The Library of Congress is one of my favorite destinations on the Hill, with the main reading room being the perfect place for a book-lover like myself. Their exhibits, whether Thomas Jefferson’s library or the first map to include the word “America” on it are always worth a visit when you have out-of-town guests.
Right now, however, they have a much smaller, and more intimate exhibit that is really worth seeing: Ambrotypes and tintypes of Civil War soldiers.
Photography was invented in the early decades of the 19th century, but wasn’t really used widely until the 1850s, when the Ambrotype and tintype process were invented. They made photography available to a much wider range of customers, and by the outbreak of the Civil War, it was a well-understood process that could be widely used.
In fact, photographers would go to camps to take pictures of the soldiers, giving them a memento to send home to their families. They cost something like 25 cents for the smallest size, which is equivalent to about 6 dollars today – a perfectly reasonable amount, even on a soldier’s salary. Still, these pictures were valuable enough to be worthy of a proper frame, and the photographers would also sell a whole kit including the picture, dark background, glass, a metal cover, and a lid. The whole setup was made to be set up on a table in the parlor, as a reminder of the absent son or husband.
"Unidentified African American soldier in Union uniform with wife and two daughters" Probably from Cecil County, Maryland (Library of Congress)
Over the years, these mementos remained, often far from their original owners, and a number of years ago, the Liljenquist family became intrigued by them and their stories, and began buying them whenever they appeared on Ebay.
Last week, the Liljenquist family and the Library of Congress opened an exhibit of these relics of the Civil War, showing young men in the prime of their life just before they set off into the bloodiest war that the United States has ever been involved in.
The pictures can be seen if you go to the second floor of the Library’s Jefferson building, then go back to where the Jefferson library is displayed and take a left. It is well worth seeing these small memories of the Civil War and the young men who fought in it.
"Corporal Sidney S. Goodridge of Company K, 20th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and Company B, 4th Massachusetts Heavy Artillery Regiment with bayoneted musket in front of shebang at Camp Benton, near Edwards Ferry, Maryland" (detail) (Library of Congress)
You can also see the pictures on line here.