Freedman’s Village, Arlington, VA
1863–64
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 2 15/16 × 5 1/4 in. (7.5 × 13.4 cm) Sheet: 2 15/16 × 5 1/4 in. (7.5 × 13.4 cm) Mount: 3 1/4 in. × 6 11/16 in. (8.2 × 17 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Vital Projects Fund Inc. Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2019
Accession Number
2019.537
Tags
Art Historical Context
This poignant albumen silver print captures’s Village in Arlington,, a vital refuge established around 1863 during the American Civil War. Located on confiscated Confederate land near Washington, D.C., the village housed thousands of formerly enslaved people who had sought freedom behind Union lines. It symbolized early efforts at Reconstruction, offering shelter, education, and work opportunities amid the chaos of emancipation, as federal authorities managed the influx of refugees following the Emancipation Proclamation. Created from a glass negative using the albumen process—then the gold s...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...