Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Object Name |
Ambrotype |
Title |
Varina Anne Davis and Ellen Barnes [Mrs. Charles McGinnis] |
Catalog Number |
FIC2009.00023 |
Description |
Sixth-plate ambrotype with applied color; mixed-race woman seated holding baby on lap; woman facing camera, looking past camera to viewer's left, hair parted down the middle, waved with modified wings, long earrings possibly tinted gold, small round collar with large brooch at the center; dark bodice with white cuff visible on left sleeve; baby seated on woman's lap to right, looking past camera to left, long gown with lace and ruffles at yolk and sleeves; earlier descriptive entry says: "Baby wearing necklace and white dress, necklace gilded." Gilded necklace no longer visible due to image emulsion shifting and deterioration; nonpariel mat with ornate embossing of floral design; preserver has stamped foliate scroll; no case; |
Medium |
Glass/Metal/Paint |
Studio |
Unknown |
Photographer |
Unknown |
Owner Regiment |
Not applicable |
Provenance |
"Winnie Anne Davis and Mammy Nellie, our faithful nurse and maid to Mrs. Davis in Fortress Monroe." (note formerly with artifact) Varina Anne "Winnie" Davis was born in the Confederate White House in June 1864 and went on to achieve a burdensome fame as the "Daughter of the Confederacy" before dying in 1898. A few months after she was photographed with Ellen Barnes, an enslaved nurse and maidservant, both fled the Confederate capital. After the Davises and their party were finally captured, Ellen Barnes remained with the elder Varina Davis while Jefferson Davis was in prison at Fort Monroe. During this time, Ellen Barnes’ husband, Charles, died, and she remarried to Frederick McGinnis. The couple settled in Baltimore, Maryland. |
People |
Davis, Varina Anne (Winnie) Barnes, Ellen [Mrs. Charles] McGinnis, Ellen Barnes (Nannie Nelly) [Mrs. Charles] [Mrs. Frederick] Nannie Nelly |
Search Terms |
Fort Monroe Mammies Richmond, Virginia White House of the Confederacy free blacks flight and capture of Jefferson Davis, 1865 |
Subjects |
African Americans Ambrotypes Babies Cased photographs Children Domestics Free people of color Free African Americans Girls Infants Photographic studios Photographs Photography Slavery Slaves Women |