EPISODE · May 18, 2021 · 26 MIN
Capturing Ghosts
from PORTRAITS · host National Portrait Gallery
When the early photographer William Mumler developed his glass plates, he sometimes found a ghost had slipped into the picture. Was he a fraud? A medium? A grief counselor? Author and curator Peter Manseau explains how Mumler found himself at the crossroads of an emerging technology, and a wave of grief for those lost during the Civil War, and how his spirit photography eventually landed him in court. See the portraits we discuss: P.T. Barnum, by the Mathew Brady Studio ‘Cracked-Plate’ Lincoln, by Alexander Gardner Mary Todd Lincoln, by William Mumler
What this episode covers
When the early photographer William Mumler developed his glass plates, he sometimes found a ghost had slipped into the picture. Was he a fraud? A medium? A grief counselor? Author and curator Peter Manseau explains how Mumler found himself at the crossroads of an emerging technology, and a wave of grief for those lost during the Civil War, and how his spirit photography eventually landed him in court. See the portraits we discuss: P.T. Barnum, by the Mathew Brady Studio ‘Cracked-Plate’ Lincoln, by Alexander Gardner Mary Todd Lincoln, by William Mumler
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Capturing Ghosts
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