Bruce Guthrie Photos: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) -- Civil War Photography

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

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Description of Pictures: My second visit to the exhibition, this time with the Center for Civil War Photography folks.

Same Event: Wait! There's more! Because I took too many pictures, photos from this event were divided among the following pages:

2013_02_01O_CCWP_Dream_LOC: DC -- CCWP Dream Day -- Group in Library of Congress (40 photos from 02/01/2013)
2013_02_01C_CCWP_Dream_SIPG1: DC -- CCWP Dream Day -- Group in Portrait Gallery (72 photos from 02/01/2013)
2013_02_01S_CCWP_Dream_Castle: DC -- CCWP Dream Day -- Group in Smithsonian Castle (27 photos from 02/01/2013)
2013_02_01H_SIPG_Bound: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center -- Special Exhibits -- Bound For Freedom's Light (33 photos from 02/01/2013)
2013_02_01D_SIPG_CWBS: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center for Amer Art & Portraiture -- Backstage Civil War tour (21 photos from 02/01/2013)
2013_02_01I_SIPG_CW: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center for Amer Art & Portraiture -- Civil War (2 photos from 02/01/2013)
2013_02_01J_SIPG_Portrait: DC -- Donald W. Reynolds Center for Amer Art & Portraiture -- Portraits (4 photos from 02/01/2013)
2013_02_01P_LOC_PPD: DC -- Library of Congress -- Prints and Photographs Division pieces (78 photos from 02/01/2013)
2013_02_01T_SI_Castle_BS: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) -- Backstage tour (62 photos from 02/01/2013)
2013_02_01R_SI_Castle_CWP: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) -- Civil War Photography (42 photos from 02/01/2013)

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific people (or other things) in the pictures which I haven't labeled, please identify them for the world. Or fill in any other descriptions you can. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Slide Show: Want to see the pictures as a slide show? [Slideshow]

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by Bruce Guthrie who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the Creative Commons definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. If asked for permission in advance, I'll usually waive the non-commercial clause unless it's for people trying to sell the photos. A free copy of any printed publication using the photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from official signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Help? The 0640x0480 links are for screen viewing and emailing. The 2048x1536 (older ones may be different sizes than this) links are mostly for downloading and printing (they can be used to do reasonable-quality prints up to about 8x10). [Click here for additional help]

[1] SICASC_130201_003_STITCH.JPG

0640x0480 2048x1536

[2] SICASC_130201_012.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[3] SICASC_130201_025.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[4] SICASC_130201_030.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[5] SICASC_130201_041.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[6] SICASC_130201_048.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[7] SICASC_130201_054.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[8] SICASC_130201_063.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[9] SICASC_130201_069.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[10] SICASC_130201_084.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[11] SICASC_130201_092.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[12] SICASC_130201_099.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[13] SICASC_130201_108.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[14] SICASC_130201_114.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[15] SICASC_130201_138.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[16] SICASC_130201_147.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[17] SICASC_130201_152.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[18] SICASC_130201_157.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[19] SICASC_130201_173.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[20] SICASC_130201_185.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[21] SICASC_130201_190.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[22] SICASC_130201_196.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[23] SICASC_130201_201.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[24] SICASC_130201_206.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[25] SICASC_130201_211.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[26] SICASC_130201_215.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[27] SICASC_130201_220.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[28] SICASC_130201_230.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[29] SICASC_130201_233.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[30] SICASC_130201_245.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[31] SICASC_130201_256.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[32] SICASC_130201_275.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[33] SICASC_130201_281.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[34] SICASC_130201_286.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[35] SICASC_130201_292.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[36] SICASC_130201_297.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[37] SICASC_130201_306.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[38] SICASC_130201_312.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[39] SICASC_130201_315.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[40] SICASC_130201_325.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)
[41] SICASC_130201_330.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)	[42] SICASC_130201_337.JPG 0640x0480 (Bigger?)

