall Street in Atlanta (see page eight), a man can be seen bending over and peering into what appears to be the same viewer in the other photograph taken from the same vantage point. (Detail from Library of Congress Negative LC–B811–3613).
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| In this detail from another Barnard stereo photograph of Whitehall Street in Atlanta (see page eight), a man can be seen bending over and peering into what appears to be the same viewer in the other photograph taken from the same vantage point. (Detail from Library of Congress Negative LC–B811–3613). |
Kelley has incorporated the discovery into a fascinating PowerPoint program that uses the high resolution digital images created from the original negatives at the Library of Congress to provide a comprehensive view of Atlanta days before its total destruction. The heart of the city took on a different look as it was rebuilt after the war, as shown in the photographs of Atlanta that Barnard took in 1866 for his book Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign.
It's not out of the realm of possibility that the viewer in the Atlanta photos is the same viewer photographed by Morse in Cleveland Tenn., near Chattanooga. Morse was a photographer based in Nashville and affiliated with the Army of the Cumberland, which became part of Sherman's forces.
Kelley's remarkable discovery provides two more pieces of visual proof that 3D viewing not only was a staple of home entertainment in Civil War America, but also reached soldiers in the field.
By Bob Zeller
When Library of Congress Curator of Photographs Carol Johnson confirmed on Jan. 4 that three Civil War stereo photographic negatives were mislabeled, she also discovered three previously unknown scenes of the crowd gathering in front of the U.S. Capitol for the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln.
The discovery was triggered by a query to Johnson from library patron Carl Jennings, who questioned the labeling on three stereo negatives that are part of Alexander Gardner's collection of more than 1,100 3D war views.
In the minutes before the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1865, the vast crowd of soldiers and civilians assembles in front of the U.S. Capitol. This is the full frame of the right side of Library of Congress stereo negative LC-B811-1285.
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| In the minutes before the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln on March 4, 1865, the vast crowd of soldiers and civilians assembles in front of the U.S. Capitol. This is the full frame of the right side of Library of Congress stereo negative LC-B811-1285. |
Jennings noted that all three images appeared to show the same scene. However, one image, LC–B811–1284, was said to show the Grand Review in Washington in May 1865. The other two images, LC–B815–1285 and LC–B815–1286, were labeled as having been taken at President U.S. Grant's inauguration in 1869.
The CCWP has found that the mistakes date back more than 120 years—long before the Library of Congress obtained the original negatives in 1944. A list of the negatives published in the Congressional Record in December 1884, when veterans Arnold Rand and Albert Ordway owned them, identified all three images—1284, 1285 and 1286—as showing Grant's inauguration. (No record exists explaining how 1284 came to be misidentified as showing the Grand Review).
This is the full stereo negative of the third of three previously mislabeled Library of Congress negatives showing the crowd at Lincoln's second inauguration. In this view, the spectators have taken their places and the crowd is settled, leaving an open, rain–spattered lane in front of the Capitol. At right, a detail from this image shows rowdy civilians shouting and gesturing toward the podium. (Library of Congress negative LC–B815–1286).
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| This is the full stereo negative of the third of three previously mislabeled Library of Congress negatives showing the crowd at Lincoln's second inauguration. In this view, the spectators have taken their places and the crowd is settled, leaving an open, rain–spattered lane in front of the Capitol. At right, a detail from this image shows rowdy civilians shouting and gesturing toward the podium. (Library of Congress negative LC–B815–1286). |
As Johnson researched the issue, she noticed that an early Library of Congress negative index included the handwritten notation "Lincoln?" next to 1285 and 1286. When she examined the other two known photos of the crowd at the ceremony, she could see that all five images showed the same event—Lincoln's second inauguration.
Johnson was able to rule out the Grand Review because it did not pass in front of the Capitol. She ruled out Grant's inauguration because "the podium was set up differently" than the 1865 podium. Ironically, less than a month after Johnson's discovery, eBay auctioned yet another previously unknown and slightly different stereo view of the second inaugural crowd labeled "Lincoln's Inaugural Procession." It sold for $3,651 on Feb. 11.
