>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington, D.C.
>> A portrait photograph is
like a window, a point of entry
into another person's history.
When we look at a portrait
photograph,
questions come to mind:
"Who was that?
What mattered to that
person in life?"
This portrait is a
photograph of Freeman Mason,
an eighteen-year-old Vermont farmer.
Freeman entered the American
Civil War in September of 1864,
enlisting in company K of
the 17th Vermont Infantry.
Freeman Mason holds a photo
of his brother, Michael Mason,
who enlisted three years before
him, and who died in battle in 1862.
Freeman followed his brother
in death on March 12, 1865,
just under one month before the
Confederate surrender at Appomattox.
Today, Freeman Mason's portrait
has joined those of hundreds
of other soldiers and civilians in
the Liljenquist Family Collection
of Civil War Photographs
at the Library of Congress.
His and other portraits
are available to the public
on the Library's website, loc.gov.
The Liljenquist Family Collection
of Civil War Photographs was built
by Tom Liljenquist and his sons
Jason, Brandon, and Christian,
and was donated to the
Library of Congress in 2010.
It contains nearly 1300 ambrotype
and tintype portrait photographs
of Union soldiers,
Confederate soldiers, civilians,
and others who lived during the
time of the American Civil War.
Many of these photographs are
small enough to be held in one hand
or carried in a loved one's pocket,
and they allow us to come face
to face with the real men
and women of the Civil War.
The Liljenquist Collection
also offers a glimpse
at the Library's vast Civil
War holdings in a variety
of media and subject matter.
Photos of musicians compel us to
investigate the music of the era,
other photos lead us to
research maps, broadsides,
letters from the battlefront,
and even the envelopes
in which those letters were sent.
The photographs in the Liljenquist
Family Collection are primary
sources, the raw materials
of history,
and they have particular power
for students and teachers.
Working with primary
sources can engage students,
prompt them to ask
critical questions,
and encourage them to
do further research.
More information on effective
strategies for using primary sources
in the classroom can be found
at the Library's Web site
for teachers, loc.gov/teachers.
The Library also has a
wealth of teacher resources.
From primary source sets,
to biographical essays,
to lesson plans, the Library has
a number of options available
for teachers who wish to put the
Liljenquist Family Collection
to practical use.
Portrait photography
helps students, teachers,
and anyone with a little historical
curiosity to access the past.
The faces that can be found in
the Liljenquist Family Collection
of Civil War Photographs, invite
us to understand the world
of the Civil War as more
than battles and politics.
They awaken the lived realities
of history so that we may come
to see it, hear it, and
even hold it in our hands.
And those windows to the
past are available to all
at the Library of Congress.
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc.gov.