Framed print of Lew Snowden: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black-and-white photomechanical print of a studio portrait of Lew Snowden in a wooden frame. Snowden is depicted wearing a dark colored hat, jacket and pants. He is holding a black cane in his left arm, which is bent at the elbow. A large beaded watch fob can be seen under his jacket. He is posed in front of a painted studio backdrop of a tree and foliage, standing between two prop columns with an open iron gate attached. His proper right hand is resting on one of the columns. The print is housed in a brown wooden frame with two brass brackets and a hinge on the back.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1870
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Lew Snowden, American, 1848 - 1923
• Type: photomechanical prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: ink on paper with wood, glass and brass
• Dimensions: H x W x D (frame): 8 1/16 × 5 13/16 × 7/8 in. (20.5 × 14.7 × 2.2 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (image): 5 7/8 × 3 3/4 in. (15 × 9.5 cm)
• Place used: Knox County, Ohio, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Families
• Topic: Folk (Music)
• Topic: Free communities of color
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Music
• Topic: Musicians
• Topic: Popular music
• Object number: 2024.65.4
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Howard L. Sacks and Judith Rose Sacks from the Snowden Collection
• 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 displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.