With their muskets gleaming in the sunlight, African–American soldiers line up on the driveway at the Capitol in this detail from Library of Congress stereo negative LC–B811–1285.
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| With their muskets gleaming in the sunlight, African–American soldiers line up on the driveway at the Capitol in this detail from Library of Congress stereo negative LC–B811–1285. |
The fascinating story of the photography of the Civil War will unfold in a oneof–a–kind exhibition that will open Oct. 3 at Pamplin Historical Park in Petersburg, Va., on the first day of the Center for Civil War Photography's (CCWP) annual Image of War seminar.
The exhibition will give visitors a complete overview of Civil War photography, including how the photographs were made, the great photographers who made them, how the images were used, and what they meant to people, both back then and today.
A generous selection of original Civil War photographs appear in the exhibition, from carte de visites to stereo views to magnificent large plate prints, as well as reproduction artifacts and other displays that will show visitors how difficult it was for photographers such as Mathew B. Brady and Alexander Gardner to make battlefield images.
The exhibition is scheduled to open on Saturday, Oct. 4 with a special viewing the night before for those attending the Image of War seminar on Oct. 3–5, which this year will focus on Petersburg and will be based at Pamplin Historical Park. The Civil War Preservation Trust and Pamplin Historical Park are co–sponsoring the event.
After the unveiling, the CCWP will kick off its Image of War seminar programs with an illustrated slide show, Petersburg: Photos, Forts and Fighting, by Vice President Garry Adelman and photo expert Mike Gorman. CCWP President Bob Zeller and Director of Imaging John Richter will then present their brandnew, fully digitized 3–D slide show Lincoln in 3–D, which features twice as many images in the same amount of time as previous 3D shows. The evening will conclude with another seminar essential—the Image of War photo quiz, in which attendees are challenged to identify Civil War photos by only seeing a small portion of the image.
We'll tour Petersburg on Saturday starting with one of the most photographed sites of the war—City Point—with park ranger and City Point photo expert Jimmy Blankenship. The seminar will also visit the battlefield proper and see the Crater before heading into the City of Petersburg with Petersburg National Battlefield Chief of Interpretation Chris Calkins.
On Saturday evening, we'll return to Pamplin Historical Park for a private tour of its signature National Museum of the Civil War Soldier. In addition to our banquet and now–famous raffle, Pamplin's President and CEO, A. Wilson Greene, will explore April 2, 1865, the "Day of Decision" in which Union troops broke though the Confederate lines at the site of Pamplin Historical Park.
On Sunday, we will wake up for a tour of the Breakthrough battlefield. Soon after, we will meet wet plate photographer Rob Gibson at Pamplin Historical Park's antebellum Hart Farm where he will expose and develop wet plate images, allowing seminar visitors to see the images emerge on the glass plates before their very eyes! We will then be served a Civil War lunch—hardtack, beef stew and more—before splitting up for optional programs. Some may choose to stay at the Hart Farm, which also doubles as Pamplin Park's Civil War "Adventure Camp," to don soldier garb for soldier dress and drill. Others may head up the road to the White Oak Road and Five Forks Battlefields before heading home.
With so many programs in such a historic place, this could be the best Image of War seminar yet. You can sign up online at http://www.civilwarphotography.org or contact Garry Adelman at
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or (301) 834-7042. The cost is $260 for CCWP and Pamplin Historical Park members or $290 for non-members.
Digital Photography Contest
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The CCWP and the History Channel are again teaming up this summer with the CWPT to sponsor a national photography competition to promote appreciation of America's rich Civil War heritage.
For the first time, all entries to the popular, longrunning contest will be submitted digitally via an online interface, allowing more people to participate than ever before.
Amateur photographers are invited to submit Civil War–related photos in four different categories:
- Civil War Battlefields, showcasing the solemn and scenic landscapes of these hallowed grounds
- People on Civil War Battlefields, focusing on visitors young and old enjoying their time on the battlefield
- Preservation Threats, illustrating the grave threats faced by many Civil War battlefields and historic sites
- Then and Now, contrasting early images of Civil War battlefields with the same sites today. CCWP is proud to cosponsor the Then and Now category.
