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US Cutting and pile of stones

Photograph
1860-1 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In 1856 the War Department appointed the South Kensington Museum photographer Charles Thurston Thompson to teach photography to the Royal Engineers. On one expedition these soldier-photographers documented the border between the USA and Canada. From the crest of the Rockies westwards along the 49th Parallel to the coast, they painstakingly recorded everything that crossed their path, producing 'one of the earliest signifcant body of photographs made in the Pacific Northwest'.

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleUS Cutting and pile of stones (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print from wet collodion-on-glass negative
Brief description
'US Cutting and Pile of Stones on the 49th Parallel', photograph by the Royal Engineers, North America, ca. 1860-1
Dimensions
  • Support paper height: 330mm
  • Support paper width: 273mm
  • Photographic print height: 235mm
  • Photographic print width: 185mm
Marks and inscriptions
  • N
  • No. 57 US Cutting and Pile of Stones on 49th Parallel. Newhoialpilker [?] River
Credit line
Received from the Foreign Office 1863
Production
Photographed by a Royal Engineers photographer on a U.S.- Canada Border Survey.
Summary
In 1856 the War Department appointed the South Kensington Museum photographer Charles Thurston Thompson to teach photography to the Royal Engineers. On one expedition these soldier-photographers documented the border between the USA and Canada. From the crest of the Rockies westwards along the 49th Parallel to the coast, they painstakingly recorded everything that crossed their path, producing 'one of the earliest signifcant body of photographs made in the Pacific Northwest'.
Collection
Accession number
40069

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Record createdJuly 1, 2009
Record URL
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