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 Book Features Powerful Civil War Photographs  In 2000 the New Hampshire Historical
Society published a book on Civil War photographer Henry P. Moore. The book, Soldiers, Sailors, Slaves, and Ships: The Civil War Photographs of Henry P. Moore, was published in conjunction with an
exhibition of Moore's work on display at the Society's museum from June 19, 1999, through February 27, 2000. Of the publication, filmmaker Ken Burns said: "After a while, we begin to understand in our bones that the most important event in our history is best revealed through the lives, actions and postures of the ordinary men and women who endured the war with dignity and much grace. It's all here in this visually sumptuous, thoughtful book." A Treasured Collection Shared When Henry P. Moore made these wistful and evocative photographs on South Carolina's Sea Islands, no one yet knew if the Union would survive or whether the Civil War would end slavery. His images, moving yet serene, caught the uncertainty, endurance, and hope of soldiers, sailors, and slaves in the midst of war. With the publication of Soldiers, Sailors, Slaves, and Ships: The Civil War Photographs of Henry P. Moore, by W. Jeffrey Bolster and Hilary Anderson, the New Hampshire Historical Society shares a treasured collection with the nation. Moore's powerful images turn the reader's attention to questions of equality and opportunity, at the same time documenting the military history of the era. To order your copy, call 603/856-0625 or purchase through our online museum store. The Paradox of Slavery and Freedom "Moore's camera fashioned a tantalizing view of Union military life, as well as the end of slavery, on the South Carolina Sea Islands in 1862 and 1863," write Anderson and Bolster. "The uneasy combination of racial injustice and human freedom remains not only a peculiarly American legacy, but also an ongoing American challenge." Exploring the paradox of slavery and freedom through Moore's photographs appealed to Bolster, who also wrote Black Jacks, African American Seamen in the Age of Sail. An associate professor at the University of New Hampshire in maritime and Black history, Bolster recounts that when New Hampshire soldiers marched South and met Black people on radically new terrain, both sides had preconceptions. "I was interested in how these old photographs might make modern people think about race," Bolster said. Enigmatic Artist and Bold Businessman More than 50 of Moore's photographs are in the 112-page book, along with a biography of the enigmatic photographer. From Concord, NH, Moore's early training as a landscape lithographer brought artistry to his work. In 1862 and 1863 he traveled to visit the Third New Hampshire Regiment encamped on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. This bold businessman and talented artist set up a makeshift studio in his tent in a sandy cotton field, and soon had a "rush of business." His images are especially noteworthy considering the limited technology of mid-1800s photography, an art that was only about twenty years old when the Civil War began. After an exciting career as an artist, photographer, and entrepreneur, Moore died quietly at home in 1911. He had lived longer than many of the soldiers, sailors, and slaves pictured in his photographs. The legacy of these photographs endures. "Today Moore's Civil War photographs-beautiful, somber, informative, and sometimes even light-hearted-continue to etch the faces and places of that dramatic struggle into our historical consciousness," Anderson and Bolster write. "Given the arresting quality of Moore's pictures, it is no surprise that interest in his work keeps growing."  |
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