The Noreen Reale Falcone Library was awarded a $12,600 Conservation Discretionary Grant from NYS Library in December 2015 to preserve its U.S. Civil War items.
“The Photographic Views of Sherman’s Campaign,” published in 1866, is an album of photographer George Barnard’s 61 original imperial size albumen prints depicting the aftermath of General Sherman’s march through the South.
This photo is often attributed to Matthew Brady. Barnard worked with Brady for a time and used his Washington studio to prepare his prints.
Standing, L to R: O. O. Howard, W. B. Hazen, Jeff. C. Davis, J. A. Mower.
Seated, L to R: J. A. Logan, William T. Sherman, H. W. Slocum, F. P. Blair.
The album, along with the original letter to Barnard from William Tecumseh Sherman expressing his support for the project, were gifts to the College in 1997 from John B. Vita ’54 and Mary M. Vita.
George Barnard’s photography stands along with those of Mathew Brady, Alexander Gardner, and Timothy O’Sullivan, in advancing the photographic techniques used in the 19th century and in documenting the American Civil War. Barnard, who moved as a child to upstate New York, at one time had studios in Oswego and Syracuse and died in Syracuse in 1902. He worked for Mathew Brady at the outbreak of the Civil War and performed the difficult task of following the armies’ path and documenting the violence and destruction of war.
Originally intended to make 100 copies of these custom leather-bound albums, Barnard, it is believed, might have made only half as much. Le Moyne College’s copy is one of six held by libraries and museums in New York State. There are only 25 reported copies held by such public institutions.
West Lake Conservators, located in Skaneateles, NY will oversee the conservation work, which will be completed by June 2016. For more information, contact Inga Barnello at barnello@lemoyne.edu.