The Burns Archive: New York’s Civil War Soldiers- The Exhibition & Opening at The Merchant's House Museum

5/5/11

New York’s Civil War Soldiers- The Exhibition & Opening at The Merchant's House Museum

Below are images from the installation and opening of New York’s Civil War Soldiers: Photographs of Dr. R. B. Bontecou, Words of Walt Whitman. The Merchant's House Museum, built in 1832 served as an ideal location for the display of the Burns Collection's Civil War photography and ephemera. After a lecture in the period front parlor and book signing on the lower level, guests enjoyed a warm spring evening in the 'secret garden'. Everyone seemed to be able to enjoy the hors d'œuvres despite a sensitive yet graphic lecture depicting hospital gangrene and amputation.

(All Images © The Burns Archive)

Visitors Enjoy the 7th Regiment Display

Dr. Burns Adding Finishing Touches

The Tersa Viele Civil War Photo Album

Display Case With Civil War Surgical and Bone Specimen Photos
Along with an Amputation Kit

Stereoviews, Brady Images, a Tintype of Volunteer Nurses

Postwar Books, Medals, and Stereoviews Among Other Items

Some Battlefield Images, an Ambrotype of a Confederate Solder,
The New York Herald & Harper's Weekly Papers

One of Four Display Shelves/Tables of Bontecou Medical Images
With Walt Whitman Excerpt from Specimen Days

More Bontecou Images Below the Table

Shelf of Bontecou Large 'Teaching Album' Photos
(The Second Shelf Displays 'Contributed' Images)

Dr. Burns Gives Jeff Rosenheim of
The Metropolitan Museum of Art a Special Tour

Guests Peruse Display Cabinets at the Reception

In the Garden

CLICK BELOW TO SEE THE SLIDE SHOW LARGER

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From the birth of photography through the atomic age, The Burns Archive with over one million historic photographs is best known for providing photographic evidence of forgotten, unseen and disquieting aspects of history. The cornerstone of The Burns Archive is its unparalleled collection of early medical photography, but it is also renowned for its iconic images depicting the darker side of life: Death, Disease, Disaster, Mayhem, Crime, Racism, Revolution and War. The Burns Archive has published dozens of books and curated and contributed to frequent national and international museum and gallery exhibitions. Over the past forty years, thousands of publishers, exhibitors, authors, researchers, artists and filmmakers have utilized The Archive and its unique source of visual documentation. The Archive proves that with the right photographic evidence, history has infinite stories to tell.