BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) -- Exhibit: Civil War Photography

DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) -- Exhibit: Civil War Photography:

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Description of Pictures: Civil War Photography Comes to Life at the Smithsonian Castle
Exhibit Explores the Advancements of Photography for “Civil War 150”

A photo exhibit to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, “Experience Civil War Photography: From the Home Front to the Battlefront,” opens in the Smithsonian Castle Aug. 1 and it continues for a year. Advancements in photography brought the conflict close to home for many Americans and the exhibit features a stereoview and a carte-de-visite album of Civil War generals.

During the Civil War the Castle served as a home for the Smithsonian Secretary’s family and a place of learning and collecting. The exhibit displays excerpts from the diary from the daughter of the Secretary Joseph Henry. Mary Henry recorded the comings and goings of soldiers to the Castle use of its towers to observe advancing soldiers and the state of Washington after Lincoln’s assassination.

Also featured are Smithsonian employee Solomon Brown (1829-1906) and the lecture hall that hosted a series of abolitionist speakers; it was destroyed by fire in 1865. Stereoviews, a form of 3-D photography that blossomed during that era, daguerreotypes, tintypes and ambrotypes—all emerging types of photography—are highlighted in the exhibit to explore the ways photography was used to depict the war, prompt discussion and retain memories.

The exhibit features a range of Civil War-era photographic materials from Smithsonian collections, including cameras, stereoviewers, albums and portraits, alongside photographs of soldiers and battlefields. Highlights include an ambrotype portrait of an African American washerwoman, carte-de-visite (a type of small photo) album of Civil War generals, an 11-by-4-inch-view camera and equipment and an examination of the emergence of battlefield photography and photojournalism.

There will be two short video presentations: The first is a History channel video on field photography narrated by Roger Daltrey of The Who. The second video, produced by the Center for Civil War Photography for the Civil War Trust, presents the war photos as they were meant to be seen—in 3-D—allowing visitors to step back in time. Visitors will also have the opportunity to view a period stereoview for themselves in the exhibit.

“Experience Civil War Photography: From the Home Front to the Battlefront” is a joint exhibition produced by the Smithsonian and the Civil War Trust and is sponsored by the History channel. For more information on “Civil War 150,” visit http://civilwar150.si.edu.

The above is from http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/civil-war-photography-comes-life-smithsonian-castle

