Friday, October 11, 2024

Self-Portrait of Photographer O. M. Perrigo Posing With His Horse-Drawn Photography Wagon With Darkroom Attached to the Back in Medfield, Massachusetts (1860s)


Probable self-portrait of photographer O. M. Perrigo posing with his horse-drawn photography wagon with darkroom attached to the back. The subject appears to be holding a string which would have been attached to the camera lens cover, allowing him to take a self-portrait. Perrigo seems to have taken this stereoview photograph (cropped and edited for clarity) after taking more than two dozen stereoviews of buildings, machinery and employees at the Excelsior Straw Works in Medfield, Massachusetts, sometime during the late 1860s.

Source: New York Public Library.

Monday, January 15, 2024

Animated Stereoscopic Time-Lapse Daguerreotype Photo Portrait of Swiss Photographer Jean-Gabriel Eynard With Friends And Family (1852)

 

Animated stereoscopic time-lapse daguerreotype portrait of Jean-Gabriel Eynard (elderly sitting man at center) posing with family and friends probably taken in Switzerland, c. 1852. Attributed to Jean-Gabriel Eynard.

Source: J. Paul Getty Museum.

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Photo of a Crowd in Front of the Patent Office Building in Washington DC (1860)

 

View of a crowd on front of and on top of the Old Patent Office Building for an unidentified event in Washington, D.C., on May 1860. The event was possibly related to the arrival of a delegation of Japanese diplomats who set foot in the city on May 14, 1860. Possibly taken by photographer Titian Ramsay Peale.

Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Friday, October 27, 2023

Photo of a Model of an Unrealized Version of the Confederate Monument at Stone Mountain in Georgia (1928)

 

View of a model of the unrealized Confederate monument on Stone Mountain in Georgia, 1928. The scaled back carving on the mountain would be completed in 1972. Originally published by Keystone View Company.

Source: Library of Congress.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Photo Portrait of Photographer J. C. Moulton of Fitchburg, Massachusetts (1900)


Portrait of photographer J. C. Moulton (1824-1914) of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, c. 1900. Moulton started taking daguerreotypes in 1848 and took a number of stereoviews of Fitchburg. From the book Fitchburg Past and Present by William Andrew Emerson published in 1903.

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Photo of the County Jail in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Which Was Destroyed By a Fire in 1875 (1860s/1870s)

 

View of the Fitchburg County Jail in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, c. 1860s/1870s. It was destroyed by a fire during which no prisoners were injured or escaped in 1875. Attributed to J. C. Moulton. From the book Fitchburg Past and Present by William Andrew Emerson published in 1903.

Monday, October 23, 2023

Photo of Union Soldiers of the Fitchburg Fusiliers in Front of the Rollstone House in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Before Leaving to Fight in the Civil War (1861)

 

Portrait of Union soldiers of the Fitchburg Fusiliers in front of the Rollstone House in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, 1861. The photo was taken shortly before they left to fight in the Civil War as Company B of the 15th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment. Attributed to J. C. Moulton. From the book Fitchburg Past and Present by William Andrew Emerson published in 1903.

Friday, September 15, 2023

View of a Parade of Zouaves and Other Soldiers on Broadway in Baltimore, Maryland, Possibly Taken During the Civil War (1860s)

 

 
 View of Zouaves and other soldiers during a parade along Broadway in Baltimore, Maryland, c. 1860s. Attributed to photographer William Chase. The wagon seen at right is possibly a military one. Originally published as a stereoview. NYPL dates this photo to 1880, but I think it was taken much earlier.

Thursday, April 20, 2023

Daguerreotype Portrait of a Group Posing in Front of Niagara Falls Attributed to Photographer Thomas Easterly (1840s/1850s)

 

Daguerreotype portrait of a group posing in front of Niagara Falls attributed to Thomas Easterly, c. 1850. A section from an 1838 poem about Niagara Falls by J. S. Buckingham is inscribed on the bottom of the plate and is signed in part "Easterly Daguerrean" at the end. The photo was possibly actually taken by photographer Platt D. Babbit, as he was known to take many photographs from this position during the 1850s.

Source: Missouri Historical Society.

Saturday, December 10, 2022

Early Hand-Colored Photo of a Gift-Laden Santa Claus Emerging From a Fireplace Taken by Photographer George Stacy (1860s)

 

Early hand-colored photograph of a gift-laden Santa Claus emerging from a fireplace, c. 1860s. Taken by photographer George Stacy and originally published as a stereoview card.

Source: Library of Congress.

Link to my video collection of early photos of Santa Claus.