Figure074

Citation

Unknown Photographer Photographer. “spirit photograph.” 1890s. Greg French Collection. Mirror of Race, 11 Feb. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/267. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.

Title

spirit photograph

Subject

unknown

Creator

Unknown Photographer Photographer

Date

1890s

Type

studio portrait

Identifier

Figure074

Rights Holder

Greg French Collection

Original Format

cabinet card, albumen print

Physical Dimensions

cabinet card standard

Factual Commentary

While we do not know anything about the identities of the people in this photograph from the latter part of the 19th century, there are some things we can say about it.

To begin, this image is of a kind know as a spirit photograph. Such photographs were produced using double exposures and other manipulations of the photographic process to produce an image that seems to include the spirits of those not present or no longer living. There was a craze for spirit photographs in this period, in part because the aura of photography as a scientific process that supposedly captured reality could be used to give a sense of realism to a spirit world.

In this particular photograph, the spirits are child and an older Native American man. At the center of the image is a young man in Western clothing, but it is possible that he is a Europeanized Native American himself.

Interpretive Commentary

This photograph poses numerous puzzles. Who are each of these people? Why has the man in the middle, who seems to be the client of the photographic portrait, chosen to have this spirit photograph made, with an older Native American man and a child as his spirit companions? Is he a Native American himself? Do these represent generations in a family?

For a discussion of this image, see the essay "A Spirit Photograph" by Shawn Michelle Smith, on the Mirror of Race website.

Alternative Title

Collection

Mirror of Race