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SICASC_121205_060.JPG: Experience Civil War Photography: From the Home Front to the Battlefront: Many Americans in the 1860s experienced the Civil War at home through photographs, far from the battlefront. Three-dimensional photographs, known at the time as stereoviews, were a popular new format. This exhibition explores the innovative 150-year-old technology, the history of the Smithsonian Institution during the Civil War, the origins of American photojournalism and battlefield photography, and the wartime experience as it was shared on the home front.
2. SICASC_121205_079.JPG: Collodion Photography: The wet collodion process was the most popular photographic process when the Civil War erupted. Though it was more cumbersome than today's photography, it was state-of-the-art in the 1860s and offered outcomes that benefited photographers and their consumers. The three most popular uses of collodion made glass plate negatives, ambrotypes, and tintypes. To make the collodion, silver nitrate was added to the liquid mixture of gun cotton that had been dissolved in ether. This mixture was poured onto glass or thin iron plates. The plates had to be put in the camera while still sticky to the touch, hence the name wet collodion process. Photographers could make and develop glass plates in the field. The plates would then be sent back to the studio for printing. Alternatively, photographers could make tintypes, which do not require printing and could be distributed almost immediately.
3. SICASC_121205_090.JPG: Three tintypes and one ambrotype were made in different locations at different times. By placing all four photographs in the same case, they remain united literally and metaphorically. ational Museum of American History
4. SICASC_121205_107.JPG: Lincoln campaign, 1860
5. SICASC_121205_118.JPG: Double-sided Lincoln and Johnson button, 1864
6. SICASC_121205_129.JPG: Lincoln campaign, 1864 Campaign buttons: Abraham Lincoln's presidential campaign was one of the first to use photography as a political tool. These buttons were made by the Scovill Company, which made clothing buttons before switching to producing photographic supplies.
7. SICASC_121205_133.JPG: Cartes-de-visite: Gaining popularity in the late 1850s, the carte-de-visite, an albumen photography mounted on a small card, was highly collectible. Family and friends shared portraits of themselves, but one could also purchase portraits of actors, musicians, politicians, authors, international royalty, and other notables. (Left) Surgeon-in-Chief David W. Maull, about 1864 (right) Captain John W. Barney, about 1864 These two men served with Captain William P. Seville, the father of Smithsonian employee Marian Wells Seville (1878-1947). In 1931, Miss Seville donated a portrait collection gathered by her father to remember his wartime experiences. Eventually he published a history of the First Regiment of Delaware Volunteers.
8. SICASC_121205_143.JPG: Photography on the Home Front: A variety of photographs could be found in middle-class homes during the Civil War. The historical and sentimental values of photographs derive from each viewer's experience and relationship to the subject and the photograph. For instance, a portrait of a soldier, made in the event he did not return from war, would be most meaningful to those who knew him. Stereoviews rendered the war three-dimensionally, giving families and close friends an opportunity to discuss tactics, strategies, events, policies, players, geography, and much more. Carte-de-visite photographs were gathered as a way to visually capture military leaders, politicians, cultural figures, and other such people who shaped dialogue and values that mattered to the individual collector.
9. SICASC_121205_148.JPG: Field hospital at Savage's Station, Virginia, June 27, 1862: In what may be the first great documentary Civil War photograph, wounded Union soldiers and their attendants are seen just after fighting at Savage Station and just before being captured by advancing Confederate forces. Photo by James Gibson; Image courtesy of Bob Zeller Collection
10. SICASC_121205_153.JPG: Dead Confederate soldier at Fort Mahone, Petersburg, Virginia, April 3, 1865: Photos of young dead soldiers in and around the trenches at Petersburg did not reach the public until after the Civil War had ended. Photographer T.C. Roche managed to illustrate the horror of the conflict only after it was over. Image courtesy of Garry Adelman Collection
11. SICASC_121205_165.JPG: Ruins at Manassas Junction, Virginia, 1862 After Confederate troops burned the strategically important rail junction at Manassas in March 1862, Northern photographers secured dozens of images, including this one, in the wake of the retreating Southerners. Large-format negative by George Barnard and James Gibson; albumen print by Alexander Gardner; Bob Zeller Collection.
12. SICASC_121205_179.JPG: Balloonist Thaddeus Lowe (1852-1913), about 1862: Tintype by unknown photographer, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution A scientist and inventor, Lowe is considered by some to be the father of military aerial reconnaissance. His knowledge of meteorology and ballooning led President Lincoln to appoint him as first Chief Aeronaut of the Union Balloon Corps during the Civil War.
13. SICASC_121205_194.JPG: Group portrait of the Megatherium Club, including naturalist Robert Kennicott, painter and photographer Henry Ulke, ornithologist Henry Bryant, and marine biologist William Stimpson, about 1855: Carte-de-visite by unknown photographer, Smithsonian Institution Archives Naming their club for an extinct giant sloth, these four scientists often collected specimens and artifacts for the Smithsonian and lived in the Castle building for several years during the war.
