The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-26

Are Now Arranged and CatnIogued In
 Wnshington-All Taken fin Secession
 Days.
 There have been concentrated, ar. z ranged and catalogued in the war de. ( partment library more than 5000 pho- Y tographs relating to the civil war. This < collection is the property of the United States and will it is expected in its x present available and convenient shape I prove or lnestimable value to historical < students More than 5000 of the views ( m the collection are represented by negatives They were transferred tC Z the war department library in 1894 un- der an order of Secretary of War La mont, The entire collection numbers < S,115 Photographs, ranging in size from \ by inches to 17 by 20 inches.
 Though by no means the most nu- e merous, the photographs contributed by the corps of engineers and the quar- < termasters department are regarded as techincally the most important. The < quartermaster's photographs, over a
 fhqusand in number, illustrated not Y only the multifarious operations and
 activities of this great department, but x also of other army bureaus. Thus, one X nnds represented bakeries, hospitals,
 tables, warehouses, barracks, con-
 script camps, prisoners quarters, sig
 nal towers. convalescent camps, draft X rendezvous, gunboats, refugee camps
 rolling mills, shipyards, waterwolks- @ in fact, nearly every phase of the op-
 erations in the rear of or accessory to
 a great army,
 There is an extended series of views of gunboats and transports, and very ' ayaluable one showing the operation, Scunstruction and repair of military rail-
 ways as conducted by the railway di-
 vision of the quartermasters depart
 ment These photographs show experi-
 mental bridges the manner of straight
 ening bent-rails of various expedients froc rcssing streams, of barges carry
 Ing freight cars, with appliances for loading and unloading, from which Originated the great transfer ferryboats
 which are still peculiar to this country only. The adjutant generals photo
 graphs consist of nearly seven hundred
 portraits of distinguished officers who 1GA V Eu III l1lC wal. tAlllOlE NISWS OD- stained from private sources the most Important collection is that belonging sto Captain w. c. Margedant, about 30
 Views of Chattanooga and its sur-
 ronndings in 1s63-64.
 < The greater number of views by far, and those possessing the most popular Interest. are the photographs and nega- Lives known as the Brady war photo IEraphs. The Brady collection covers the operations of the war in the Dis atrict of Columbia, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, South Caro- lima. Tennessee and Virginia. It also comprises photographs of Presidents Lincoln and Johnson and the members of their cabinets, senators, representa- 'tives, judges. distinguished military 0nd naval officers, and prominent citi- gems. Secretary of War William w. Belknap purchased for the war depart meIlt i'll July, 1874, a large number of photogra phic negatives of war views and portraits of prominent men. The government secured a perfect title to the entire collection in April, 1875, at an aggregRte epense of nearly $2S,000
 The story of the Brady photographs, tor twenty years of their possession by Uncle Sam is one of neglect and mis- fortune Entrusted to the care of sub ordinate officials, who were either fn- different to or ignorant of the value and interest of the collection, it suffered to a lamentable degree from lack of prop CT care in handling. Passing from one official to another, 1t was nearly ten years before any attempt was made to U q 1iofr If tba civ thnI1ca nd lives. Meanwhile free and unguarded access was allowed to the negatives, which naturally suffered from inexperi- enced and careless handling Many negatives were broken, some defaced by