Group at the Sanitary Commission Fair, Albany, New York
Medium
Photography-Photoprint
Classification
Photography-Photoprint
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Accession Number
1994.91.40
Tags
About this artwork
The United States Sanitary Commission was created during the Civil War to improve conditions for northern soldiers. Women who wanted to support the Union cause initially proposed the idea, but the organization of the Commission was left to doctors and political figures. Union ladies were delegated to fund-raising fairs in cities across the free states, where paintings, photographs, and other items were auctioned to support the war effort.Exhibition Label, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2006
Art Historical Context
Step into 1864 Albany, New York, where Churchill and Denison Studios captured a lively moment at the Sanitary Commission Fair in this poignant photoprint. Active in the 1850s-1860s, these photographers documented everyday scenes with the crisp detail of early wet-plate collodion processes, preserving a snapshot of Civil War-era fervor. Housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this image highlights the power of 19th-century photography to freeze history in time. The United States Sanitary Commission, born from women's urgent calls to aid wounded Union soldiers, organized massive fundrais...