Tag: by Carbutt (John)

Wikipedia says: John Carbutt (1832–1905) was born in Sheffield, England. His first stop in the New World was Canada. The Chicago, Illinois city directory of 1861 is the first to bear his name in the United States. During the 1860s in Chicago, Carbutt was a prolific producer of stereoviews of Chicago, the Upper Mississippi, and the “Great West.” Western images included the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad and portraits of Indians. Carbutt may be best recognized for his significant contributions to the advancement of photographic processes in the 19th Century and early 20th Century. He was among the earliest photographers to experiment with magnesium light (January 1865), he experimented with dry plates as early as 1864 and began producing commercial dry plates in 1879. Carbutt and Dr. Arthur W. Goodspeed produced the earliest X-ray photographs in February 1896. Thus it is no wonder that his biographer William Brey barely mentions his Civil War photographs. The largest known output of Civil War photographs by Carbutt are 40 or so stereoviews of the 134th Illinois Infantry camped at Columbus, Kentucky. The 134th was a 100-day unit that were in Columbus from June 1864 until October 1864. Lincoln’s funeral train was photographed by Carbutt as it passed through Chicago on May 1, 1865 and he followed the train to Springfield where he obtained photographs of Lincoln’s home. The last of the great Sanitary Fairs was held in Chicago in June 1865 and Carbutt was there to photograph the interior and exterior of the second Northwestern Soldiers Fair. The Illinois soldiers’ homes at Chicago and Cairo, Illinois required continued funding, and the fair helped cover other continuing expenses of the Northwestern Sanitary Commission.