Waiting for the Hour: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Carte-de-visite of a group of African Americans gathered around a man with a pocket watch, leaning on a pulpit made out of U.S. Sanitation Commission crates. A sign on the wall reads "1 Jan-Slaves Forever Free." The text in chain links on the sides read "Waiting for the Hour - Watch Meeting Dec 31, 1862."

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1863
• Created by: Heard & Moseley, American
• Subject of: William Tolman Carlton, American, 1818 - 1888
• Type: cartes-de-visite
• Type: albumen prints
• Medium: albumen and silver nitrate on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 4 1/4 x 2 1/2 in. (10.8 x 6.4 cm)
• Place made: Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Emancipation
• Topic: Law
• Topic: Slavery
• Object number: 2010.77.7
• 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.