Limiting Text: You can turn off all of this text by clicking this link: [Thumbnails Only]
Description of Subject Matter: 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 sec ...More...
Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. SICASC_130201_025.JPG: President Abraham Lincoln, 1863: During the Civil War years, Joseph Henry advised the President on science and technology matters. Lincoln may have visited the Smithsonian Castle tower to observe signaling efforts along the Virginia battlefront and the Potomac River, and also the Lecture Hall for the popular speakers' series.
2. SICASC_130201_030.JPG: Joseph Henry, scientist and first Secretary of the Smithsonian (1797-1878): The Henry family became close to the Lincolns, and Henry a trusted expert in the advancement of national science and technology as part of the war effort.
3. SICASC_130201_041.JPG: The glass plate negatives used by Civil War photographers in the field were 4" tall by 10" wide or larger -- containing more than 25 times the surface area of 35mm negatives. This allows historians today to zoom into the depths of Civil War-era negatives. Glass plate negative of Alexander Gardner's "Ruins of the Reel Burn, Battlefield of Antietam, Maryland, September 1862."
4. SICASC_130201_048.JPG: This James Gibson image, "Field hospital at Savage's Station, Virginia, June 27, 1862," is stunning at its full size, but you can capture details by zooming in.
5. SICASC_130201_054.JPG: A sergeant consoles a wounded soldier....
6. SICASC_130201_063.JPG: Wounded soldiers wearing the distinctive hats of the 16th New York Infantry, which had suffered at the Battle of Gaines' Mill the day before.
7. SICASC_130201_069.JPG: A haversack, rifle and cartridge box on an [sic] along the hospital fence -- implements of war used in hostility only hours earlier.
8. SICASC_130201_084.JPG: A crate that once contained missiles of death -- bullets for rifled weapons known as "Minie Balls."
9. SICASC_130201_092.JPG: T.C. Roche captured this photo of a dead Confederate soldier at Petersburg amidst the implements of war.
10. SICASC_130201_099.JPG: The fabric and workmanship of the dead soldier's shirt. Was the shirt in which he died a gift from home?
11. SICASC_130201_108.JPG: Sadly, another dead soldier who is mostly buried under the rubble at the Confederate fort known as "Fort Hell."
12. SICASC_130201_114.JPG: Take a closer look at some of the photos in this case
13. SICASC_130201_138.JPG: U.S. flag above the Warren County Courthouse, Vicksburg, Mississippi, 1863: An unidentified photographer secured this view of the American flag above Vicksburg after the city was finally wrested from the burning building in time.
14. SICASC_130201_147.JPG: Inflating John Steiner's balloon, Erie, Pennsylvania, June 18, 1857: Pre-Civil War documentary photography often including local events, such as the preparation for a balloon ascension pictured here. In the dramatic balloon ride that followed, the astronaut abandoned his aircraft in mid-flight. Steiner was rescued in Lake Erie and survived to become a balloonist in the Civil War.
15. SICASC_130201_152.JPG: Battle of Manassas Junction, 1862: After Confederate troops burned the strategically important rail junction at Manassas in March 1862, Northern photographers took dozens of images, including this one, in the wake of the retreating Southerners.
16. SICASC_130201_157.JPG: President Abraham Lincoln and Major General George McClellan, Maryland, October 1862: President Lincoln traveled to Maryland and tried in vain to urge his slow-moving commander forward in the fall of 1862, while photographer Alexander Gardner captured several views of Lincoln in the process. McClellan was removed just weeks after this photo was taken.
17. SICASC_130201_206.JPG: Humor helped alleviate some of the stresses of the war and convey the shared cultural and social values of the period. A cartoon "A Reasonable Excuse," from Harper's Review, suggests that "Albums for Everyone" meant that a range of people could afford to buy cartes-de-visite, and spending time with photography was a highly acceptable pastime. Portraits were the most common subjects of cartes-de-visite, but photographs of paintings, sculpture, religious scenes, and comical views were not uncommon. The album to the left was a gift of Mrs. S. Lasar in August 1865 and includes two political cartoons. One depicts sorrow over the torn Constitution. In the other, a black child, rendered stereotypically, expresses joy over the 19th Amendment. One may surmise that owner and gift-giver were Northern sympathizers.
18. SICASC_130201_245.JPG: T.C. Grey (1835-1885), about 1865
19. SICASC_130201_256.JPG: Petroleum Nasby (1833-1888), about 1865: Petroleum Nasby and T.C. Grey were journalists writing about the Civil War. Nasby, whose real name was Davis Ross Locke, wrote satirical letters in the character of an uneducated and outraged Southerner. President Lincoln is known to have read Nasby's work aloud at dinner the night he was assassinated. Grey traveled with soldiers and wrote articles for The New York Times offering his journalistic thoughts about the war effort.
Missing Some Bigger photos? Each new digital camera by default wants to take larger and larger photos. To save myself time and server space, I don't upload to the web site versons of photos that are bigger than 2.75 megabytes to the web page. If you want the biggest sized photo and you don't see a link bigger than 0640x0480, email Bruce Guthrie and I'll email specific photos to you.
Directly Related Pages: Other pages here that have content directly related to this one:
- 2012_DC_SI_Castle_CWP: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) -- Civil War Photography (39 photos from 2012)
Generally-Related Subject Pages: Other pages here that have content somewhat related to this one:
- 2004_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (6 photos from 2004)
- 1998_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (4 photos from 1998)
- 2002_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (14 photos from 2002)
- 2003_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (8 photos from 2003)
- 2005_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (14 photos from 2005)
- 1997_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (8 photos from 1997)
- 2007_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (12 photos from 2007)
- 2008_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (62 photos from 2008)
- 1999_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (1 photos from 1999)
- 2009_DC_SI_Castle: DC -- Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle) (66 photos from 2009)
- ...More (16 total)...
Same Subject: Click on this link to see coverage of items having the same subject: [Museums (Other)]
2013 photos: So far, I'm mostly using my Fuji XS-1 camera but, depending on the event, I'm also using a Nikon D7000 and Nikon D600. Trips this year have been limited to a Civil War Trust conference in Memphis.
Photo Contact: Email Bruce Guthrie.