City Point, Virginia, ca. 1865.
All images are digitized | All jpegs/tiffs display outside Library of Congress | View All
Arrangement and Online Access
Search Tip
The online catalog records have variable content. Try general searches, particularly when searching for people. Consult lists prepared by staff for some frequently requested subjects.
- Information in the catalog record that accompanies each scanned negative was taken from the paper sleeve which housed the negative, or the Civil War caption books kept in the Prints and Photographs Division.
- No attempt was made to standardize names, spell out abbreviations, or to research the image.
- If you are searching for portraits, you will
retrieve the most hits by entering only the
last name of the person being
sought.
For example, a search for "Lee" will yield many more images of General Robert E. Lee than more specific searches for "Robert E. Lee" or "R. E. Lee." - The original captions do not systematically include words for subjects such as "women" or "African Americans," so searching using such words does not yield very much. P&P staff have compiled lists (available via the P&P Reading Room site) of images from the collection that include:
In cataloging Civil War photographs, Prints & Photographs Division staff generally work from the original caption material that was received with the negative or print. Sometimes this information is incorrect or outdated. An online form is available to suggest corrections to the catalog records.
Glass Negative Series
In organizing the glass negatives, the Library grouped them by source (Anthony-Taylor-Rand-Ordway-Eaton Collection or Brady Handy Collection), size, and broad subject areas. In 2002 the Library scanned those groups that consist primarily of original glass plate negatives. The groups that consist primarily of duplicate and copy negatives were not scanned. Online catalog records were made for negatives that were scanned.
LC-B811
2,926 original individual wet plate stereo pairs negatives and some copy negatives, 4 x5" and smaller, 1861-1869 (1,063 unique images). These stereo negatives are sequenced so that the images can be viewed as three-dimensional ("3-D") images when seen through a viewer. (For information on resources for viewing digitized stereographs in 3-D, see "Viewing Online Stereographs in 3-D," in the "About the Stereographs" section of the online catalog.) Negatives by George Barnard, Samuel A. Cooley, James Gibson, Timothy O’Sullivan, and Alexander Gardner. Many of these negatives were listed in Alexander Gardner's 1863 Catalogue of Photographic Incidents of the War. Mainly war views, including:
- fortifications in Yorktown and Petersburg
- dead soldiers on the battlefield at Gettysburg and Antietam
- portraits of officers and their staff
- ambulance corp on the battlefield
- city views of Atlanta, St. Augustine, and Savannah
- Libby Prison, Richmond, and a slave pen in Alexandria
- Grand Review of the Army marching in Washington, D.C., May 1865.
[ retrieve items from this group]
LC-B813
3,028 original wet plate negatives and some copy negatives made for the production of cartes de visite, cut from larger plates, primarily 2-1/4 x 3-1/2", 1860s. Some negatives are uncut and contain two portraits.
- Studio portraits of Union and Confederate soldiers, including Gens. G. T. Beauregard, Burnside, Grant, E. A. Hitchcock, Hooker, Robert E. Lee, Sickles, and Sherman.
- Also includes a few group portraits, such as the Sanitary Commission and a group of sailors.
[ retrieve items from this group]
LC-B814
308 original wet plate negatives made for the production of cartes de visite, three exposures per negatives, 4 x 10," 1860s.
- Primarily studio portraits of Union soldiers, including Generals Belknap, Abner Doubleday, Hunter, and Montgomery C. Meigs.
- The series also includes a few portraits of military wives with their husbands and a man holding a satchel of newspapers.
- Some images show sitters posed in front of various painted backdrops. The Brady studio was not known to use such backdrops. Brady may have purchased these negatives from other studios.
[ retrieve items from this group]
LC-B815
670 original wet plate stereo negatives in pairs, 4 x 10"; made between 1862-1869. These images will not display in three dimensions unless the left and right halves are transposed. (For information on resources for viewing digitized stereographs in 3-D, see "Viewing Online Stereographs in 3-D," in the "About the Stereographs" section of the online catalog.) Negatives by Alexander Gardner, Timothy O 'Sullivan, and James Gibson. Many of these negatives were listed in Alexander Gardner's 1863 Catalogue of Photographic Incidents of the War. Mainly war views, the negatives document:
- Burnside Bridge, Antietam, Maryland
- contrabands; fortifications at Petersburg, Virginia
- Richmond in ruins
- soldiers in camp, near Yorktown, Virginia
- the Grand Review of the Army, Washington, D.C., 1865
[ retrieve items from this group]
LC- B817
758 original wet plate negatives, 8 x 10", 1862-1865. Negatives by Timothy O’Sullivan, Alexander Gardner, and others. Includes:
- group portraits of soldiers
- camps and forts, especially Brandy Station and Petersburg, Virginia
- numerous views of military personnel and government buildings in Washington, D.C.
- portraits of the Lincoln conspirators and their execution
[ retrieve items from this group]
LC-B8155
4 original wet plate glass negatives, approximately 5 x
7", 1860s.
Includes a portrait of General Robert E. Lee by Julian
Vannerson and portraits of Maj. Gen. W. S. Harney and Gen.
W. H. French.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-B8156
44 original and copy negatives, 4-3/4 x 7-1/2",
1863.
Union soldiers at Folly and Morris islands during the
siege of Charleston, South Carolina, photographed by Haas
& Peale.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-B8175
3 original glass plate negatives, 8 x 10" or smaller,
1864-1865.
Portraits of Robert E. Lee, Abraham Lincoln, and Ulysses
S. Grant.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-BH822
25 original wet plate stereo pair negatives. These
stereo negatives are sequenced so that the images can be
viewed as three-dimensional ("3-D") images when seen
through a viewer. (For information on resources for viewing
digitized stereographs in 3-D, see "Viewing Online Stereographs in
3-D," in the "About the Stereographs" section of the
online catalog.) Negatives by Samuel A. Cooley and
others.
Civil War views:
- Union officer groups
- camp fortifications
- naval operations, etc.
[ retrieve items from this group]
LC-BH831
168 original wet plate glass negatives, 8 x 10",
1860-1865.
Civil War military and naval officers, with several
portraits of General Robert E. Lee. Included in this series
are Union generals C. C. Augur, Wm. F. Barry, Samuel S.
Carroll, George Custer, Francis Blair and staff, Gordon
Granger, Judson Kilpatrick, Ed. McCook, Alfred Pleasonton,
Phil Sheridan and staff, and Admiral D. D. Porter.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-BH84
10 wet plate negatives, 8 x 10" or smaller,
1860-1865.
Civil War views in:
- Alexandria and Petersburg, Virginia
- Charleston, South Carolina
- Washington Navy Yard
[ retrieve items from this group]
Film Copy Negatives and Transparencies Made by the Library of Congress
LC-B8171
8 x 10 film copy negatives made by the Library from low
contrast black & white prints from negatives in series
B811, B815, and B817.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-B8172
8 x 10 film copy negatives made by the Library from low
contrast black & white copy prints made from original
negatives in series LC-B813 and LC-B814.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-B8184
8 x 10 film copy negatives made by the Library from
prints from various sources.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-USZ61
5 x 7 film copy negatives made by the Library from file
prints.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-USZ62
8 x 10 film copy negatives made by the Library from file
prints.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-USZC2
2 x 2 color slides made by the Library from file
prints.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-USZC4
4 x 5 color film transparencies made by the Library from
file prints.
[
retrieve items from this group]
LC-USZC6
8 x 10 color film transparencies made by the Library
from file prints.
[
retrieve items from this group]
