Tintype of man saluting against a backdrop of Grant's Tomb
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1897-1920s
name: label: Photograph by
content: Unidentified
label: Subject of
content: Unidentified Man or Men
label: Subject of
content: President Ulysses S. Grant, American, 1822 - 1885
notes: label: Caption
content: The unidentified man in this portrait wears elements of traditional Mexican and Native American dress involving a sombrero style hat and an elaborately decorated waist belt bordered in cowrie shells. Typical of Mexican charro style, the wide brimmed sombreros were also adopted by American Indians in the Southwest. Indigenous cultures across North America, including the Apache, Ute, Cheyenne, and Sioux, used cowries as embellishments for various garments.
label: Caption
content: The man poses in an open-palmed salute while standing in front of a painted studio backdrop of Grant’s Tomb, the final resting place and memorial of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife. Multiple photography studios utilized backdrops depicting this landmark around the time of the memorial’s completion in New York in 1897.
label: Description
content: A sixth plate tintype depicting a man standing in front of a bench and a painted studio backdrop of Ulysses S. Grant's tomb. He is looking directly at the camera. His proper right arm is fully extended, raised shoulder-height, in an open-palmed salute. In his left hand he holds a dark-colored sombrero. He wears a light-colored suit, white shirt, cravat, and a wide belt highly decorated with cowrie shells and other ornamental elements. To his left, his cane is propped up on the bench beside him.
label: Description
content: There is a small black smudge in the lower right-hand corner of the tintype near the base of the bench.
label: Description
content: The tintype does not lay flat and the lower portion is slightly raised when placed on a level surface.
label: Description
content: There are no marks or inscriptions, front or back.
place: label: Place depicted
content: Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
label: Cultural Place
content: Mexico, Latin America, North and Central America
label: Cultural Place
content: United States, Southwest United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Gesture
label: Topic
content: Military
label: Topic
content: Photography
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Photographs and Still Images
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2014.37.12
objectType: label: Type
content: tintypes
label: Type
content: portraits
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Public domain
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: collodion and silver on iron with lacquer
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 3 9/16 × 2 11/16 × 1/8 in. (9 × 6.8 × 0.3 cm)