Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Union Zouaves of the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment Posing in Camp at Brandy Station


Union Zouaves of the 114th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment posing in camp at Brandy Station, Virginia, 1864. By Timothy O'Sullivan. Animated stereoscopic photograph.

Source.

Militiamen From the Lexington Light Infantry on Parade (1855)


Militiamen from the Lexington Light Infantry on parade in Lexington, Kentucky, c. 1855. Animated stereoscopic photographs.

Source.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Union General Edward Ord Posing With His Family in Jefferson Davis' Home in Richmond


Union General Edward Ord posing with his family in Jefferson Davis' home in Richmond, Virginia, 1865. The table visible in the background was that on which Robert E. Lee signed the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia. Animated stereoscopic photograph.

Source.

A Union Soldier and Officer Posing in Camp


A Union soldier and officer posing in camp, c. 1863. Animated stereoscopic photograph.

Source.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

A Crowd Waiting to See the Prince of Wales/Edward VII Near Boston Common


A crowd waiting to see the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, near Boston Common during his trip to the United States, Boston, 1860. Animated stereoview.

Source.

Confederate POWs at a Temporary Prison Camp in the "Punch Bowl" at Belle Plain, Virginia (1864)



Two animated time-lapse stereoscopic photographs of Confederate POWs at a temporary Union prison camp in the "Punch Bowl" at Belle Plain, Virginia, 1864. The photos were taken on a single plate with a 4-lens camera in which the paired stereoscopic images were taken seconds apart. Inspired by the NPSFRSP blog post here.

Source.

The four stereoscopic photographs combined together into a looped film.

Self-portrait Taken by George S. Irish Using a Polished Metal Globe at the Fort William Henry Hotel


Self-portrait of George S. Irish using a polished metal globe at the Fort William Henry Hotel in Glen's Falls, New York, c. 1870's. Animated stereoview.

Source.

Friday, June 20, 2014

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Saturday, June 14, 2014

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Alleged Photographs of German Skirmishers Advancing Towards a French Position at La Moncelle During the Battle of Sedan

There has been a lot of discussion of these photographs online about whether or not they are authentic combat photographs from the Franco-Prussian War. At the moment I think they are images from some sort of elaborate recreation that were made to sell postcards or else some other attempt to document the conflict by photographing a reenactment. If these photographs were real, the hardest thing to explain would be the position of the photographer as he would have been in an extremely exposed position. What I once thought were French soldiers in the second and third photographs in the foreground are actually clearly firing towards the photographer in sharper versions of the photographs I have found, which would mean that they are more German soldiers. There doesn't seem to be any blurring in the photographs caused by movement of the soldiers which was a common trait in photos of the era and could be a sign that the photographs are posed. Cameras with fast exposure times which would minimize any blurring existed at the time but their use was not very widespread.

The first photograph.
What I have deemed the first photograph is on a postcard that is said to show lines of German skirmishers advancing towards a French position at La Moncelle during the Battle of Sedan in 1870. A few fascinating details that are discernible in this photograph are the trail of what some think is blood flowing from a spot next to the doorway of the house in the foreground, the bullet holes visible in the same house, the columns of German soldiers marching down the road, and the large amount of smoke rising in the distance to the left. I have also assembled seven related photographs below, possibly for the first time online, that were taken at the same event:

Uncropped lower resolution version of the photograph from Getty. Source.

The second photograph. Source.

Second photograph taken from another angle at a noticeably different time. What look like German soldiers in the foreground who seem to be facing the camera and firing. They appear much closer than they were when some of them presumably were in their skirmish lines and columns in the first photograph. What appears to be additional columns of German infantry can be seen marching down the road in the left background. The puffs of smoke in the trees in the right background look much more prominent than they do in the first photograph.

Uncropped lower resolution version of the second photograph from Getty. Source.

The third photograph. Source.

A third photograph taken from what looks like the same position as the second image. The German soldiers in the foreground look like they are clearly aiming their rifles in the direction of the photographer. There seems to have been at least three other versions of postcards featuring this photograph I have collected below.

A second version that is sharper but cropped. Source.

A third cropped version. Source.

A fourth uncropped version that has much less detail. Source.

What looks like the same house today in La Moncelle which is featured in all of the photographs. Source.

Animated Stereoview of Civilian Volunteers Making Doughnuts for American Soldiers


Civilian volunteers making doughnuts for American soldiers during the Occupation of the Rhineland, Montabaur, c. 1919. Animated stereoview.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

President Abraham Lincoln Animated Stereoscopic Portrait (1865)




Animated stereoscopic portrait of President Abraham Lincoln, February 5, 1865. A recently rediscovered stereoscopic negative which was one of the last photographs taken of Lincoln. By Alexander Gardner or Moses P. Rice.

Source.

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

German Infantry Assaulting a French-held Le Mort Homme during the Battle of Verdun (1916)



Two photographs of German infantry assaulting a French position called Le Mort Homme (English sources call Dead Man’s Hill) with flamethrowers and hand grenades during the Battle of Verdun, March 1916. By Hermann Rex.

Source.

The Wreckage of a Steam Locomotive in the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad Depot (1865)


Union soldiers and civilians posing with the wreckage of a steam locomotive in the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad depot in Richmond, Virginia, 1865. Animated stereoscopic photographs.

Source.

Display of Zoological Specimens at the Royal College of Surgeons (1852)


A display of zoological specimens at the Royal College of Surgeons, London, 1852. Animated stereoscopic daguerreotypes.

Source.

Monday, June 2, 2014