14. SICASC_121205_201.JPG: Portrait of naturalist Robert Kennicott in field outfit, 1860s: Carte-de-visite by unknown photographer, Smithsonian Institution Archives Kennicott collected and catalogued natural history specimens for the Smithsonian, under the guidance of Assistant Secretary Spencer Baird. During the Civil War, he lived in the Smithsonian Castle with his colleagues in the Megatherium Club.
15. SICASC_121205_212.JPG: Spencer Baird, 1850s: Daguerreotype by M.A. Root, Washington, D.C., National Museum of American History: Baird served as Assistant Secretary (1850-78) and second Secretary of the Smithsonian (1878-87), supervising the building of the first U.S. National Museum, now known as the Arts and Industries Building.
16. SICASC_121205_217.JPG: The Smithsonian and the Civil War: The Smithsonian and its original Castle building continued operations during the American Civil War, 1861–1865. A unique history transpired here under the leadership of Joseph Henry, the first Secretary of the Smithsonian. The Board of Regents included many Southern Congressmen who were forced to leave the governing body during the war years. Freed black men were employed in the Castle, including Solomon Brown, chief clerk to the Secretary. The building was considered for an army hospital. But it was Henry's leadership in fostering scientific and technological advancements, and military reconnaissance conducted from the tower of the Castle, that most significantly contributed to the Union Civil War efforts.
17. SICASC_121205_223.JPG: Smithsonian Castle burning, January 1865: Hand-tinted photograph by Alexander Gardner; Reproduction courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives The Castle escaped harm during the Civil War, but in January 1865 experienced a fire on the third floor resulting in structural damage to the building, and loss of collections, including many items owned by James Smithson and records of Secretary Henry's scientific research.
18. SICASC_121205_233.JPG: Joseph Henry, scientist and first Secretary of the Smithsonian (1797-1878), 1850s: Daguerreotype by J.H. Whitehurst, New York, National Museum of American History: Henry led the Institution from its creation in 1846 until his death in 1878. During the Civil War years, Henry worked to keep the Smithsonian in operation, including his scientific research laboratories. In April 1861, he took delivery of muskets and ammunition at the Castle to defend the Institution.
19. SICASC_121205_241.JPG: The Henry family on the grounds of the Smithsonian, about 1865: The Henrys lived here in eight rooms as their personal quarters while Joseph was Secretary of the Institution. Eldest daughters Mary kept a journal during the Civil War years, documenting the comings and goings of soldiers to the Castle, and nearby battles. Photograph by Titian Ramsay Peale; Reproduction courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives
20. SICASC_121205_252.JPG: View of Smithsonian Castle, showing portion of the roof missing after the January 1865 fire: Stereoview by George D. Wakely, Smithsonian Castle Collection
21. SICASC_121205_258.JPG: Drawing room in the Smithsonian Castle, known as Secretary Joseph Henry's private parlor, about 1862: Stereoview by Titian Ramsay Peale, Smithsonian Castle Collection The Smithsonian agreed to provide Secretary Henry with a residence. An eight-room apartment was designed in the Castle's East Wing for Henry and his family, where they lived until Henry's death in 1878.
22. SICASC_121205_263.JPG: Corridor of the Smithsonian Castle with museum displays, about 1869 Stereoview by Francis H. Bell, Smithsonian Castle Collection
23. SICASC_121205_269.JPG: The Emergence of War Photography: War photography began in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and flourished thereafter. In the 1850s and early 1860s, photographers took pictures of at least five other war zones and battlefields in Europe or Asia. Because these early war photographs could not be mass-produced, however, they were not seen by the public. The Civil War proved to be the first conflict brought home by the camera. Via magazines, newspapers, and printed photos for sale, images from Civil War battlefields and camps flooded the American consciousness.
24. SICASC_121205_273.JPG: Documenting the Civil War: By 1861, more than 6,000 professional photographers were operating across the nation. Most stayed near cities and towns, content with the steady business of photographing the customers who came through their doors. Only a handful had the equipment, expertise, or desire to actually take pictures on battlefields. Famed photographer Mathew Brady tried but failed to secure photos of the war's first great battle -- Bull Run, July 21, 1861. However, in the following years, Brady and others pushed the bar ever upward, securing pictures of battlefield carnage and even of actual combat.
25. SICASC_121205_279.JPG: War Photography for the Public: Today, pictures can be shared with millions in an instant, but in the 1860s photographic dissemination was decidedly slower. Photographs were distributed as printed copies or via newspapers, which in itself was an involved process. Photographers exposed prints from wet-plate negatives on their rooftops and mailed them to interested buyers. Photographs could not even be reproduced in newspapers and had to be converted to engravings or woodcuts by specialized artists.
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