Snapshots of the Past

[Foremen, Phoenix Fire Company and Mechanic Fire Company, Charleston, South Carolina] – Vintage Wall Art

[Foremen, Phoenix Fire Company and Mechanic Fire Company, Charleston, South Carolina], [ca. 1855] — historic photograph
[Foremen, Phoenix Fire Company and Mechanic Fire Company, Charleston, South Carolina], [ca. 1855]. Historic photograph from the Fire Engines 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

[Foremen, Phoenix Fire Company and Mechanic Fire Company, Charleston, South Carolina] comes to life in this historic photograph, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. The original is held by the Library of Congress, so what you hang is a true record of its time.

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[Foremen, Phoenix Fire Company and Mechanic Fire Company, Charleston, South Carolina]

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This daguerreotype shows the foremen of two Charleston, South Carolina, volunteer fire companies, the Phoenix and the Mechanic, posed together around 1855. Antebellum volunteer companies were as much social clubs as firefighting crews, and their members took evident pride in their uniforms, equipment, and rivalries. The quarter-plate format was a common size for portraits of the period, and the hand coloring, added over the silvery surface, was a way to bring out the red and gold of company insignia and clothing. The image is a useful record of how urban fire protection was organized before paid municipal departments became standard.

Created / published[ca. 1855]
Medium1 photograph : quarter-plate daguerreotype, hand colored.
Genrep. 22. Exhibited: American Treasures of the Library of Congress. Washington
NotesBack of case: mixed flowers surrounded by scrolls. Labels on case: 55
SubjectsFire fighters--South Carolina--Charleston--1850-1860.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan3,743 × 4,671 px · prints to 12 × 16 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-220165

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