SignedCopyright on mount recto, bottom, typed in black: "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by / M.B. BRADY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the / District of Columbia."
InscribedOn mount verso, center, typed in black: "BRADY'S ALBUM GALLERY. / No. 424. / Professor Lowe inflating Balloon Intrepid / FROM GAS IN BALLOON CONSTITUTION. / The Photographs of this series were taken directly from nature, at con- / siderable cost. Warning is therefore given that legal proceedings will / be at once instituted against any party infringing the copyright."
MarkingsOn mount verso, upper right, in pencil: "36 / H9"
DescriptionImage of hot air balloon inflating with people gathered in the grassy landscape.Exhibition History
Surveillance.
The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. September 16, 2016 – January
29, 2017, no cat.
Gallery Label
During the Civil War, tethered observation balloons helped the Union Army make maps, spot enemy artillery, and observe the location and activities of the Confederate Army from up to 15 miles away. Thaddeus Lowe, chief aeronaut of the Union Army, managed seven balloons, including the Intrepid. The Intrepid could carry four people and a telegraph 1,000 feet into the air.
From that vantage point, troop movements were telegraphed directly to General George McClellan’s headquarters and then on to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C.
Provenance
George R. Rinhart, Palm Sprints, CA; Purchased from George R. Rinhart by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1999; Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
Published References
Keith F. Davis, Jane L. Aspinwall, and April M. Watson. Heartland: The Photographs of Terry Evans.
With contributions by Kaitlyn Bunch and Terry Evans. (Kansas City, MO: Hall
Family Foundation in association with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2012), 50
(repro).
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