Oscar F. Douglas: The Photographer Behind the Iconic USCT Drummer Boy
By Kurt Luther The pair of cartes de visite of a young African American boy transformed from a runaway slave into a Union drummer boy are among the most memorable
Tag: library of congress
Captured Freedom: Sleuthing an image of Union officers that escaped from prison and the guides who helped them to safety
By Steve Procko A text message from fellow Civil War enthusiast Sam Houston with a photograph of 12 ragged men appeared in the middle of our conversation about the chaotic
Identifying an Officer Pictured in a Library of Congress Negative
By Kurt Luther In my first “Photo Sleuth” column in 2015, I wrote about the power of combining perseverance and luck. After years of fruitless searching for photos of my
Lost and Found in the Library of Congress
By Kurt Luther In January 2020, John Banks posted on his Civil War blog a detailed examination of a glass negative in the Library of Congress (LOC) collection, titled, “Washington,
A New Era in Photo Sleuthing Begins
By Kurt Luther On Aug. 1, 2018, we celebrated the public launch of Civil War Photo Sleuth, a free website that we hope will forever change the face of Civil
The Past is Made Present: A reflection on photography
By Naomi Subotnick with images from the Liljenquist Family Collection at the Library of Congress This portrait of two men seated side by side conflates two very different worlds. On
Unknown No More: A Georgia Corporal and His Wife Are Identified
By Kurt Luther Since this column first appeared two years ago, we have often emphasized the collaborative, participatory and community-oriented character of photo sleuthing. At the end of each column,