Timothy O’Sullivan made this photograph of the bodies of four young soldiers killed at Gettysburg, and Alexander Gardner later published it in his multivolume Photographic Sketchbook of the War. Haunting images like this one prompted some members of Congress to advocate acquisition of Brady’s collection as a resource for the nation.
Reproduction from original glass plate negative. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
Photograph, “Battle-field at Gettysburg, or ‘Harvest of Death,’" by Timothy O'Sullivan, July 1, 1863
Photographing the Civil War
Mathew Brady’s Civil War photographs at the Library of Congress constitute one of the most significant historical resources of the period. Brady, a New York portrait photographer, opened a studio in Washington, D.C., in 1858. Throughout the war, Brady’s staff photographed soldiers, battlefields, and related incidents on glass-plate negatives. The images, sold as prints, reproduced in books, and converted to illustrations for newspapers, were the first to document an American war. Congress acquired the collection between 1875 and 1954 to preserve this visual history for future generations.
Timothy O’Sullivan made this photograph of the bodies of four young soldiers killed at Gettysburg, and Alexander Gardner later published it in his multivolume Photographic Sketchbook of the War. Haunting images like this one prompted some members of Congress to advocate acquisition of Brady’s collection as a resource for the nation.
Reproduction from original glass plate negative. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress
