Photograph of Tobe Brown: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Brown is pictured from the waist up. He has curly hair with a side part and a long mustache. He is wearing a white collared shirt, a vest, and a suit jacket. He has a metal chain on his vest and a flower lapel pin on the proper right side of his jacket.

There is a thin white border around 3/4 of the photograph. It is thicker on the bottom and there is black text below the image which reads [Ferguson] on the left, [GWF] in the center, and [SPRINGFIELD / MO.] on the right. The corners are a bit worn and there is slight discoloring on the back. A handwritten inscription on the back reads [Tobe Brown Music Maker].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1890s
• Photograph by: G.W. Ferguson, American, born 1856
• Subject of: Robert L. "Tobe" Brown, American, 1869 - 1939
• Type: portraits
• Type: photographs
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper on mounting board
• Dimensions: H x W (Sheet): 6 7/16 × 4 1/8 in. (16.4 × 10.5 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 5 9/16 × 4 in. (14.1 × 10.2 cm)
• Place captured: Springfield, Greene County, Missouri, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
• Topic: Orchestral (Music)
• Topic: Photography
• Object number: 2015.97.38.9
• 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 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.