April Round Table Meeting:Civil War Photography in Alabama

Elks Lodge, 725 Franklin St., SE, Huntsville, AL

April 13, 2017 6:30PM

Frances Osborn Robb has been researching the history of photography in Alabama for more than twenty-five years. A native of Birmingham, she holds degrees from Birmingham-Southern College, the University of North Carolina, and Yale University. She has taught at Texas Christian University, the University of North Texas, and the University of the South at Sewanee, Tennessee. She has curated and judges exhibitions, written for scholarly and popular publications, and examined more than 200,000 Alabama photographs. Her book, Shot in Alabama: A History of Photography, 1839-1941, and a List of Photographers, was published in January 2017 by the University of Alabama Press.

Robb’s presentation will discuss photography in Alabama during the Civil War, the subject of a chapter in her new book. Robb will show examples of likenesses, views, and event photographs that were made in Alabama, as well as Alabama-associated photographs that were taken of Alabamians at duty stations or encampments outside the state. These photographs range from images of militia groups organizing for war, likenesses made for military men to leave behind them for their loved ones, encampment photographs, and images that show the context of the war as experienced in Alabama. Program participants may bring original or copy photographs with them for Robb to examine and comment on after her program.