Check out my new article in this week’s issue of the Seacoast Scene about an upcoming Civil War photojournalism presentation at the Salisbury Public Library, which takes place on Thursday, June 26, at 5:30 PM.
The presentation is titled Civil War Photojournalism: Selections from the Medford Historical Society’s Civil War Photo Collection. It is being presented by Jay Stott, who is the vice-president of the Medford Historical Society & Museum.
The presentation features a curated selection of the society’s unique collection of Civil War photographs. The first half of the presentation will show the different styles of photos taken during the Civil War and will also discuss the technical aspects of how Civil War photography was done, such as how glass negatives were prepared and how the photos were shot in the field. It will also feature information about the various photography studios and the photographers themselves.
The second half of the presentation will be examples of the photos, such as panoramic photos of the battlefields that had to be pieced together using images from the collection as well as images from the Library of Congress.
In addition, it will also feature stereoviews of the battlefields, and the attendees will be given 3D glasses so they can view these stereoviews the way they were originally intended.
The Medford Historical Society’s collection of Civil War photographs is really special because it features over 5,000 albumen silver print photographs, which are prints developed from glass negatives using egg whites, from the personal collection of Civil War General Samuel Crocker Lawrence.
The collection of photographs is in amazing condition because they sat in storage at the society for decades and rarely saw the light of day and were never mounted. They are an invaluable resource and an important primary source on the Civil War.
This presentation and the collection are important because not only is the collection one-of-a-kind, but these photos are just as relevant now, more than ever, due to the current state of affairs in the country and around the world, as Joyce McKenna, the president of the Salisbury Historical Society, explained to me in a recent email:
“As to the relevance of the presentation at this particular moment in time, I can offer only that the Civil War continues to garner general fascination among history buffs.
It is sufficiently in the past to inspire a sense of awe and wonder, but near enough to the present for today’s generations to remark that a distant ancestor answered the call (whether to fight to preserve the Union or, alternatively, to stand together to enshrine southern states’ rights.)
Medford Historical Society’s Civil War Photo Collection is a big deal. Even the Getty Museum in Los Angeles hailed the collection as being one of the nation’s largest and best-preserved of Civil War photo collections. After an initial flurry of presentations soon after its discovery (in the early 90’s), the furor subsided. Given the delicate state of affairs these days in our country, there’s value in witnessing the very real images of war. The photos remind one of the consequences of disunity.”
If you can’t make it to the presentation, the entire collection has also been digitized and is on display on the Digital Commonwealth website.