Snapshots of the Past

[Occupational portrait of three railroad workers standing on crank handcar] – Vintage Wall Art

[Occupational portrait of three railroad workers standing on crank handcar], [between 1850 and 1860] — historic photograph
[Occupational portrait of three railroad workers standing on crank handcar], [between 1850 and 1860]. Historic photograph from the Railroads & Depots collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

This rare historic photograph captures [Occupational portrait of three railroad workers standing on crank handcar] in remarkable detail. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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[Occupational portrait of three railroad workers standing on crank handcar]

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Three men pose on a crank handcar, the hand-driven platform track crews used to travel along rail lines, and a family note with this small sixth-plate daguerreotype names the tall, bearded man at the left end as Jacob Lewis Davis. Made between 1850 and 1860, when daguerreotypes were the most common form of portrait photography, the image is preserved in a case with a central floral motif. Its photographer is unknown, but the picture offers a rare glimpse of everyday rail labor in the years before the Civil War.

Created / published[between 1850 and 1860]
Medium1 photograph : sixth plate daguerreotype.
GenrePortrait photographs 1850-1860.Daguerreotypes 1850-1860.
NotesPhotographer unidentified. Hallmark: Rinhart 2. Case: central floral motif surrounded by leaves. Accompanying note: Jacob Lewis Davis, my dear father. Taken when he worked on the railroad. He is the tall man with a beard standing on the left end. Purchase/exchange; Dr. Gary Vroegindewey; 1981; (DLC/PP-1981:R380.9). Forms part of: Daguerreotype collection (Library of Congress). Exhibit loan 4105-L.
SubjectsRailroad employees--1850-1860. Railroad handcars--1850-1860.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,184 × 1,472 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-217894

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