Stone pyramid on the 49th Parallel, on the right bank of the eastern intersection of the Kootenay River, cutting on the left bank thumbnail 1
Stone pyramid on the 49th Parallel, on the right bank of the eastern intersection of the Kootenay River, cutting on the left bank thumbnail 2
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Stone pyramid on the 49th Parallel, on the right bank of the eastern intersection of the Kootenay River, cutting on the left bank

Photograph
ca. 1860-1 (photographed)
Artist/Maker

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
TitleStone pyramid on the 49th Parallel, on the right bank of the eastern intersection of the Kootenay River, cutting on the left bank
Materials and techniques
Albumen print from wet collodion-on-glass negative
Brief description
'Stone pyramid on the 49th Parallel', photograph by the Royal Engineers, North America, ca. 1860-1
Physical description
Photograph of a stone pyramid.
Dimensions
  • Photograph height: 22.5cm
  • Photograph width: 26.7cm
  • Support height: 27.4cm
  • Support width: 343cm
Gallery label
(07 03 2014)
Gallery 100, ‘History of photography’, 2011-2012, label text :

Royal Engineers
‘Stone pyramid on the 49th Parallel, on the right bank
of the eastern intersection of the Kootenay River,
cutting on the left bank’
About 1860-61

In 1856 the War Department appointed Charles
Thurston Thompson, chief photographer at the
South Kensington Museum, to teach photography
to the Royal Engineers. On one expedition the
soldier-photographers documented the border
between the USA and Canada, painstakingly
recording everything that crossed their path.

Albumen print
Received from the Foreign Office 1863
Museum no. 40.094
Credit line
Received from the Foreign Office 1863
Production
Photographed by a Royal Engineers photographer on a U.S.-Canada Border Survey.
Subject depicted
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
40094

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Record createdOctober 17, 2008
Record URL
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