Early Photo of a Large Inscription on Riguang Rock Celebrating a Defeat of Japanese Forces in Xiamen, China (1871)

Photo of an inscription on Riguang Rock celebrating a defeat of Japanese forces (probably actually pirates) in Xiamen, China, c. 1871. Taken by Scottish photographer John Thomson. The inscription on the rock seems to have either been destroyed or covered up by construction in the decades after this photo was taken as the few other photos of it known to exist look like they were taken during the 1870s or 1880s.

Source: Wellcome Collection.

Second photo of the rock taken by American photographer Charles William Wason, c. 1880.

A third photo of the rock exists in the Phelps Collection of the National Geographic Society Archives.

Photo of a Group Posing in Front of the Newport Harbor Light Lighthouse on Goat Island in Newport, Rhode Island (1860's)

 

Portrait of a group posing in front of the Newport Harbor Light on Goat Island in Newport, Rhode Island, c. 1860s. Taken by photographer Joshua Williams and originally published as a stereoview.

Source: Library of Congress.

Photo of a Man Approaching a Frog With a Stick Probably in a Park in Baltimore, Maryland (1870's)

 

Portrait of a man approaching a frog with a stick probably in a park in Baltimore, Maryland, as two women in a rowboat in the background look on, c. 1870s. The frog might be a taxidermied example or else a model. The man might be a groundskeeper in the park. Taken by William Chase and originally published as a stereoview.

Source: Library of Congress.

Photo of a Steamboat Named Yellowstone Possibly Photographed on the Missouri River Near Sioux City, Iowa (1860's)

View of a steamboat named Yellowstone possibly photographed on the Missouri River near Sioux City, Iowa, c. 1865-1870. Taken by photographer Byron H. Gurnsey and originally published as a stereoview. Other stereoviews in the Library of Congress' collection by Gurnsey with the same mount were taken in and around Fort Berthold in Dakota Territory.

Source: Library of Congress.

Early Photo of Chain Bridge Over the Potomac River Connecting Virginia With Washington DC (1860)

 

View of Chain Bridge over the Potomac River connecting Virginia (area where the bridge ends at left in distance) with Washington, D.C., c. 1860. The two men posing in the rowboat in the foreground might be Peale's photographic assistants or else simply out for a day of fishing. Attributed to Titian Ramsay Peale. Originally published as a stereoview. This is probably the earliest known photo of the bridge if it was taken before or during the early days of the Civil War.

Source: National Museum of American History.

View of Spectators in the Stands to Watch an Intercollegiate Regatta on Saratoga Lake in New York (1874)

View of spectators in the stands to watch an intercollegiate regatta on Saratoga Lake in New York, 1874. By Baker and Record. Animated stereoview.

Source.

View of the Union Ironclad USS Onondaga on the James River, Virginia (1864)

View of the Union river monitor USS Onondaga on the James River, Virginia, 1864. A group of Union soldiers and sailors are in a rowboat in the foreground. Animated stereoview.

Source.