Bottles on steps & toys on railing - Baltimore, Md. - 2004: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This image depicts a street memorial for someone who has passed away. At center of the image is a number of bottles lined up on a set of concrete steps. The five steps, leading to a doorway boarded up with plywood, are mostly filled with rows of glass liquor bottles of varying shapes and sizes. There is a stuffed teddy bear on the third step up and flowers and a teddy bear on the top step. On one side of the steps is a narrow iron railing with a cluster of Mylar balloons and a large teddy bear tied to it. The steps lead up to a brick building with its door and windows boarded up. There is one small window with a metal grill. The steps and pavement appear wet and there are small piles of leaves gathered against the steps.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2004
• Photograph by: Robert Houston, American, 1935 - 2021
• Type: digital images
• Type: digital media - born analog
• Medium: digital
• Dimensions: H x W: 6421 pixels × 4888 pixels, 59.87 MB
• Place collected: Baltimore, Maryland, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Communities
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Urban life
• Object number: 2014.116.5
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Robert and Greta Houston
• 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: © Robert Houston Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.