Description:

Perhaps the earliest photograph of a Presidential political rally, or it might be a political rally related to support of Senator Charles Sumner, who was beaten in a notorious incident that did much to set off the Civil War (there is a pencil notation on the verso of the original mount that says "Sumner Sen"). Provenance: From the Col. John R. Johnston album. Johnston was a colorist and painter for the Jessie Whitehurst studios in the late 1850s. He was also a performer and a singer. Because his collection of images has a number of performers/actors in it, it is possible that some were acquaintances of Johnston's, whom he shared billings with. It is possible that he also practiced photography himself as an amateur and an aid to his portrait and landscape work. The family originally lived in Cincinnati and then moved to Baltimore around 1855-56. The album was put together during the mid to late 1850s.

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