Photo of an Observatory Building at McGill College in Montreal, Quebec (1870)

  

Photo of an observatory building at McGill College (now McGill University) in Montreal, Quebec, c. 1870. A heavily renovated/expanded version of the building was demolished in 1963. Originally published as a stereoview by E. & H. T. Anthony & Company. The original caption is: "Magnetic Observatory - McGill College."

Source: J. Paul Getty Museum.

More information.

Photo of a Scattered Group of Bison Bones Taken in a Field Somewhere in Colorado Territory (1870)

Photo of a scattered group of buffalo bones taken somewhere in Colorado Territory, c. 1870. Taken by photographer William Henry Jackson and created using a scan of the original glass negative.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration.

Carte De Visite Portrait of an American Diplomat to Liberia Only Identified as Chester (1870)

Carte de visite portrait of an American diplomat to Liberia only identified as Chester, c. 1870. By photographer D. C. Burnite of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Source: New York Public Library.

Portrait of a Group of Pima Native Americans on a Reservation in Arizona Territory (1870)

Portrait of a group of Pima Native Americans on a reservation in Arizona Territory, c. 1870. By Carlo Gentile.

Source: Library of Congress.

Portrait of Brigham Young and an Exploring Party Said to Have Been Taken Near the Confluence of the Colorado River and the Virgin River (1870)

Portrait of Brigham Young and an exploring party said to have been taken near the confluence of the Colorado River and the Virgin River in Nevada or Arizona Territory, 1870. By Charles Roscoe Savage.

Source: Brigham Young University.

Portrait of Five Members of a Survey Expedition Eating Around a Campfire (1870)

Portrait of five members of a survey expedition eating around a campfire, 1870. They are identified as (from left to right): James Stevenson, Charles Turnbull, Henry Elliot, Branson, and cook "Potato John." By William Henry Jackson. Animated stereoscopic photographs.

Source.

A Group of Ku Klux Klansmen Posing With a Human Skull and Crossbones in Watertown, New York

A group of Ku Klux Klansmen posing with a human skull and crossbones in Watertown, New York, c. 1870. By Hart.

Source.

Tintype Portrait of Wild Bill Hickok (1870)

Tintype portrait of Wild Bill Hickok, c. 1870.

Source.

Alleged Photographs of German Skirmishers Advancing Towards a French Position at La Moncelle During the Battle of Sedan (1870)

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 four other versions of postcards featuring this photograph I have collected below.

A second version that is sharper but cropped. Source: Ebay.

A third cropped version. Source.

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

 

 

An albumen cabinet card version of the photo showing what it probably would have originally been published as. Sold on Ebay, image via Worthpoint.

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