[ US History ] [ English 12-1 ]

Captured in Black and White:

A History of Civil War Photography

From 1862 to 1865, Alexander Gardner and a small team of crack photographers set out to document the major events of America's Civil War. Working under extremely difficult field conditions with trying technical methods, they produced a series of original photographs which stand as a landmark in both the history of the United States and the history of photography. The most important events of this great conflict exist in original photographic images of great critical acclaim, thanks to the dedication of Gardner and his men.

One hundred photographs were selected by Gardner for his book. Gardner, a Scot who had edited a newspaper in Edinburgh, came to run Mathew Brady's Washington photography studio in 1860. Using the top technology of his time, Gardner and his men created two volumes of individual, handmade albumen prints in 1866, using glass negatives exposed in the field at tremendous hardship.

Produced in 1866 in a two volume album of photographs (possibly as many 125 were created at that time*), many of these amazing images have not been available for purchase in many years. Recently deaccessioned from the venerable New York Historical Society after over 100 years of ownership, individual original photographs from Alexander Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War (Washington, D.C.: 1866) are now available for the first time in recent memory.

Carole Thompson Fine Photographs has purchased the complete two volume album and is offering the individual prints for acquisition. Prices range from $2,000 to $6,500, depending on the condition and the individual fame of the images.