Today we’re talking about another surprising Brattle find: a fairly nondescript album that turned out to contain photos of prominent 1800s abolitionists. The collection includes small, sepia-toned portraits of Charles Sumner, Phillips Brooks, and even Sojourner Truth. We’ll also discuss other historical photos that have arrived at the shop, and the way that studio photography democratized image-making during the Civil War era, offering life-like portraits for a fraction of the cost of a commissioned painting. It all comes into focus on a flashy new #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #95 - The Liberator & The North Star
Finally, some good news! Today we’re taking a look at the abolitionist newspapers of the 1800s. The Liberator was published here in Boston by William Lloyd Garrison, and argued that the institution of slavery was so deeply immoral that it must be ended immediately, a radical position at the time. Although it had a relatively small circulation, The Liberator was influential, shaping abolitionist thought and inspiring others to start their own publications, including Frederick Douglass, who founded his anti-slavery newspaper, The North Star, in 1847. Today, as a new chapter in America’s troubled civil rights history unfolds, these antique newspapers remain impressive for their fierce moral clarity in the face of violent opposition and for their insistence on emancipation and full equality.
Brattlecast #11 - Black and White and Read All Over
When did you last pick up a newspaper? Hopefully after 1851. Ken brings Jordan some authentic 19th century newspapers, and outlines the evolution of print periodicals in America. Learn about competing publications in Richmond and New York covering the Civil War, as well as the rise of mass print advertising, and its unfortunate side effect on slavery. There’s nothing quite like getting history right from the source.
