Evidence-Based Tips for Using Civil War Photo Sleuth
By Kurt Luther Photo sleuthing is, at its core, a process of elimination. We start with a mystery photo whose subject could be any of the three million soldiers who
Category: 2019 Autumn
The Loss of a Giant in the Collecting Community
In a 1988 MI interview, Mike McAfee was asked to share any words of wisdom he’d like to pass on to photo collectors. “Speaking as a curator,” Mike began, referencing
Pennsylvanians, an Austrian Lorenz Musket, and Federals at Suffolk
Nearly half of the 240 men and officers of the 52nd Pennsylvania Infantry who fought in the Battle of Fair Oaks, Va., on May 31, 1862, became casualties. One of
Between Guadalupe Hidalgo and Secession: A survey of military portraits of West Pointers and Regulars on the western frontier
By Dr. William Schultz The dozen years between 1848 and 1860 marked a period of ever-increasing turmoil in the United States. It is wedged between the peace treaty that ended
Marylanders and Mississippi’s Brave Girls
Marylanders In Blue Get Their Due A wartime carte de visite of John R. Kenly pictures the Baltimore lawyer-turned-soldier dressed in a double-breasted frock coat and cradling a sword. A
The Talisman
Keepsake mementos and other trinkets dangled from the ends of pocket watch chains worn by veterans long after the Civil War. The object that hung from Sam Wright’s chain never
Corporal Austin Captures a Flag
By Ron Field Occasionally, Civil War imagery and postal history entwine to tell a story, almost as if they were meant to find one another. Case in point: This carte
Nurse Pomroy: Comforter-in-Chief to the Lincoln Family
By Chris Foard, MSN, RN In the annals of American history, perhaps no individual looms larger and longer than the towering figure of President Abraham Lincoln. We never tire of
Cultural Ambassador: On diplomacy’s front lines in Morocco and elsewhere with Albert L. Gihon, U.S. Navy
By Ronald S. Coddington The officers of the warship St. Louis arrived in the bustling Moroccan port city of Safi on an August day in 1863 to a warm welcome.
Filler Cartes de Visite: A fresh look at art, humor and satire
By James S. Brust Today’s photograph collectors have a term to describe cartes de visite of art, celebrities, scenes and other non-personal portraits tucked into albums—filler CDVs. The term assumes