Snapshots of the Past

Harpers Ferry W. Va. View of the town and railroad bridge – Historic Photo Reproduction

Harpers Ferry W. Va. View of the town and railroad bridge, 1860 — historic photograph
Harpers Ferry W. Va. View of the town and railroad bridge, 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 Harpers Ferry W. Va. View of the town and railroad bridge 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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Harpers Ferry W. Va. View of the town and railroad bridge

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Harpers Ferry sits at the meeting point of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers, and this 1860 glass negative by David B. Woodbury shows the town together with its railroad bridge just before the Civil War turned the place into a strategic prize. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crossed the Potomac there, making the town a key link between the rail lines of the North and the South. Within two years the town changed hands several times, and the bridge was repeatedly damaged and rebuilt as armies fought over it. The wet collodion process used here required long exposures and careful handling, so the image preserves a fixed moment of the river and rail crossing before that upheaval.

Created / published1860
Medium1 negative : glass wet collodion.
NotesCivil War photographs 1861-1865 / compiled by Hirst D. Milhollen and Donald H. Mugridge Washington D.C. : Library of Congress 1977. No. 0154 Title from Milhollen and Mugridge. Forms part of Civil War glass negative collection (Library of Congress). · Woodbury D. B. (David B.) d. 1866 photographer.
SubjectsUnited States--History--Civil War 1861-1865--Transportation. Antietam Battle of Md. 1862. Bridges.United States--West Virginia--Harpers Ferry.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Civil War Photographs
Original scan1,676 × 1,360 px · prints to 6 × 5 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-CIV-46093

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