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Your absentee bid for Lot 001 - Important Late 19th Century Photo Album Containing 44 Original Photographs Including Pre-Dreadnought Battleships From On Board & Shore, Washington D.C. From Atop The Washington Monument, Capitol Building, African American Men & Women, And More was successfully submitted—thank you for bidding with us!
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Lot 001 - Important Late 19th Century Photo Album Containing 44 Original Photographs Including Pre-Dreadnought Battleships From On Board & Shore, Washington D.C. From Atop The Washington Monument, Capitol Building, African American Men & Women, And More
Lot 001 - Important Late 19th Century Photo Album Containing 44 Original Photographs Including Pre-Dreadnought Battleships From On Board & Shore, Washington D.C. From Atop The Washington Monument, Capitol Building, African American Men & Women, And More
Pre-Auction Notes: The album features striking on-board and dockside views of U.S. pre-dreadnought battleships and other warships, offering a rare contemporary record of late 19th century naval technology. Several images show decks, rigging, and gunnery from unusual vantage points aboard ship.
Also included are panoramic and elevated views of Washington, D.C., taken from the observation platform of the Washington Monument, with clear perspectives of the Capitol Building, government offices, and surrounding landscape. These early cityscapes document the capital at a moment of rapid transformation.
Among the most compelling photographs are candid portraits of African American men and women, offering an unvarnished glimpse of daily life and social conditions in the post-Reconstruction period. Additional photographs capture street scenes, architecture, and landscapes, reflecting a wide-ranging eye for history in the making.
A rare survival of cohesive and important subject matter, this album intersects naval, architectural, and social history, with particular importance for scholars and collectors of African American history, Washingtoniana, and military photography.
Condition: Album with expected wear to binding and mounts, photographs generally well-preserved with rich tonal range. 44 photographs in total.
