Albumen cabinet card of the South African Kaffir Choir: Museum Object and Cultural History
Albumen cabinet card of the South African Kaffir Choir: Date: ca. 1894. Photograph by: Elmer Chickering, American, 1857 - 1915. Subject of: South African Kaffir Choir, African, 1894 - 1916.
The object in the museum catalogue
A sepia tone albumen cabinet card of the South African Kaffir Choir, Boston, Massachusetts, ca. 1894. Captured in studio, the large South African Kaffir Choir of 15 men, women, and children, pose in three rows dressed in their native ceremonial attire. In the front row are two children and a reclining woman along with a shield. The middle row has five women seated in chairs. In the back row are five standing male members of the choir along with a white man, the choir manager James Balmer, and a white woman, the pianist Elsie Clark. On the reverse of the cabinet card is an inkstamp for Elmer Chickering's Royal Photographic and Portrait Studio.
Materials, dates and provenance
- Date: ca. 1894
- Photograph by: Elmer Chickering, American, 1857 - 1915
- Subject of: South African Kaffir Choir, African, 1894 - 1916
- Subject of: James H. Balmer
- Type: cabinet photographs
- Type: albumen prints
- Medium: albumen on silver nitrocellulose and cardboard
- Dimensions: H x W (image): 3 15/16 × 5 1/2 in. (10 × 14 cm)
- Dimensions: H x W (card): 4 3/16 × 6 1/2 in. (10.7 × 16.5 cm)
- Place captured: Boston, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America
- Place depicted: South Africa, Southern Africa, Africa
- Topic: African American
- Topic: Africa
- Topic: British colonialism
- Topic: Colonialism
- Topic: Men
- Topic: Music
- Topic: Musicians
- Topic: Women
- Object number: 2021.16.16
- Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public Domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
Sources
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