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Go directly to the collection, Civil War Treasures, in American Memory, or view a Summary of Resources related to the collection.

• Graphic Arts: Analyzing Symbols |
• Photographs and Sketches: Portraying War in the 19th Century |
• Journalism: Creating a Prison Camp Newspaper |
• Letters: Consoling Families of the Dead |
• Analyzing Poetry

Photographs and Sketches: Portraying War in the 19th Century

At the time of the Civil War, photography was a relatively new art and technology. Because taking photos was a difficult and time-consuming process, most photographs were not the “action shots” that we see today. However, they did make people aware of the destructiveness of war in a way that had never happened before. When noted Civil War photographer Mathew Brady mounted an 1862 exhibit called “The Dead of Antietam,” The New York Times wrote that the exhibit brought “home to us the terrible reality and earnestness of war.” Civil War Treasures includes photographs and stereographs, pairs of photos, that when seen through a special viewer create a three-dimensional effect.

The first photograph did not appear in a newspaper until 1880. During the Civil War, if newspapers wanted illustrations of the war, they used drawings. Some of the drawings were made by professional artists, others were created by soldiers in the field. Civil War Treasures also includes a number of sketches created for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper.

Examine several of the collection’s stereographs, as well as several sketches.You may scan the lists or do a keyword search using such terms as ruins, battlefields, or soldiers.

• What do the stereographs convey particularly well?
• What do the drawings convey particularly well?
• Choose one stereograph and one drawing. Imagine yourself in each scene; for each, write a brief journal entry as either a Union or Confederate soldier who was involved in the events that occurred at the scene. Which entry was easier to write? Why?
• Today, photography has advanced considerably. The technology now allows photographs to be taken in the midst of battle or other intense activity, at night, and in a range of other circumstances that would have been impossible at the time of the Civil War. Consequently, newspapers now generally use photographs to convey information to their readers except in cases where taking photographs is not allowed (e.g., some courtrooms). Based on your analysis of the Civil War stereographs and drawings, would you recommend that newspapers use more drawings than they currently do? Why or why not?