Monthly Archives: December 2011

Brady’s camera

04 Sunday Dec 2011

Posted by in Film, Sound, & Photography

≈ Comments Off on Brady’s camera

March 1865 Brady letter to Lincoln asking for another sitting

Matthew Brady’s camera  sold at auction for $65,725 on November 30th. Heritage Auctions of Dallas conducted the sale. Brady sold the camera when he filed for bankruptcy in April 1873 and photcopies of the insolvency papers are included in the lot. It is believed to be the camera Brady used to photograph Lincoln during his February 1860 trip to New York City. This camera was also part of the New-York Historical Society’s wonderful “Lincoln and New York” exhibit in 2009-10. I remember seeing it there with my father-in-law just before the N-YHS closed for renovation.

Also included is an original copy of the September 23, 1957 Life magazine, in which Ed Clark uses Brady’s camera–yes, the actual camera–to photograph President Eisenhower and others in period poses. Check it out starting on page 118. An added bonus in this edition of Life from the year of the Little Rock segregation episode is a look into the governor’s mansion of Arkansas’s Orville Faubus. You can’t make this stuff up.

(image courtesy Gwillhickers/Library of Congress)

My Civil War neighborhood

02 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by in Monuments and Statuary, New York City

≈ Comments Off on My Civil War neighborhood

Hey everybody, I was running to a function in the city this morning. Cutting through Madison Square Park on my way to my destination I stopped to take a few photos on my cellphone.

This is the William Seward monument, which was dedicated in the Centennial year of 1876. That same year the arm of the Statue of Liberty was also placed in Madison Square Park, as a fund raising effort to procure proceeds for the completion of the statue that now stands in New York Harbor. The rumor on the street is that this is the head of Seward soldered onto the body of Lincoln. The reasoning is that, there being so many sculptors working on Lincoln figures in the decade after the sixteenth president’s assassination, it was quicker and less expensive to build the Seward statue in this manner. I have no idea if this is true but the gangly nature of the subject’s pose makes it seem plausible, doesn’t it?

This is Admiral David G. Farragut of “Damn the torpedoes” fame. Farragut was a Southerner but remained loyal to the Union. Next spring when I visit Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx I will make sure to see his final resting place. David McCullough wrote about this Augustus Saint-Gaudens piece in the Wall Street Journal in May. The more time passes the more fascinated I am with public art, especially monuments and statuary. Each tells a fascinating if obscure story to those wiling to listen.

I always get a kick out of the professional dog walkers. This one “only” had five.

The Empire State Building from Madison Square Park. It was a beautiful late autumn day in the city, crisp with blue skies and sunshine.

Around the corner is the 69th Regiment Armory. I blogged about this not long ago.

The building dates to 1904 but you can see from the inscriptions below that the famous regiment of course goes back to the Civil War.

It is hard to make out, but the first entry for battles engaged in by the 69th is Bull Run. Better blog photos are a 2012 resolution, pun intended. I was so happy to see the restored painting at the New-York Historical Society last week.

Finally I was off to my program, where I took this during the lunch break.

Enjoy your weekend.

Insert joke here

01 Thursday Dec 2011

Posted by in Baseball

≈ Comments Off on Insert joke here

For years Pete Rose has been a fixture on the Las Vegas autograph circuit. I didn’t think Baseball’s all-time hit leader could sink any lower than he did a few years ago when he was selling autographed bats and balls with the inscription “I’m sorry I bet on baseball.” Apparently he can. Now Rose is selling autographed reproductions of the document banning him for life from Major League Baseball for gambling. The item comes in a copper binding and is notarized authentic by a Nevada notary public. It sells on Rose’s website for a cool $500, but Rose will personalize your purchase at no extra charge. The only thing sadder than Rose selling these tawdry items are the people buying them.

(image/Kjunstorm)