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●
(PHILADELPHIA)
Album containing more than 460 photographs mounted onto 31 leaves, with several medium-
format views of stately residences and commercial buildings in the City of Brotherly Love attributed
to Robert Newell, as well as a host of Civil War-era prints.The album is chock-a-block with rarely
seen popular imagery that comprises a panoramic iconography of the post-War period, ranging
from portraits of prominent military and political figures, to period artwork by well-known artists,
as well as commercial pictures of religious scenes, children, slave figures, period currency, and topical
news. Highlights include 13 views of Chambersburg after the Confederates sacked the city; formal
scenes of residences, churches, the Carriage Repository, an Ambulance andWorkers, and the Franklin
Sugar Refinery; a composite portrait (that may depict Newell); plus small-format prints of the Union
Volunteer Refreshment Saloon and the Sanitary Fair, 3 studies of locomotives (salted paper prints)
a host of half-stereos of various cities and sites, and carte-de-visite-size prints of paintings, caricatures,
allegorical figures, circus performers, Lincoln and his family, Union generals, and commemorative
sculptural figures. Salted paper (4) and albumen (456) prints, sizes ranging from 3x2
1
/
4
to 9
1
/
4
x7
1
/
2
inches (7.6x5.7 to 23.5x19.1 cm.), and the reverse, many are captioned, in ink, below the image.
Folio, boards, disbound; contents largely detached and loose. 1864-70
[4,000/6,000]
Robert Newell (1822-1897) recorded important events in Philadelphia, such as the 1864 Great Central Fair
for the U.S. Sanitary Commission and commercial, residential and ecclesiastical buildings throughout the city.
This remarkable album documents the city during the CivilWar and also chronicles related topical events.
Featured are a host of images that provide an encyclopedia look at popular imagery that constituted a
still-emerging American identity and culture.
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