This public domain image shows Charles A. Fischer, in uniform, during the Civil War. Fischer was chaplain for the 32nd Indiana Regiment. Not to be confused with the other Charles Fischer who served as a Private in Company E of the 32nd Infantry Regiment 1861-65, this Charles Fischer enlisted on 16 February 1862 in Company S as Chaplain. Guess the war didn’t suit him, he resigned eight months later, on 9 Oct 1862. Fischer died in 1867.

The photograph was taken by Daniel Stuber of Louisville KY. Daniel was born in Germany, and emigrated to Ohio with his family at a young age. He was a daguerrian in Louisville KY as early as 1855. There was also a Michael Stuber listed in the 1880 census as photographer, probably related as Michael had a son named Daniel as well. In Craig’s Daguerrian Registry he says Daniel died in 1884, but gives his birth as 1842. The census consistently shows Daniel as being born ca. 1833-34, while Michael was born ca 1842-43. (If Daniel were born 1842 and worked as a daguerrian in 1855, he would only have been 13 years old!) There was a Daniel Stuber listed as photographer in the 1890 city directory for Louisville — it is not clear if that is this Daniel, or Michael’s son Daniel.

This is a scene on the Yangchow River in the Kiangsu Province of China. The patchwork sail on the boat, floating on sparkling waters, give a bucolic impression, quite at odds with the realities of the time. This was just after World War II, and much of the area was gripped in devastating famine.

The photographer for his image was Arthur Rothstein (1915-1985). Rothstein became known first for his photographs for the Farm Security Administration prior to the War, during the Great Depression. After the war, he traveled to China, and took several documentary images of the famine, as well as scenic views, such as this. He died in New Rochelle, New York in 1985.

On the streets of New York with a pushcart, this fellow tries to sell nuts and raisins to the passers-by. Ten cents, just ten cents is all he asks. He has a cigar in his mouth, but it doesn’t look like it’s lit — they last longer that way. The edge of the pushcart tray is carefully decorated with what looks suspiciously like chili peppers — suggesting this may not be the original use for this cart, perhaps not the original owner. The sixty years that separate us from this scene leave us only guesses as to how he came to this.

The photograph was taken for the New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper in 1947 by staff photographer Fred Palumbo. Fred Palumbo was born about 1905 in France of Italian parents. He came to the U.S.A. with his parents and siblings in 1910. An elder brother, born about 1895 was born in Italy, and a sister born about 1904 was born in Paraguay. Clearly, the 1910 arrival in New York was the family’s second attempt to settle in the New World. The 1930 census shows Fred was a photographer, but doesn’t list is place of employment. By the late 1930s through the 1950s he was working for the newspaper cited for this image.

This public domain image of the famed Geronimo is a bit different from most you see, here he is an old man, looking worn rather than fierce. Twenty years earlier he was harassing both United States and Mexican armies with his little band of followers. Never considered a chief among his people, he was as ruthless as he was cunning, and a brilliant military strategist. It was only with the help of Apache trackers that the U.S. army was finally able to find and capture him.

This photo was taken at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo New York in 1901 by Charles Dudley Arnold. We profiled Arnold in a post last October from that same Exposition, Temple of Music.

This very interesting public domain image shows the children of Captain (at that time, later Brigadier General) Montgomery C. Meigs. Meigs was with the Corps of Engineers, and in 1850 when this image was taken, was assigned to oversee the construction of Fort Wayne in Detroit, Michigan. In fact, it was Meigs who selected the site and arranged for the government to purchase the land where the fort stands, on the Detroit River. From the looks of the buildings in this photo, and the fact that there is water visible in the background, this was probably taken on the grounds of Fort Wayne, where their father was working. (Curiously enough, I was on those grounds a bit over 120 years later as an archaeology student, participating in test excavations at the site.)

A note in the case of this daguerreotype identifies the children as (left to right) Mary Montgomery Meigs (later Mrs. Taylor), Charles Meigs, Vincent Meigs, and John Rodgers Meigs. It was General Meigs who recommended that property in Arlington Virginia owned by Mary Custis Lee, the wife of the confederate General, Robert E. Lee, should be used as a burial ground for U.S. Military casualties of the then raging Civil War. Arlington National Cemetery was established there in 1864. One of those buried there during the first year of use was First Lieutenant John Rodgers Meigs, the little boy leading the donkey, killed in October 1864.

The photographer for this image is unknown.