Scene in Pleasant Valley, Maryland 1862

Alexander Gardner made this albumen print, "Scene in Pleasant Valley, Maryland," around 1862. At the time, the rapid development of photography intersected with the Civil War and the debates around slavery. Gardner's photograph freezes in time a tableau of people on the porch of a house. But how should we interpret the relations between them? We might ask, what is the significance of the American flag draped on the steps? What is the story of the African American woman standing to the side? Gardner was unusual as a photographer for publishing images of the war dead. But his unflinching approach to what photography could show us also raises difficult questions about the social conditions of his time. Recovering that time is the job of the historian, and we might turn to census records, newspapers, or the writings of abolitionists to understand this image better. Ultimately, understanding art means understanding the world that it came from.