[SOA] Information Wanted on JP Ball

[Mona Chapin]

> The Cincinnati Art Museum and Cincinnati Museum Center announce a =
joint research project on the African American photographer J.P. Ball =
(1825-1904) underwritten with a grant from the National Endowment for =
the Humanities.  One of the most notable daguerreotypists and =
photographers of the nineteenth century, Ball also made his mark as an =
abolitionist and entrepreneur.
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> Born in Virginia, Ball spent his early years in Ohio and later learned =
the art of daguerreotype from black Boston photographer John B. Bailey.  =
After a failed attempt to establish a studio of his own in Cincinnati in =
1845 and a stint as an itinerant photographer in Pennsylvania, Virginia, =
and Ohio, Ball returned to Cincinnati in 1849 and soon opened a =
successful studio.  Ball's "Great Daguerrean Gallery of the West" soon =
penetrated mainstream white society and became one of the best-known =
studios of its type in the Midwest.
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> Ball also set out to improve American's knowledge of the history of =
people of African ancestry in this nation.  He began documenting that =
history and eventually produced a massive panorama entitled "mammoth =
Pictorial Tour of the United States Comprising Views of the African =
Slave Trade..." Ball also published a companion pamphlet detailing the =
horrors of slavery.  Ball's reputation drew many famous names to his =
studios, including Frederick Douglass, Jenny Lind, and author Charles =
Dickens.  Ball eventually moved west, establishing studios in Minnesota, =
Montana, Washington, and Hawaii.
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> The Cincinnat Art Museum and Cincinnati Museum Center are seeking to =
locate images and documents that relate to Ball and his business =
partners, Robert G. Ball, Thomas C. Ball, J.P. Ball, Jr., Robert Harlan, =
Alexander S. Thomas, and the painter, Robert Duncanson for a future =
publication and exhibitions. The photographers worked in a variety of =
media and formats:  daguerreotype, ambrotype, tintype, and albumen print =
on carte de visite and cabinet card.  In addition we are seeking the =
location of images by contemporary nineteenth-century Cincinnati =
photographers, among them Ezekiel Hawkins, Thomas Faris, William =
Southgate Porter.
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> CoCurators:
> Scott Gampfer, Cincinnati Museum Center
> Teresa Leininger-Miller, University of Cincinnati
> Kristin L. Spangenberg, Cincinnati Art Museum
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> Write to J. P. Ball Project
> % Cincinnati Art Museum, 953 Eden Park Dr., Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
> %Cincinnati Museum Center, 1301 Western Ave., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45203
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> Kristin L. Spangenberg
> Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs
> Cincinnati Art Museum
> 953 Eden Park Drive
> Cincinnati, OH 45202
> tel: 513.639.2948/fax: 513.639.2996
> kspang@cincyart.org
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