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Ambrotypes and Civil War Soldiers

Family photos resurface and beg for attention

Alicia M Prater, PhD
GenTales

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black metal frame cover from the civil war era
The closed picture frame with a broken hinge on the top left. Photo by the author’s mother.

It started with an innocuous text from my mother. She had received photos from one of my cousins. It didn’t seem unusual as his father passed recently and some of his late mother’s things were making their way to various family members.

So I innocently asked, “What photos?”

Doesn’t it always start with an innocent question? “Hey, who’s this?” “Where did you get this?” “Why is Grandma in this picture with…” well, you get it.

That innocent question turned into a research binge. Not only did I determine that they may be a set of ambrotypes, but I think I discovered who the soldiers in the pictures are.

Ambrotypes and the Civil War

The Library of Congress (LOC) has a collection of Civil War photography called ambrotypes. They’re like tintypes but were made of glass. They were popular in the 1850s and 1860s and were often the means of commemorating Civil War soldiers in their uniforms. Many of the images available in collections are in gold frames embedded in a black hinged case or black metal outer frame.

One particular photographer, Charles Rees, had a studio in Richmond, Virginia, and captured a moment in the lives of a lot of Confederate…

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