Photograph of theatre production with blackface actors and Oliver Howard Horner: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black and white photograph of a theatre production. On the proper right side a boy is sitting in a chair. He is wearing a suit and tie. His legs are crossed at the ankles and his hands are on his lap. There is a boy standing behind him. He is wearing a white chef's coat and hat, and is wearing blackface. On the proper left there is a girl sitting in a chair. She is wearing a fancy white ruffled dress. Her dark hair is pulled back and is parted in the middle. Her hands are folded on her lap and she has a bracelet on her proper left arm. There is a girl standing behind her with a striped dress, an apron, and a headscarf. She is also wearing blackface. The boy sitting in the chair is Oliver Howard Horner.

Part of a doorway is visible on the proper right side. It is mostly covered by a folding screen with floral fabric. There is also a folding screen with fabric on the proper left side. There is fabric hanging on the wall in the center and there is a fake fireplace in the middle. It is made with fabric and hand drawn bricks with a hand drawn grate in the center. There is black fabric draped on top for a mantle. There are two pictures on top of the "mantle" and there is also a picture hanging on the wall on the proper left side.

The photograph is dry mounted on a dark grey board. The bottom proper right corner of the board is missing. There are several areas along the edges where the grey part of the board has peeled off. The back of the board is grey. There is a long white stain in the center at the bottom. The corners have peeled of slightly.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1910
• Photograph by: Unidentified
• Subject of: Oliver Howard Horner, 1888 - 1939
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Type: portraits
• Medium: silver and photographic gelatin on photographic paper on mounting board
• Dimensions: H x W (Mounted): 7 × 9 in. (17.8 × 22.9 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Image): 5 × 7 in. (12.7 × 17.8 cm)
• Place depicted: Chase County, Kansas, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: American West
• Topic: Blackface
• Topic: Minstrel shows
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Race relations
• Topic: U.S. History, 1815-1861
• Object number: 2015.94.2
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Tyson D. Arnold
• 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: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.