Today in the studio we have an album of vacation photos from the 1890’s, taken by an anonymous but well traveled amateur photographer. Interest in collecting these sorts of vernacular photos has been increasing, in part because the work of well known photographers has become prohibitively expensive, but also because of their unstaged quality and fascinating candor. With these pictures we travel around the world, but also back in time, catching glimpses of everyday life at the edges of scenic vistas and tourist attractions. Come with us, on today’s #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #101 - Last Men of the Revolution
One of Ken’s favorite books, The Last Men of the Revolution brings American history vividly to life. During the Civil War, Reverend Elias Hillard tracked down, photographed, and interviewed six surviving veterans of the American Revolution. The men, who had fought in the Revolution as teenagers, were all over 100 years old by that time, although some come across as remarkably witty and spry. Photography itself was only about 30 years old at that time. Their portraits were published along with short biographies in a book intended to promote patriotism at a time when the country had turned on itself. Hillard wrote in his introduction that “History lives only in the persons who created it… As we look upon their faces, as we learn the stories of their lives, it will live again before us, and we shall stand as witnesses of its great actions.”