Minstrel Banjo

For enthusiasts of early banjo

Here's another new acquisition. No banjo content here, but I wonder just who these fellows are--minstrels, actors, whatever? Is anyone familiar with this image? The CDV is by A.S. Morse, Dep't of the Cumberland, Nashville, Tenn. and almost certainly dates to the Civil War years. It's a great image for CW reenactors.

Views: 121

Comment by Bob Sayers on March 14, 2015 at 12:03am

Balloonists!  Very interesting. 

Comment by Bob Sayers on March 17, 2015 at 9:20pm

Hi Daniel,  Thanks for the new information.  However, I did a little more sleuthing and think the photographer's name is Algenon S. Morse, not Sydney Morse.   I was really hoping these guys were minstrels or traveling theatre folk--they look like something out of Mark Twain's "Life on the Mississippi."   But balloonists or the photographer's crew are okay as well.   By the way, I can recommend a small book by John Hanners called "It Was Play or Starve: Acting in the Nineteenth Century Theatre."  A quick read and very entertaining.

Comment by Bob Sayers on March 17, 2015 at 9:22pm

Comment by Bob Sayers on March 19, 2015 at 10:00pm

Hi Dan'l,  Thanks for your help.  This is an amazing pair of Civil War photographs, too.  These should be in the new National Museum of African American History! 

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