The 2007–2008 contest winner was Curt Fields of Germantown, Tenn., whose photograph of the N.B. Forrest Statue in Memphis, Tenn. is shown here. Curt's prize from the CCWP is a free admission to the Image of War seminar.
Second place went to Steve Hammond, of Crofton, Md, for his photograph of the Millersville, Md., Railroad Bridge. Third place was awarded to Gene Schneidle, of Bement, Ill., for his photograph of the University of Mississippi Administration Building in Oxford, which served as a hospital after the battle of Shiloh.
For more information, visit http://www.civilwar.org/photocontest/index.htm.
Slogan Contest Winner: The slogan of the Center for Civil War Photography is: "History in Focus." Congratulations to Terry Thomann, winner of the CCWP slogan contest. Thank you to everyone who participated in the contest.
Membership Update: We would like to thank our new Folio and Ambrotype members for joining or rejoining CCWP at these higher levels. New Folio level members are Brian Bierne and Ron and Kathy Perisho. New Ambrotype level members are Tom and Janice Grove; Murray and Barbara Favus; and Mark Romoff. We appreciate your support!
Recent Auction Results: Some Civil War photographs sold for enormous prices in 2008, while others were had for relative bargains. Here's a sampling from recent auctions. All prices include buyer's premium, if any. In Wes Cowan's Spring Historic Americana Auction on June 5–6, 2008:
- A rare sixth–plate ambrotype of a Civil War Marine private, estimated at $600–800, sold for $4,600.
- A carte de visite of Col. John Singleton Mosby with an imprint of Stanton & Butler of Baltimore sold for $1,092.50. It was estimated at $500–700.
- A pair of sixth plate unidentified Rebels, one ambrotype and one tintype, sold for $4312.50, again easily beating the estimate of $1,500–2,000.
- A carte de visite album of the 84th Illinois Regiment consisting of 78 mostly military images, estimated at $4,000–6,000, sold for $5,462.50.
- A Tyson Brothers print of the General Hospital near Gettysburg on an original printed mount, estimated at $600–800, sold for $977.50.
In the Heritage Auction Galleries Civil War auction on June 30:
- A lot of four Gardner wartime "Incidents of the War" mounted folio prints showing the ruins of the Stone Bridge at Bull Run, as well as Burnside Bridge and two shots of the Middle Bridge at Antietam, went for a bargain at $1,000.
In Raynor's Historical Collectibles Auction on June 18–19:
- A carte de visite of Lincoln&s funeral procession in Philadelphia, estimated at $500–700, sold for $881.25.
In recent eBay auctions:
- A 20th century Keystone stereo view of Lincoln with short hair went for $272.00 after 24 bids.
- An outstanding example of Plate 89 of Gardner&s Sketch Book of the Civil War, showing Libby Prison, went for $316.51.
- A Frederick Gutekunst print of the John Burns House in Gettysburg, on an original Gutekunst mount damaged by moderate to severe foxing, sold for $565.
- A carte de visite of a Confederate officer holding a sword, with a magnificent Confederate Stars and Bars flag draped over a chair and a revenue stamp on the reverse, sold for the staggering price of $3,729 after 31 bids.
CCWP Receives Google AdWords Grant:The Center for Civil War Photography has received a generous grant from Google AdWords that is worth up to $120,000 per year. The advertisements will appear on http://www.google.com when users type in certain keywords relating to Civil War photography. We hope these online advertisements will help grow our membership and increase awareness about the Center and its mission. Thank you Google!
A George Barnard photograph of Atlanta reveals a wealth of detail, including, at the left edge, a soldier peering into a stereo viewer. (Library of Congress LC-B811-3613.)
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| A George Barnard photograph of Atlanta reveals a wealth of detail, including, at the left edge, a soldier peering into a stereo viewer. (Library of Congress LC-B811-3613.) |
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